Kayla was sitting on the console room couch. It had been a full day since the trip to New New York and now she was trying to convince the Doctor that going to the actual New York would be much, much more fun.
"You talk like you've been there," the Doctor pointed out. He was piloting the TARDIS in the time vortex and was doing rather well compared to his usual bumpiness.
She shrugged. "Better than Germany," she replied back with a small smile on her face as she recalled the multiple trips to Germany she, Jack, and John had made while in the Time Agency. Said smile dimmed a bit as she also recalled why Jack wasn't there. He had died, and Kayla had never been able to say goodbye to her own father.
Seeing her face fall, the Doctor frowned and lost concentration on his piloting, which made the TARDIS jolt and Kayla to grab onto her seat. He hadn't really been paying attention to what Kayla was saying, mostly because he had planned to go to New York the minute she brought it up. He just really liked hearing her talk, which was why he let her continue. Seeing that she was sad now made the Time Lord grin twice his usual strength, clap his hands, and go, "Well it's New York City then!"
"New York City? As in the actual one?" At Martha's voice, Kayla looked over to see the woman toweling off her hair. She was dressed in the outfit of jeans, shirt, and a leather jacket she seemed to have taken a liking to. Kayla really liked it as well and thought about copying it herself, but jeans were just so uncomfortable these days, what with her stomach and all, that she enjoyed wearing simpler things like dresses and skirts.
Looking down at the pale blue dress she was wearing, Kayla shifted a slight bit and briefly wondered if she should change to match Kayla, but a jolt and a, "Yep! And come on!" from the Doctor made her sigh and get up from the couch. It seemed that her fashion worrying was going to have to wait until after their trip.
Taking the Doctor's offer hand, Kayla smiled at him and then at Martha. "After you," she said in a polite voice to Martha, who laughed and pushed open the door. The breeze that filtered through the TARDIS was light and filled with salt from the sea, which prompted Martha to hurry out.
"Oh my God!" she gasped. "Doctor, Kayla, come and see this!"
Giving a light chuckle, the Doctor stepped out with Kayla and looked over at Martha. The black woman's eyes were wide to almost comical proportion as she stared at the Statue of Liberty. The sight of it proved exactly where they were. New York.
"You did it! Doctor you did it!" she cheered as she jumped up and down.
The Doctor just grinned at her excitement and wrapped an arm around Kayla's waist. Leaning over, he picked up a newspaper with the date on it and flatted it out, as it had been wrinkled from the salt from the sea. On the newspaper, they could read the year, which was much earlier than the two had thought it would be.
"I might have landed a bit sooner than I attended to," the Doctor breathed with a small apologetic smile.
Kayla laughed and laid her head on the Doctor's shoulder. "I assume you know the inscription?" she said.
Grinning, the Doctor kissed the top of brunette's head. "'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to break free…,'" he quoted.
Hearing him, Martha turned over to them with wide, excited eyes. "This is so brilliant!" she cheered. "I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new…"
As Martha muttered the rest of the news under her breath while ticking them off on her fingers also, the three went over to the shoreline that overlooked New York. The Doctor held out his hand to show it off to the awed Martha. "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."
With several blinks, Martha looked over at Kayla, who shrugged and nodded over to the unfinished Empire State Building.
"What year is this?" Martha asked, frowning as she studied the building. In answer, Kayla just handed her the newspaper.
Only now paying attention, the Doctor looked up at the building and crossed his arms, thinking, "Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around—"
"November 1, 1930," Martha finished, reading off the newspaper. Raising an eyebrow, the Doctor looked over at Martha to see her reading the newspaper. Almost pouting, he took the newspaper from her and read it while the black woman spoke, "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." Giving a laugh, Martha looked over at the couple to see them not paying attention at all. Kayla was looking over the Doctor's shoulder and reading the newspaper with a frown that matched the one on the Doctor's face.
However, as Martha was becoming used to speaking about something and turning to talk directly to the Doctor and Kayla only to find them occupied with something else, the black woman just sighed and spoke in a louder voice, "Come on you two. Where do we go first?"
The Doctor held up the newspaper, his finger pointing to a headline down on the front page. "I think our detour just got longer," he remarked.
"'Hooverville Mystery Deepens.' What's Hooverville?" Martha wondered with a frown. She hadn't looked into American history, as she had no reason to while living in England and studying for being a doctor, but she was pretty certain that if there had been a place 'Hooverville' she would remember the name. But she didn't, which made the experience of coming across a camp filled with a group of rattily dressed people, all obviously poor and in need, even more shocking then it would have been had she known what she was coming upon.
"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 Doctor was explaining to Martha, his voice low as to not stick out. After all, this was common knowledge in New York at that time. If someone found out that Martha didn't know what was going on then things could become…dicey.
"The Wall Street Crash, yeah? When was that, 1929?" Martha put in, barely remembering hearing something about the crash.
The Doctor nodded somberly. "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," he explained. "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."
And that was exactly what Hooverville looked like. It was a bunch of tents that had a few belongings in it. The owner of said tents stepped out a bit, their clothes aged from their heavy use. All the people had the same common look of deep mistrust, and their eyes all followed the Doctor, Martha, and Kayla as they walked through the camp in the middle of Central Park. The once sunny place covered with trees and had people milling about now only held the ones who had nothing. The more fortune people all stayed safely in their homes, not wanting to mill about with the ones who lived in Hooverville so that they didn't risk their luck turning. Of course when their luck did turn, as it always seemed to, the people of Hooverville welcomed the new comer.
Unless, of course, the new comer stole from another person. Then they were very unwelcomed. But when someone stole it always led to a fight, which was free entertainment. So when a male's deep voice called out, "That's enough!" A group of people went towards the voice.
Kayla, looking over at the Doctor, gave a slight shrug as if to say, 'why not.' 'We should go see,' she mentally put in.
The Doctor grinned and nodded. Grabbing her hand, they followed the crowd with Martha tagging after them. The three all joined the group that was watching a black man, clearly in charge and clearly the person who had called out earlier, address one of the two men who seemed to have been fighting, "Now think real careful before you lie to me."
The man gave the black man a pitiful look. "I'm starvin', Solomon," he protested.
The black man, Solomon, just held out his hand. Looking upset, the man gave him a piece of bread, which made the crowd titter and the other of the two men to give the man a scathing look.
"We're all starving'," Solomon said in an even voice as he ignored the looks and mutters the thief was receiving, "We all got families somewhere." Breaking the bread apart evenly, he gave one piece to both men, who took it with a look of shame on their faces. "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."
At the end of Solomon's speech, the crowd dispersed, all talking among each other, and the two men went their separate ways with their half of the bread. Except for the Doctor, Martha, and Kayla. Instead, the Doctor leaned over to Martha and hissed, "Come on." Together, the trio went over to Solomon.
"I suppose that makes you the boss around here," the Doctor remarked to the black man.
Solomon crossed his arms and eyed the group of people, taking in their clothes. "And, uh, who might you be?" he asked gruffly. It seemed that he had looked at their clothes and decided that they were either new comers or someone from the outside.
Not liking the way Solomon was looking at Kayla, he was judging her, the Doctor wrapped an arm around Kayla and held her closer. He hated it when people gave her a look that was angry. So the Doctor seemed to give Solomon a harder look in return, which made the black man shift and look over at Kayla and Martha in a questioning look. While Kayla just ignored it and focused on trying to calm the Doctor down by pointing out that Solomon was not upsetting her in anyway, Martha just shook her head.
"He's the Doctor. She's Kayla. I'm Martha," she introduced with a wave of her hand at each person until she pointed to herself.
Solomon shifted and eyed the Doctor and then gave Martha a look that was a mixture of shock and disbelief. To him, it seemed that the man could not be a doctor. Doctors did not get touched by the crash, there was always a need for them. Plus, the Doctor just had a goofy look about him.
So he scoffed, "A doctor," and shook his head. "Well, we got, uh, stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor," he grinned ever so slightly, but it was a grim smile. "Neighborhood gets classier by the day." Sighing, he turned over to a fire and warmed his hands over it.
"How many people live here?" Martha breathed as she looked around.
Solomon shrugged. "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 at the end and shook his head, "So you're welcome. All three of you."
Turning away from the fire fully, Solomon looked over at the Doctor. "But tell me, Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me." He gestured towards the Empire State Building, its top floors unfinished but it was already a very tall 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?"
The Doctor blinked and then shook his head. He had no way to respond to that question, so he didn't. Instead, he pulled Kayla closer and gave her a small kiss on her head. Martha gave them a small smile and then looked over at Solomon, who had turned away and was throwing coffee dregs onto the fire he was warming his hands over earlier.
"So…men are going missing. Is this true?" the Doctor asked, holding up the newspaper he had grabbed earlier, the headline still on it.
Solomon gave the newspaper a glare and shook his head. "It's true alright," he answered gruffly. Turning around, he walked into his tent.
Following him with Kayla and Martha, the Doctor went to the inside of the tent and stood. "But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register," the Doctor pointed out.
Not answering just yet, Solomon sat down and then waved his hand. "C'mon in," he invited. Exchanging looks, the trio walked into the tent. The Doctor instantly pulled out a seat for Kayla, which the brunette sat in. Martha sat down in a seat nearby and the Doctor, of course, sat down next to Kayla. The three looked over at Solomon with expecting looks on their faces as they waited for Solomon to answer. Seeing this, the black man sighed. "This is different," he started.
Kayla frowned. "How so," she asked.
"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 black man explained.
"That doesn't mean someone is taking them," Kayla pointed out. Similar things had happened at the Time Agency, but usually that meant someone was trying to escape. Maybe Solomon wasn't as nice as he was acting.
Solomon just shook his head. "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," he informed them.
Martha frowned, her brow furrowing. "Have you been to the police?"
"Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal," Solomon explained with a shrug.
"So, the question is, who's taking them and what for?" the Doctor pointed out.
The black man nodded. Leaning back in his chair, he appeared to be thinking when a young man who had to barely be older than eighteen poked his head into the tent. "Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here," the boy said.
Sighing deeply, Solomon got up and walked outside. The Doctor, Kayla, and Martha quickly followed him. The four of them saw a man in a nice suit and slicked back hair speaking to the group of men. "I need men. Volunteers. I got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money," the man said rather rudely.
The boy who had poked his head into Solomon's tent called out, "Yeah. What is the money?" he asked.
"A dollar a day," Diagoras answered with a smirk.
At the price, the group of men grumbled. The money wasn't great, everyone knew that, but it was still money and they needed it. Solomon seemed to be one of the only ones that wasn't being bought by the man. "What's the work?" he asked in a gruff voice.
"A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel that collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?" Diagoras explained.
Solomon shook his head. "A dollar a day? That's slave wage. Men don't always come back up, do they?" he pointed out.
Diagroas just shrugged. "Accidents happen," he replied.
The Doctor suddenly took a step forwards, frowning. "What do you mean? What sort of accidents?"
The suited man rolled his eyes. "You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?" the Doctor looked over to Kayla.
'It'll be dangerous,' he warned. 'Something is done there taking men. You could get hurt. The baby could get hurt.'
In answer to the Doctor's worries, Kayla raised her hand in the air. "I would like to volunteer," she called out to the man.
Diagroas blinked and seemed to want to laugh but thought better of it. Instead, he shrugged and asked, "Anyone else?"
As there was no way the Doctor was going to let her go alone, he nudged Martha while he raised his hand. The black woman looked in between the two and then put her hand in the air as well. "I'll kill you for this," she muttered.
Behind them there was enough shuffling that made Kayla turn around to see Solomon and the kid raise their hands. It seemed it would not just be the Doctor, Martha, and herself.
The group of the Doctor, Kayla, Martha, Solomon, and Frank, who was the boy who had told Solomon that Diagroas was at Hooverville, all walked into the sewers after the suited man.
"Turn left. Go about half a mile. Follow Tunnel 273. Fall's right ahead of you. You can't miss it," Diagroas ordered, gesturing in what seemed to be the general direction of left and Tunnel 273.
Frank seemed to be the only one was in a slightly good mood, which wasn't saying much considering how dark Kayla felt and acted, and of course the Doctor was acting the same way, and considering how Martha seemed to just be generally unenthusiastic, and also considering the seemingly permeant scowl on Solomon's face, the fact that Frank was barely smiling really said something about how completely unhappy with the situation everyone was. But to show just how excited he was, Frank asked Diagroas, "And when do we get our dollar?"
Diagroas rolled his eyes. "When you come back up," he said as if it was obvious.
Kayla frowned and crossed her arms. "And if we don't come back up?" she asked darkly.
"Then I got no one to pay," the suited man said in the same voice as before. Kayla's frown got deeper at this and she looked over at the Doctor and Martha with evident worry in her eyes. Seeing this, the Doctor took her hand in his and rubbed the back of it with his thumb, trying to calm her down.
"We'll be back," he promised her in a soft voice and then repeated it in a louder voice.
Solomon nodded and gave the Doctor a grateful smile. "Exactly, we'll be back," he agreed.
Martha seemed to want to say something against that, but a very sharp look from the Doctor made her bite her tongue and just make a sort of noise that sounded like a groan, which made the Doctor roll his eyes.
"Let's just hope we get back," Kayla muttered. Before she had gotten down into the sewers, she was fine with the idea. The Doctor would be there with her and would keep her safe, as he always did. But now that she was actually in the sewers, she was rethinking her choice. The hand the Doctor wasn't holding went to her stomach and she looked over at the Time Lord. It was starting to hit her that if she got hurt, the baby would be at risk. For the first time ever, really, she had someone else that relayed on her. And that scared her. And the more scared she got, the more her mood darkened.
So as they continued down the tunnel, Martha and Frank talking, Solomon behind them, and Kayla and the Doctor hand-in-hand in the back, the brunette's mood continued to darken as the cycle of being scared took over.
"You alright?" the Doctor asked in a low voice, startling Kayla from her thought and jumping slightly.
Looking over at him, she gave him a small smile, "Yeah," she answered.
Not fooled at all by this, the Doctor frowned and eyed her for a long time. "I'm here," he said.
She blinked and then looked down, her eyes nearly filling with tears. That was exactly what she needed to hear, so of course the Doctor knew to say it. Pausing in her tracks, which made the Doctor stop and face her. Standing on tiptoe, she kissed the Doctor ever so gently on the mouth. "Thank you," she breathed against his lips.
He grinned at her and took her hand. "Come on," he said in a soft voice. Squeezing her hand, he walked after the group with Kayla, pleased that she seemed to be in a better mood. Looking forwards, he spotted a green glowing blob on the ground in the alleyway. "Whoa!" he shouted, stopping Kayla from walking forwards, least it gave off some sort of fume that would hurt Kayla. His shout also got the attention of Solomon, Frank, and Martha, who stopped in their tracks and looked behind at the Doctor.
"What?" Martha asked, looking over at the Time Lord. Waving his hand, the Doctor walked over to the blob and studied it. Going forwards, she leaned over the Doctor's shoulder. "Is it radioactive or something?" she wondered, and then she gagged, the smell of the blob hitting her. "Ugh, Kayla, don't come near it. It's gone off, whatever it is."
Kayla nodded and took a step backwards. From her safer position, she could see Frank and Solomon also staying back from the glob, and she could also see Martha bending over the Doctor's shoulder, and she could see the Doctor pick up the glob. 'Did you seriously pick that up?' Kayla asked mentally at the same time Martha made another grossed out noise.
"And you've got to pick it up," she complained.
Ignoring them, though Kayla could feel his amusement at her question, the Doctor sniffed the glob and then held it up to Martha, who took a hasty step back. "Shine your torch through it," he requested. Martha did so, and the results made the Doctor hum. "Composite organic matter. Martha? Medical opinion?"
Martha frowned and looked over at Kayla, who just shrugged. Seeing that the brunette would be no help in this case, she eyed the glob for a few moments. "It's not human. I know that," she remarked.
The Doctor nodded in agreement. "No, it's not. 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 up down here?" At the end of his questions, he looked over at Kayla and made eye-contact with her. 'I'll keep you safe,' he promised.
Kayla gave him a grateful smile that did not waver even as Martha asked in a worried tone, "So where are we now? What's above us?"
The Doctor looked over at Martha. "Well…we're right underneath Manhattan," he pointed out. Putting down the glob, he wiped his hands on his suit and walked back over to Kayla. Solomon and Frank's gazes followed him and when the Doctor looked over at them, he got questioning and worried looks.
"What do we do?" Frank asked, his voice shaking slightly with fear.
The Doctor wiped his hands again and then took Kayla's hand. He gave her a small smile, which she returned, and then grinned widely at Frank. "We keep walking," he stated. Then, to make sure they did so, he started to walk on with Kayla. Martha instantly followed and Solomon and Frank exchanged worried looks before following on as well.
They continued to walk like this until Solomon stopped and crossed his arms. "We're way beyond half a mile. There's no collapse, nothing," he pointed out.
Martha frowned and look at the Doctor and Kayla. "That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?"
Kayla gave a small nod. "That's how it seems to be," she answered.
Frank frowned and looked around, his eyes widening. "So why did he want people to come down here?" he wondered.
The Doctor's jaw clenched some. He looked over at Kayla, who placed a hand on her stomach and then nodded. A mixture of unease and slight hurt crossed his face. Kayla, seeing this, squeezed his hand and gave him a soft grin. Sighing, the Doctor turned to Solomon. "Solomon," he started, "I think it's time you took Martha, Frank, and Kayla back up. They'll be safer."
Solomon seemed to want to protest, but before he could do so a very unhuman squeal echoed from further down the tunnel. Instantly, Kayla and the Doctor whirled around and exchanged worried looks. The Doctor moved Kayla to the side and blocked her from whatever was making the noise.
"What the hell was that?" Solomon asked.
Frank, not seeming to catch onto the fright the others were feeling called out, "Hello?!"
"Shh," Martha instantly hissed as she sent a glare towards the boy.
Solomon also shot Frank a look. "Frank," he reprimanded.
Frank crossed his arms with a frown. "What if it's one of the folk gone missing? You'd be scared, half-mad down here on your own."
The Doctor's brow furrowed and he looked over at the two. "You think they might still be alive?" he asked.
The boy shrugged. "Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost."
More squealing came from the same direction, which made the Doctor tense. Holding Kayla's hand, he started to hesitantly walk forwards, his body still directly in front of hers in case something jumped out at them.
"Sounds like there's more than one of 'em," Frank remarked.
Not replying, even though it did really sound like that to him as well, the Doctor paused as the reach a crossroads before pointing in one direction and saying, "This way to the others."
He started to go down his picked out path until Solomon said from behind him, "No, that way."
"Doctor," Martha breathed, making the two turn and peer down the tunnel that Solomon was pointing his torch down. It appeared that the beam had hit a humanoid figure in the middle of the tunnel.
"Who are you?" Solomon called out the figure, but there was no response.
"Are you lost? Can you understand me? I've been thinkin' about folk lost…" Frank's voice trailed off as he made to make a step forwards but the Doctor held an arm out, blocking him.
"It's all right, Frank. Just stay back," he ordered in a gentle voice. He glanced behind at Kayla, who nodded and squeezed his hand. "Let Kayla and I have a look," he told the others. The Doctor and Kayla walked towards the figure.
"He's got a point, Frank does," Kayla said in a carrying voice to the figure, "These tunnels would be horrible to be in all this time, on my own." The creature squealed loudly, making the Doctor tense and move in front of Kayla.
Looking back to make sure that Kayla was okay, the Doctor stood in front of the creature. "We know the way out. Daylight. If you want to come with us." Squatting down in front of the creature, he let out a soft whistle as he shined his light on its face. "Oh, but what are you?" he wondered. For where the light should have hit a human head, it hit the head of a pig. The creature in front of the Doctor was a pig-man.
"Is, uh, that some kind of carnival mask?" Solomon asked from the beginning of the tunnel.
Kayla shook her head. "It's real," she informed the man, which made his eyes widen and take a step back.
The Doctor gave her a slight smile before his gaze turned back to the pig-man and his smile to slide off. "I'm sorry," he breathed and shook his head. "Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Now, who did this to you?"
'Doctor,' Kayla suddenly warned. She was starting to walk backwards very slowly, her eyes remaining firmly fixed on the other side of the tunnel. 'Get up. Now.'
The Doctor looked over at Kayla. Following her gaze, he looked over at the tunnel and his eyes widened. Standing up, he gave a short nod. "Actually…good point."
What was scaring the entire group so much was the fact that there was a group of more pig-men at the other end of the tunnel. And as the Doctor was backing up, they were walking towards him. This prompted Martha to say, "They're following you," as if the Doctor didn't see that.
"Yeah, I noticed that, thanks," the Doctor replied crisply. Continuing to back up, he only stopped once Kayla had grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly. One finger went up and rested on her wrist and he winced as he felt how quickly her hearts were beating. 'It's going to be okay,' he promised mentally. Aloud, he said, "Well then, Martha, Solomon, Frank, Kayla…"
"What?" Martha breathed.
The Doctor turned around, his hand clenching Kayla's. "Um, basically…run!" With his shout echoing in the air, he started to run with Kayla going as quickly as she could after him, one of her hands going to her stomach. Behind them, Martha, Frank, and Solomon followed.
"Right!" Kayla yelled, more breathless than she usually was when they were fleeing, when they reached a cross-section in the tunnels.
"Got it!" Martha called back to inform Kayla that yes, someone had heard her.
Kayla gave a nod and focused all her energy on running. But thankfully, by the time she was truly out of breath and was unable to run any further, they were at a ladder. She made to call back to the others to inform them, but the Doctor shook his head. Kissing her very briefly, he handed her his sonic screwdriver. "Go up, open the grate at the top, and then hide. I'll take care of the rest."
The brunette nodded and started to climb up the ladder. At the top, she opened the lid and pushed it aside. Climbing into the room above the sewers, she only had a brief time to look around the room she was in when someone hit her on the head. Somehow, she managed to make sure to fall on her back instead of her stomach, but as her eyes slide shut, her last thought was, 'The Doctor is going to kill whoever did this.'
In the sewers where Kayla had left the Doctor, the Time Lord himself was making sure everyone was getting up on the ladder. Realizing that there was one man short, he looked over at Frank, who was holding a pipe and trying to fend off the group of pig-men that were attacking him.
"Frank!" he called over. The boy instantly looked at the Doctor. A smile starting as he saw that everyone was safe, he started to go over when one of the pig-men grabbed him. Making to go over to him, the Doctor stumbled. He could feel it in his mind that Kayla was hurt, that she was losing consciousness. So instead of helping the boy, as he could have, as he really should have, he whispered a, "I'm sorry," and then he scrambled up the ladder and then through the hole.
"Frank? Where is he?" Solomon asked, seeing the Doctor alone.
Martha, seeing the determined and frankly scary look on the Doctor's face pulled Solomon out of the way. "I'm sorry," she apologized, already knowing something had happened and Frank was gone.
The black man started to the grate, which made Martha pull him back. Looking over at where the Doctor had been, she huffed as she realized he had run off. Closing the grate firmly, she straightened and looked around what appeared to be a theater prop room they were in. "Doctor?" She called out.
A voice answered, but it wasn't the Doctor's or Kayla's, "All right then. Put 'em up." Martha froze and looked towards the voice to see a blonde haired woman holding a gun straight at them. Solomon got up from the floor and put his hands up before nudging Martha to do so as well. "Hands in the air and no funny business," the woman ordered with a menacing cock of the gun. Martha put her hands in the air.
"Now tell me, you schmucks, what've you done with Lazlo?" the girl questioned.
"Who's Lazlo?" Martha asked after a glance over at Solomon, who seemed just as confused as her.
Before the girl could explain, a shadow appeared behind the girl. The shadow hit the girl in the head from the back, sending her to the ground on her face. Martha jumped backwards and Solomon, being a gentleman, stepped in front of her.
The shadow stepped into the light, revealing itself to be the Doctor, which made the two sag in relief. "I found Kayla," the Doctor said. "She's in that one's," he nudged the girl with his foot, "dressing room. She's knocked out." Gritting his teeth, he shot a truly vicious look at the girl before giving Martha and Solomon a hard look. "Martha, tend to Kayla. Solomon, take the girl with her. Take the gun as well."
"You're not going to kill her, are you?" Martha asked, a frown going across her face.
The Doctor gave the knocked out girl another angry glare. "She hurt my Bonded." He retorted, and then stormed out of the room.