Okay guys it s been about three weeks and as promised here is the next chapter and just a bit of info on the last chapter. Okay now i haven t watched season seven so I m going to assume that Theta is the doctor s true name and such. Right someone an anon that named themself Kira asked what Phoenix looked like and if you are all wondering the same thing i have a picture up on photobucket the link is, user/ShadowTeir/media/YouGetBurnedPic_ .html? sort=3&o=1 ,
okay so the next chapter and the usual disclaimer.
XXX
I hadn't been able to sleep since last night, I had spent most of the night thinking up different stories of how I am defiantly human but each one had been disproved by the markings on my back or memories from my childhood that I don t remember to clearly, now I m looking around the room to see if there is a pocket watch that I have just to make sure I m one hundred present right and not jumping to conclusions, suddenly there was a knock on the door made me freeze before I could check the last cupboard, I head towards the door and open it to see Martha standing there.
"Hey, What s up?" I ask
"Were just about to set off the doctor wants you in the console room with us." Martha says, I sigh,
"Give me a minute I ll be down after I grab my coat" I see that she isn't going to leave and add, "Go tell him would you, you know how impatient he is..." she nods and turns to leave, I turn to look at my room and look at the cupboard moving towards it again, but I stop and turn to the chair that has my coat on it, pick it up and leave the room, shutting the door and heading to the console room.
When I walked in I looked around nothing seemed out of the ordinary Martha looking excited for the next trip the doctor leaning on the console, you know normal stuff, sorry I really need to recalibrate my understanding of that word, but looking at the doctor I see that he looks tired and I can t help but feel sorry for him, I doubt that he had slept much at all, after talking about home like that I m sure he had a load of nightmare... then it hit me Daleks of Manhattan, 'Daleks'. I cringe and walk over to the console by the doctor and give him a sympathetic smile.
"Right then, off we go!" the doctor exclaims, flipping switches, pulling levers and pressing buttons that i had to correct, then it struck me again, i was helping fly the TARDIS, this is beyond human knowledge even star knowledge so how can I do this as if I had known all along like I had passed the TARDIS test, okay lets list the things I have done that are strange shall we
1. I threatened to tell the jadoon who got nuke ball band on their planet
2. I said about him failing his TARDIS exam twice... I said if I remember...
3. I have been discreetly helping him fly the TARDIS.
"Phoenix will you hold onto something!" the doctor says exasperatedly, so just to annoy him I sit on one of the pillars and lightly grasp the side of it grinning, he shakes his head but doesn't comment. he hits a series of buttons and pulls two levers and the shaking began, nothing to serious and I didn't fall off my seat, but the stop from last time had me prepared and as it was about to land I hop off and lean on the pillar holding on to a bar close by, as it jerks I only stumble and then it was over we were officially in Manhattan, with a Dalek conspiracy, great...
Martha goes to the door and the doctor motions for me to go next, I roll my eyes, but walk out none the less,
"Where are we?" Martha asks impatient and curious,
"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely. Martha, Phoenix have you met my friend?" the doctor asks, we all look up at the statue of liberty,
"Yes doctor I believe I have met the most important monument of my country," ahh yes I forgot to mention that I lived in New York, well yeah now you know...
"Is that-? Oh my God! That s the Statue of Liberty!" Martha shouts in amazement
"Gateway to the New World. Give me you tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to break free the doctor continues to talk,
"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 trails off and we walk to the edge of the island to see the Manhattan skyline,
"Well, there s the genuine article. So good, they named it twice." I interrupt him
It was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. Now wonder it didn t catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam." I couldn't help it was so fun and the look on his face was a little annoyed that i had seemingly read his mind,
"I wonder what year it is cause look, the Empire State Building s not even finished yet."
"Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around "
"November first, 1930." Martha and I say at the same time, Martha reading the paper and myself standing next to the doctor, the reason i know this date, not from history class, this episode used to haunt my nightmares, the date always stuck with me, something must have sown on my face because when i looked at the doctor i sow a look on his face that i couldn't identify... But it was covered and he turned to Martha,
"You re getting good at this." he says in a light voice
"Eighty years ago." The doctor walks over pulling me, have at some point grabbed my hand again, seriously what is with all the touchy feely stuff... But anyway he takes the newspaper "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." she laughs and then looks at us, her smile takes on that sly look again and i see her looking at my hand, "Come on, you two. Where do we go first?" she asks, i couldn't bring a smile to my face, not with the circumstances, I look at the headline on the newspaper and my expression seems to become grim judging by the look Martha gave me,
"I think our detour just got longer." He says as he shows her the headline on the paper,
Hooverville Mystery Deepens . What s Hooverville?" Martha ask looking at me,
"The name 'Hooverville'," I say "Came from the president, because he allegedly led the nation into the Great Depression." she nods. so we head off.
We all stroll through the park at a slow pace, Martha s arm linked with mine, which put me in the middle of her and the doctor, seriously this was getting ridiculous i mean she should be pushing me away not towards him, besides it's not like i can do anything, what with him with River in the future, i shake my head lightly, it doesn't matter... No more bad thoughts,
"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 " he trails off looking at Martha giving her time to feel clever, well not feel because she is clever, always has been...
"The Wall Street Crash, yeah? When was that, 1929?" Martha questioned, i nod
"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." the doctor explained
"What? They actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?" Martha asks incredulous, we arrive just as i was about to confirm her assumption, but the sight of quickly put together shacks and tents with fire barrels placed randomly was statement enough,
"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 said in explanation not seeing my point but then again he's not a mind reader and is quite oblivious as i am most sure all of you know. Suddenly we hear shouting in another part of the park and go to investigate, it seems the fight is between two men that i want to name, so i think,
"You thievin lowlife!" man number one shouts punching man number two, okay its decided man one is now George and man two is Lennie, yeah the book 'of mice and me' came to mind seemed fitting. two other men try to break up the fight.
"_ loaf!" George shouts
"I didn t touch it!" Lennie denies, another man appears an older one, then it hit me, Solomon, he steps out of his tent to stop the fight.
"Cut that out!" Solomon says in a gruff voice. the two men ignore him and keep fighting,
"Cut that out! Right now!" he says again this time pushing the men apart
"He stole my bread!" George says as though that would justify his actions of the fight.
"That s enough!" Solomon says again before looking at Lennie "Did you take it?" he asks
"I don t know what happened. He just went crazy." Lennie says covering his tracks, George lunges at him again but is held back.
"That s enough!" Solomon repeats for the third time. the other residents of the park come to see what the commotion is all about,
"Now think real careful before you lie to me." he says to Lennie
"I m starvin , Solomon." Lennie finally says admitting to his lie. Solomon holds out his hand and Lennie pulls the bread from under his coat and hands it over
"We re all starvin ." he says as he breaks the bread in half "We all got families somewhere." he continues as he hands the men half each, "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." Solomon says to them their head fell down realising that what he said was true, but the men go on their way quietly.
"Come on." he says to us as he turns to Solomon, "I suppose that makes you the boss around here." he says
"And, uh, who might you be?" he asks confused, Solomon i mean...
"He s the Doctor. She's Phoenix an Martha." she says pointing to each of us respectively,
"A doctor." Solomon scoffs "Well, we got, uh, stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you re the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day." he says as he warms his hands over the fire, i do as well but feel no heat from it, it was always like that, even if i wore a load of clothes i never felt warmth, i sigh and put my hands down knowing it's no use, the doctor takes my hand and i felt warmth again, i always felt warmth when he touched me, it was strange,
"How many people live here?" Martha asks knocking me from my mind, again but maybe that was safer i don t know what i would think about if i were just left to my mind, like the tattoo on my back, or the words Shakespeare said, or maybe about all the odd things I ve done, and if I m really unlucky the family i no longer have...
"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 says as he lets out a laugh "So you re welcome. The lot of you. But tell me, Doctor, you re a man of learning, right? Explain this to me." he points to 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?" i think about the reality of what that building was for and shudder grim thought consuming me again.
The doctor stands up motioning for Martha to stay where she is and pulls me off to the side, i don t want to go but his grip on my hand is tight and i know there is still no escape from him no matter how hard i struggle...
"What's the matter Phoenix, you re not yourself and you keep getting that grim look on your face, or you get lost in thought and completely blank the conversation." i haven't done that, i go with the safest option, no matter how guilty i feel,
"It's nothing i just didn't sleep last night, that s all, I m just a little spacey" i laugh at that, but as i look up i can see the doubt on his face,
"And the grim looks?" he asked, i swallow, thinking i say something
"I can t ever go home, i can t see my friends or my families -" i cut myself off, he didn't need to know that much,
"You re families what?" he asks, yeah totally oblivious
"Grave stones alright, there dead and i can t even see their graves..." i turn let go of his hand as it goes lax and head back to the fire sitting next to Martha with a forced smile which i knew she could see through, look at what s happening, i go to a different universe and my control on my emotions slip, just great, i chuckle weakly to myself missing the look the doctor gave me, one of sadness and understanding...
XXX
Solomon throws the coffee dreg onto the fire as Martha and the Doctor approach, i had stayed and had a conversation with Solomon, not wanting to be near the doctor just yet no matter how warm he made me feel.
"So men are going missing. Is this true?" he says as he holds up the paper, i roll my eyes,
"It s true all right." He says as he takes the paper then he goes inside his tent, us following,
"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 says,
"C mon in." he says as he sits himself Martha and the doctor take a seat but i just stand to the side "This is different." Solomon continues
"In what way?" Martha asks,
"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." he explains, yeah that would be the pig men.
"And you re sure someone s taking them?" the doctor asks in clarification,
"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 says to the Time lord
"Have you been to the police?" Martha asked, at this i decide to interrupt,
"Martha this is 1930, the police here don t care if a homeless person goes missing it's at the bottom of the list the wont do anything." my voice was cold, sure the authorities are okay but i didn't like them, personal experience, a cop had it in for me and decides to try and pin a theft on me, that was because i had told the station that he was being paid to turn a blind eye to a few drug dealings, never liked them since...
"She's right missy. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal." Solomon says,
"So, the question is, who s taking them and what for?" the doctor says aloud. Frank pops his head inside the tent,
"Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here." he says, Solomon gets up and i walk out of the tent, the rest follow out to where Diagoras is talking to some of the men in Hooverville,
"I need men. Volunteers. I got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money." he says
"Yeah. What is the money?" Frank asks,
"A dollar a day." Diagoras replies, i frown and i hear men grumble,
"What s the work?" Solomon asks
"A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel that collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?" Diagoras explains, if i didn t know better i would think he was telling the truth but then again he is hanging out with monsters he would be good at lying wouldn't he.
"A dollar a day? That s slave wage. Men don t always come back up, do they?" Solomon says a frown etched on his face as he asks the last question, well they do Solomon but they come to take others and have experiments on them, you know the whole shebang, strange word 'shebang'... oh no I m sounding like the doctor, that is just great...
"Accidents happen." Diagoras says, yeah accidents, and accident will happen to you if you keep on being a prick,
"What do you mean? What sort of accidents?" the doctor questions, you know i don t have a sarcastic reply for that he should figure death or something like that.
"You don t need the work? That s fine. Anybody else?" the doctor and I raise our hands in the air "Enough with the questions." he says annoyed.
"Oh, n-n-no. We're volunteering." the doctor says,
"I ll kill you both for this." i ignore her and the doctor just glaring at the bastard giving the orders. Solomon and Frank raise their hands as well.
XXX
"Turn left. Go about half a mile. Follow Tunnel 273. Fall s right ahead of you. You can t miss it." Diagoras says
"And when do we get our dollar?" Frank asks
"When you come back up."
"And if we don t come back up?" the doctor questions in a serious voice,
"Then I got no one to pay." i couldn't help it, i go to lunge at him but the doctor catches me around the waist, Diagoras catches my movement and snorts,
"What s a little girl like you gonna do?" i ground my teeth together and look at the doctor with a pleading look, he sighs and lets go, in less than a second i had moved from the doctors grip and had Punched Diagoras square in the jaw,
"Keep your mouth shut and i won't punch you again i says as i turn to go back to the doctors side, suddenly the doctor rushes passed me and i whirl around to see the doctor holding Diagoras's arm which had been raised to hit me i assume, and i hear him speak in a voice that could only be described as dark , almost worse than the oncoming storm voice,
"Touch her and i will break your arm, are we clear?" his voice sounding like an animalistic snarl, and for the first time i realise that the doctor is dangerous, not just a magnet for danger. Diagoras glares back at him for a moment before backing down and pulling his arm from the doctors hand, or at least he tried, "I Said are we clear?" the doctor repeats, Diagoras nods and grits out
"Crystal." before the doctor lets go and returns to my side his had resting on my waist instead of grabbing my hand.
"We ll be back." Solomon says,
"Let s hope so." Martha says sounding slightly Shaken. The others go down the tunnle, the doctor and I starring at Diagoras before we turn to follow the others.
"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." I hear Frank say as we rejoin them
"So what about you, Frank? You re not from around these parts, are you?" Martha says staring up a conversation,
"Oh, you could talk. No, no, I m from Tennessee, born and bred." Frank says in playfulness
"So how come you re here?" she was always so curious no matter what the pain caused by the question.
"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. So, what about you? You re a long way from home." Franks says being vague about his past and turning it on Martha,
"Yeah, I m just a hitcher too." Martha says with a laugh,
"You stick with me, you ll be all right." Frank says to her, i couldn't help but find it sweet that Martha had someone with a crush on her,
"So this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?" the doctor asks,
"A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now it seems like he s running most of Manhattan." Solomon says
"How did he manage that, then?" the doctor asks confused at how someone could work their way up so fast,
"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." Solomon says
"Yeah well if he's the new king, i vote we stage a coup." I say, Solomon laughs,
"Spoken like an American," he says
"Originally born and raised here, been in England for a while and picked up the accent, still got my ideals though." i say
"Whoa!" The doctor says suddenly, stopping our conversation, oh right Skaro stuff, I m sure my face turned grim even if no one noticed i could feel the atmosphere around me darken slightly. the blob was lying on the ground giving off a sick green light, it looked worse in real life than it did on TV and i felt bile rise up my throat but i held it down and look away.
"Is it radioactive or something?" Martha asks as she comes closer, the doctor sets down his torch, OMG I said torch, I m turning British, it's a flash light... anyway he sets it down and crouches beside it.
"It s gone off, whatever it is." she says covering her mouth and nose, the doctor disregarding her, puts on his glasses and carefully picks it up,
"And you ve got to pick it up." Martha says,
"Well at least he didn t lick it." i say, and then he sniffs it... Okay not even going to comment
"Shine your torch through it." the doctor says to the both of us, Martha does it, i am not going near it, "Composite organic matter. Martha? Medical opinion?" the doctor says
"It s not human. I know that." she replies
"Phoenix, do you know what it is?" he looks at me and stops "Phoenix?" his voice is careful and cautious
"I know what it is. I can t give you answers, the only thing I m going to say is that what made it is pure evil and i would very much like to destroy it." my voice came out in a snarl and i could guess that my face was contorted into a mask of hate and disgust. Averting my gaze i look at Solomon and Frank, the look on confused.
"No, it s not, Martha." he said bringing the attention back to himself, "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?" he asked
"I thought it was obvious..." i say trying to calm down,
"So where are we now? What s above us?" Martha asks looking at us worried
"Well we re right underneath Manhattan." the doctor says looking at everyone.
XXX
"We re way beyond half a mile. There s no collapse, nothing." Solomon says, i nod my rage calmed down after we had walked in a little more,
"That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?" Martha asks, i look at her with disbelief, really she didn't get that from my rage on the guy?
"Looks like it." The doctor says rubbing soothing circles on the back of my hand calming me again.
"So why did he want people to come down here?" Frank asks sounding confused poor lad.
"Solomon, I think it s time you took these three back. I ll be much quicker on my own." I look at him with a raised eyebrow,
"I got news for you Time boy and you re not going to like it, I am coming with you whether you like it or not," i say my voice leaving no room for argument, he must have heard this because he nods not fighting back but looking like he wanted to. suddenly a squeal echo s through the tunnels. ah great running ahead.
"What the hell was that?" Solomon asked
"Hello?!" Frank shouted in question,
"Shh." Martha
"Frank." Solomon
"What if it s one of the folk gone missing? You d be scared, half-mad down here on your own." Frank argued back,
"Do you think they re still alive?" The doctor question
"Heck, we aint seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost." He has a fair point but i know better
"Not all bodies show up..." i say quietly, the squealing sounds again,
"I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that." Solomon says the doctor walks a little ahead and i follow despite the look he gave me.
"Sounds like there s more than one of em." Franks says
"This way." the doctor instructs
"No, that way." Solomon says as he shone his tor- Flash light down a different tunnle the light landed on a huddled figure on the ground, pig men,
"Doctor... Phoenix..." Martha says, we go back and rejoin the group.
"Who are you?" Solomon asks the figure, no reply,
"Are you lost? Can you understand me? I ve been thinkin about folk lost " Frank says, now as much as i adore the kindness it was really getting on my nerves
"It s all right, Frank. Just stay back. Let me have a look." he says as he walks to the figure and i following him of course, "He s got a point, though, our mate Frank. We'd hate to be stuck down here on our own." the pig man squeals "We know the way out. Daylight. If you want to come with us." he continues as he squats down and shines the light on its face, "Oh, but what are you?" he says sounding fascinated,
"Is, uh, that some kind of carnival mask?" Solomon asks,
"Nope" i say popping the 'p'
"No, it s real." he says and then continues to the pig man, "I m sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help." I look at the shadows that fell the wall, he was oblivious but i kept my eye on them, standing behind him, "Now, who did this to you?" the doctor asks, i wanted to spit at what i knew,
"Doctor, Phoenix I think you d better get back here." Martha says, i know she saw the shadows and was worried, i look back and see more pig men have filled the opposite end of the tunnle.
"Doctor! Phoenix" Martha shouts,
"Doctor if you get us killed i will make your afterlife hell..." i say pulling him up,
"Actually good point." he says backing up to the others pulling me along all the while,
"They re following you." Martha says sounding slightly panicked
"Yeah, I noticed that, thanks." he says as we reach them, "Well then, Martha, Frank, Solomon, My dear Phoenix..."
"What?" Martha asks,
"Um, basically " He says
"run!" We yell together, we all race down the tunnle to the cross section Martha pauses in confusion
"Where are we going?!" Martha yells back, the doctor turns right
"This way!" the pig men are still chasing us, the doctor stops but i grab his hands as i take a turning
"There's a ladder" i say, as we run i trip and fall catching my arm on a bit of glass, the doctor stops and turns as i push myself up gripping my arm,
"Stop gawking and run idiot!" i shout as i continue to run ignoring the twinge in my arm, the doctor climbs up the ladder opening the lid with the sonic, Martha follows, Solomon hesitates slightly seeing Frank pick up a metal rod and try to hold them off,
"Frank!" he shouts
"Solomon go!" i shout pushing him to the ladder, he climbs it, Frank turns and runs to me
"You go up first" he says, i was going to argue but he pushes me to the ladder and i had no choice, i climb as fast as i can so Frank can get to the ladder, I climb out and thee doctor pulls me out, i flinch slightly but ignore it and turn back to the hole and kneel down, holding out my hand, the doctor holds out his hand as well,
"Come on Frank faster." i say urging him on,
"C mon, Frank! C mon!" Solomon follows my example
"I ve got ya. C mon!" the doctor joins in. The pig man pull Frank down but i refused to let go, i almost fell in but the doctor pulled me back to his chest my grasp slipping
"NO!" i shout
"Frank!" Solomon shouts
"No!" the doctor says at the same time realising that he was being taken. Solomon shoves the doctor aside and in turn me as he was holding onto me, and closes the lid before another goes missing.
"We can t go after him." Solomon says in a strong voice
"We gotta go back down! We can t just leave him!" The doctor argues
"No, I m not losing anybody else! Those creatures were from Hell! From Hell itself!" Solomon argues back, i felt something spreading through me,
"Phoenix, Phoenix calm down, come on, it's okay, we'll save him, calm down" the doctor says stroking my hair and rocking me soothingly, what had happened was my eyes were glowing golden and fire started to appear around me, but with the doctor s help it receded
"If we go after them, they ll take us all! There s nothing we can do. I m sorry." Solomon says looking at me with an shaken expression that matched Martha and the doctor to a T.
Tallulah steps out from behind a shelf in the prop room, a gun pointed at us,
"All right then. Put em up." She says, Martha does as she says, Tallulah cocks the gun
"Hands in the air and no funny business." she says, the doctor and Solomon follow the order, she points the gun at me "Do it." she says, I however grab he wrist twist it behind her back take the gun and hold it to her head,
"You don t want to do that, i tend to get really protective and you pointing a gun at friends of mine is dangerous..." my voice i quiet, i know the gun is fake but i liked the look on her face it was amusing,
TO BE CONTINUED...
XXX
There we are the next chapter now i put a little bit of a twist at the end and want to know what you all think of it, she's been distant from the doctor and is now holding a fake gun to someone s head and scaring everyone, hope this is okay for everyone and i should be updating regularly again, feedback is welcome and so are kind reviews i know i didn't spell Dalek wrong this time.
Love you all loads and thank you to all reviewers, people who have favourite me and my story, i hope i haven't disappointed you all
Shadow OUT
XXX