Trouble always follows, something of a saying that Paul had become accustomed to hearing constantly since he took up the mantle, and this was no exception.

It had followed him.

And he learnt a great deal from it.

"Target. Located!" The mechanic droning of the machine trying to blast him to bits with its canon arm, almost got his foot hadn't he ducked away from it.

While trying to find answers, Paul stumbled across one of Doctor Ivo's creations, and not surprising there was some… issues trying to be diplomatic with it, hoping it'd lead him to Doctor Ivo.

A large robot adorned in purple and white stripes, looked like a toy robot he had as a child without the large canon for an arm, trying to kill him.

It didn't have a lower body to speak of, rather it had only its upper torso that it propelled with the plasma lifters that kept it upright when using its arm canon on Paul.

"Target. Lo-ca-ted!" The robot droned.

It persisted after him despite his best attempts, no matter how much he tried, it kept up with him, and it didn't hesitate to use the arm canon on parts of the complex, determined to shoot him on sight.

Disturbingly, it didn't miss, either.

With near accuracy, it shot at him with ease, only because of his wits above him, he survived long as he did.

Persistently, the robot chased after him, no matter what he did, it did nothing to stop it.

He wasn't even sure if his Sonic Screwdriver would've done anything if it worked under the conditions Paul's facing, it was that difficult.

"Target. Loooo—caaaa—teeeeeeed," the robot further droned as it flew, firing its weapon at Paul while he struggled avoiding the blasts.

Unfettered, this robot's protocols sought to destroy Paul any means necessary, and violently so, it's even changed up its methods attacking him, trying to hit him head on with the force generated of it ramming into him.

When that didn't work, it began trying to fly over him to incinerate him, knowing full well the intense heat of the plasma lifters would give Paul ninth-degree burns.

That would seem scientifically impossible, but Paul wasn't lying about the level of burn that he risked receiving from accidentally being caught in the plasma lifters.

While there were things he could heal from if given enough time to rest, there were still some that would be fatal to him, burns from plasma lifters being one of them.

He wasn't a comic book character with an inane ability of regenerating with only a sliver of flesh and genetic material left of them...!

"Target. Loooo—caaaa—teed!" The robot continued droning as it persisted its assault on Paul any way it can, changing its efforts so many times, it almost gotten Paul more than once, but he persevered.

The attempts lasted until the robot accidentally rammed into the wall with Paul dodging, revealing a hidden door that crumpled like paper.

Interestingly, Paul sees the robot shrugging it off, but reacts as though the hidden door was still there.

Having eluded the damned thing long enough, Paul wanted out of this, and sought sanctuary going through the opened doorway into a hidden corridor.

As expected, the marauding robot hadn't followed Paul.

Ah, it was programmed to treat any hidden corridor as walls, incapable of pursuing Paul, though he knew better to rely on programming to keep himself from getting fried to a crisp.

No clue where the corridor goes, but it's better than being out in the main corridors with the patrolling flying menace willing to crush and fry Paul if it catches sight of him, again.

Don't think this was a type of security protocol enacted by Doctor Ivo, even he wouldn't risk the damages to the complex, or his hide.

Frowning, seeing that rejected machine with portions of it being Dalek, it made Paul draw a conclusion he wished he hadn't, and it made him think what happened.

Somehow, Doctor Ivo captured Daleks.

Managed to disarm their self-detonation protocols and prevented them from broadcasting their whereabouts to the ship, then used them.

Scrapped them to help create his works.

Tossed them when they didn't.

That's why the TARDIS hadn't picked up on them prior.

Mental blockers and whatever's preventing Paul from using his Sonic Screwdriver was part of the reasoning why he didn't know about this, now that he did, he grew desperate finding Taylor.

He hadn't found her, yet, and with him running around the complex trying to get away from the robot, logic would dictate she found another hidden corridor.

If Paul could find Doctor Ivo, he'd get a better understanding, and force answers out of him, but he was nowhere to be found.

Given the hidden corridors exist, it would seem their missing doctor's somewhere hidden, or dead, given that it only takes a Dalek a short while to get a bearing before trying to exterminate.

Having dealt with them for a while, it was reasonable.

No doubt, while Doctor Ivo managed to disable much of the captured Daleks, there were things he couldn't simply scrap and rebuild.

What on earth did that man do…?

That'd explain why he was trying to contact Paul, who else but the Doctor to know about the intricate workings of the Daleks?

Foolish man!

If he's still alive, he's probably holding out somewhere in the complex where his creations can't get to him, but the matter is when they'll manage to break away from his programming and follow the hateful way of the Daleks.

Not an unexpected turn of events.

While it's cruel for Paul to want to leave Doctor Ivo to his fate and find Taylor and escape the complex, Daleks have been well-known for centuries at this point, everyone knows what horror they bring, what monstrosities they are underneath their metal chassis.

There is no peace with Daleks.

If not for balancing the powers between them and Cybermen, they'd be long gone, but of course things aren't always black and white.

Unfortunately, despite Paul's personal beliefs, as the Doctor, he needed to see this adventure through, and destroy the creations.

Assuming Doctor Ivo wasn't dead, Paul planned on bringing him to the proper authorities for breaking the regularities regarding using something like the Daleks in his creations and the fact he's creating deadly weapons with them without oversight.

And if Doctor Ivo isn't among them, then it'll be easier to destroy the whole complex from top to bottom, have the authorities handle the rest.

Coming through the corridor, Paul sees he came across some sort of power source, unlike what he's accustomed of dealing with, as it seemed Doctor Ivo was cautious, at least, not having one big power source that supplied his entire complex.

Cooling water to keep the radioactive rods producing the energy pumped throughout the complex, but Doctor Ivo was sure to keep everything updated and maintained, enough that if there was ever a leakage, it won't spill anywhere into the complex, the only saving grace Paul could find.

"Grace, where are you?" Paul murmured as he grew desperate, looking around the small room with the large pistons.