Going through the winding corridor, Taylor followed the silent robot as it guided through an area it originally couldn't see, now able to pinpoint when they're coming up to its creator.
Doctor Ivo had better have some explanation for what's going on, this has gone on too long, and Taylor wanted nothing more than to find Paul.
The closer they got to the sole door at the end, the more Taylor began feeling tense for some undetermined reason, and she wearily asks, "Alpha, are you sure this is where your creator is…?"
She heard back the monotonous, "Affirmation. Correct."
Alpha was certain that Doctor Ivo was somewhere behind that door, but Taylor couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, and Paul always insisted that she trust her gut, even if whatever it turned out to be innocuous.
"Alpha, why is he hiding in there, why not out in the main area?" Taylor questioned Doctor Ivo's secrecy, to which the robot explained in its monotonous tone that this was its creator's lab.
"And why wouldn't he allow you to come through his lab?" Taylor questions why the elusive doctor didn't allow his creations to come through these areas and in extension, his lab, and Alpha grew quiet, processing her words.
It didn't respond and they're at the door, despite Taylor not trusting this, she's forced to watch as Alpha opened the door with its eye stock slowly protruding from its "face."
The door slid open, the air pushing past Taylor and Alpha, inside she felt a brittle cold air, as Alpha slowly moved inside.
Chewing on her lip, Taylor's forced to follow it through the unbearably cold doorway, where she's cast in a deep green hue.
Already, she knew by looking at the grey steel tables with broken glass that her gut instinct was correct, but Alpha didn't hesitate, and she was forced to keep up with it as it went past the destroyed lab equipment.
Under Taylor's heels, broken glass crunched as she walked, nearly slid on spilled liquid of undetermined type, the smell hard to distinguish as the cold air blasted from above, keeping the temperature in the lab a distinct cold.
Glass continued to crunch under Alpha's metallic bird-like three pronged feet as it went through the aisles with Taylor still following behind.
As they're getting deeper into the lab, more of the destruction shown through, as a strong smell hit Taylor's nose, causing her to cover it, already she felt the tingling sensation of blood dibbling down her throat as she coughs.
Some came out of her nose as she briefly moved her hand to grab a napkin from her pocket, quickly rolling it and shoving it in her nose.
"Ma-st-er cre-a-tor," she heard Alpha say in a broken monotonous voice, the tone deepening.
Slowly, the quiet robot made its way towards the end of the lab, Taylor's emerald eyes spots something chained.
The chains were bolted by molten steel to the wall behind it, keeping it firmly in place, preventing it from moving an inch, and as Taylor came closer, she stumbled backwards as she sees…
No…
"Cre-a-tooor…" droned Alpha as it stopped in front of a chained Dalek with wires poking out of the top of its chassis.
Stumbling backwards at the sight, Taylor warned it, "No! Alpha, that's not Doctor Ivo, that's a Dalek!"
Desperate, Taylor tried warning Alpha that it's incorrect, that the thing before them wasn't its creator, but Alpha insisted that it was, and mortified, Taylor heard the Dalek call out to it.
"Cre-a-tooor…?" Alpha drones as the Dalek affirmed its identity as Alpha's creator.
Glimpsing around as she wasn't sure whether to turn tail and run, Taylor caught sight of something slumped in a corner.
"Locate. Doctor?" Taylor heard the Dalek ask Alpha as it remained chained.
Alpha monotonously replied, "Last. Location. Unknown."
"Beta. Located," the Dalek informed Alpha that another robot had the opportunity of locating the Doctor, that it transmitted the coordinates to Alpha.
While Alpha and the Dalek spoke to one another in the electronic monotonous voices, Taylor turned attention to whatever's slumped to the ground, slowly she moved, and when she got closer, she nearly let out a shriek.
In a slump, it's Doctor Ivo, dead.
But it wasn't at the mercy of the chained Dalek, its weapons were disabled, and Doctor Ivo would have good sense to ensure the Dalek couldn't alert the others to his complex.
His chest was covered in blood, whatever injury he sustained it was in the chest area, but Taylor wasn't able to check for sure, she was distracted when she heard the Dalek request Alpha, "Exterminate. Doctor."
Alpha stiltedly replied, "Confirmed. Exterminate. Doctor."
The Dalek hadn't even picked up on Taylor's presence, she was able to step close to it, shocked that it was able to influence Alpha into following its orders in hunting down and killing Paul.
Struggling with herself, Taylor tried to come up with something, but nothing came, she was afraid of saying anything, out of risk of the Dalek turning its attention on her, and she couldn't hope to outrun the plasma canon on Alpha, as it prepared it to open fire on Paul the moment, they crossed pass.
It didn't matter anyway as the Dalek ordered her, "Exterminate. Doctor."
Chewing on her lips, Taylor's forced to play along for her safety, "Confirmed."
Somehow, the Dalek didn't see her as an enemy, whatever Doctor Ivo was doing in the lab, he managed to ensure he wasn't seen as one to the Dalek.
Given the wirings coming out of the top of the chassis, he forcibly reprogrammed it, somehow.
Only for a short time, seeing him slumped in the corner, but Taylor wasn't risking trying to investigate now that the Dalek doesn't see her as threat.
Whatever he did, it bought him time, but Daleks are stubborn for a reason, and it only worked for a short while before the maliciousness of the Dalek started showing through the programming.
It probably fused together, his and the natural programming, he was turned on with no hesitation.
It'd explain how the damned thing was able to communicate with Alpha without it recognising it a threat.
But, something else too…
There's never just one Dalek.
Having been in this adventure long enough, Taylor knew there couldn't just be one Dalek.
Yes, they send scouts all the time, but they're never far behind, always waiting for an opportunity to strike in numbers.
Seeing how Doctor Ivo was careful ensuring the that his creations weren't able to get him through here, this started a while ago, and that's why he turned to the only person that would know how to deal with it, Paul.
Doctor Ivo realises his mistake, but it's too late, his creations have become…
Daleks.
His only saving grace was they're fused with his programming and couldn't outright hunt him down.
That didn't last long, obviously.
"Exterminate!" The Dalek decreed.
Alpha responded, "Confirmed."
Taylor forced herself, "Confirmed."
They're allowed to leave the chained-up Dalek, only when they're decently far enough, Taylor felt her heart beating against her rib cage, desperate to escape the thought.
"Alpha, I know what he made you with, but you cannot follow that Dalek's command!" Taylor tried to reason with the robot, begging it to listen to her.
She then heard, "Creator. Commanded."
It didn't see Doctor Ivo as its creator, only the Dalek, and while it made sense, Taylor hoped there was enough of his programming left in the robot that she had a chance.
"You told me I could help you, let me!" Taylor begged it to let her help it.
It never acted out aggressively towards her, had all the time in the world, but it didn't.
She can help it, if it lets her.
"You wanted to tell me something, remember, but you couldn't… what was it?" Taylor persisted as she's forced to follow it back the way they came, hoping that she could use it in helping the poor robot forced to follow the will of the Dalek.
Stiltedly Alpha replied, "Corrupted."
Having two different conflicting programming wasn't helping the robot identify which dialogue it was able to use, the remanent of the Dalek programming had already begun clawing its way through Doctor Ivo's.
Taylor didn't have much time with Alpha left before it became a full-blown Dalek and she didn't know where to begin.
Following the robot as it began tracking Paul, already Taylor smelled something foul, like burning metal, and the more they're coming through the corridor, it looked like a war zone.
Melted walls, destroyed flooring, it looked like a bomb gone-off, until Taylor sees what caused the destruction.
"Alpha. Command," Taylor heard the droning robot float low to scan Alpha with ease.
Alpha replied back, "Beta. Exterminate. Doctor."
Beta-100 responded with, "Location. Unknown."
It had attempted to exterminate Paul, but he craftily got away from it, now it cannot find him.
Seeing the robots communicate with each other, the more Taylor listened, the more Dalek-like they've become, sprinkled in with whatever Doctor Ivo's programming was, as they plotted a way of getting to Paul.
"Designation?" Taylor's suddenly called out as she froze in terror as Beta-100 looked at her with its giant eye.
She didn't know what to say, but Alpha helped her, by saying in its monotonous voice, "Taylor."
Expecting the robot to turn on her in an instant, since her name was shared throughout the empires, Taylor was ready to run, futile as it seemed, but Beta-100 acknowledged this, no sense of aggression.
"Classification?" Beta-100 asked Alpha.
Responding back, Alpha says, "Classified."
Without any hint of disbelief, Beta-100 further acknowledged Alpha giving Taylor a fake persona.
"Taylor," she heard her name called. "Command. Exterminate. Doctor."
Forced to acknowledge this, Taylor sees the robot floating off, searching for Paul, leaving her and Alpha alone.
Exhaling sharply, Taylor turned her head towards the robot, thanking it for potentially saving her life, as the canon Beta-100 wielded would have decimated her to the point there was no particle left of her.
"Dialogue. Classified," Alpha said in response.
In its own way, it attempted to shrug it off, just something it felt like it needed to do, but Taylor appreciated it all the same.
Seeing there's still parts of Doctor Ivo's programming, Taylor hoped she could somehow overtake the Dalek programming with it.
