Every step Paul took as he approached the lab, he heard the Daleks chattering in an unnatural fashion that made his skin crawl, that he didn't know how anyone could get them restrained so easily, but he was there for a reason, and the Daleks were part of the reason why.

Finding the only door in the corridor, Paul watched it slide open, assaulting him with more frigid air, as he stepped through the doorway.

The Daleks' robotic voices louder, echoing in the lab, amongst them a man's voice.

He was giving them commands and the Daleks went around doing as they were told.

If only Paul's father was here to see this!

Clearing his throat and putting on his facade, Paul stepped through the entryway and saw Daleks of different colours moving through the lab, carrying on their orders.

In the centre, a man with magenta hair and pale eyes trained on a table littered with different objects.

He didn't register Paul until one of the Daleks got too close for comfort and caused Paul to bump into a tray trying to keep away from one of the Daleks that mindlessly came close.

Rattled the utensils in the tray and Paul saw the pale eyes sharply move to his direction and a voice rattling with a scornful, "Who're you?"

Holding his head high, Paul introduced himself, "John Smith. You were expecting me."

Walking around the table with his grey arms crossed, Cassius expressed, "I don't recall ever contacting you!"

Refusing to believe that he knew Paul, much less invited him, Cassius started getting angry until Paul insisted that he check his messages.

"When I contacted you, I didn't use my real name," Paul leaned on his lie like the Eiffel Tower.

Cassius was too cautious and obtuse at the same time to trust the word of the psychic paper if Paul showed him it, not to mention he had no choice to leave it behind with the Sonic Screwdriver since Lulu kindly informed him that there's scanners all over the lab that would set off the moment something unauthorised gets through.

As his father taught him, Paul used one of his most prized possessions to ensure Cassius buys into the act.

The TARDIS.

It falsified every bit of information possible so that when Cassius checked his messages, he would see that he was talking to Paul under his title, the Doctor.

The idea was Cassius and Paul started talking about Cassius's efforts and he offered Paul to show his work.

Having hacked into Cassius's private computers and messages, the TARDIS was able to recreate every bit of messages with Cassius's tonality as it coordinated the effort to trick him into believing that he did invite Paul to the outpost.

It's a gamble, if this didn't work, Paul would have to try and trick him with his mind, which he didn't want risking since he hardly knew the man.

Looking over at the messages as his pale eyes slowly went over every paragraph, Cassius mumbling to himself, he then said aloud, "What on earth was I drinking?"

Ah, the blue beauty found Cassius's kryptonite.

Drinking.

A heavy drinker, it's one of the many reasons why Cassius is known to have a violate temper, and there have been instances of people working for him being on the receiving end whenever he becomes too inebriated.

It's no secret that he's an arse to everyone he knows, but unfortunately Cassius's brilliance is enough to overlook the glaring character issue that continues to subject the few individuals working with Cassius to it.

Alcohol and Daleks, what a terrible mix!

Using alcohol as a flammable source on Daleks, not practical because of their protective chassis, but a better idea than mixing the two together.

And drunk Daleks weren't any better, either, as one of the Doctors found out the hard way.

"Okay, I don't… I don't know what I was doing, but there has been a mistake and I would like to apologise for the miscommunication. Unfortunately, I was not in the right state of mind. You can take your leave, now," Cassius gave Paul his notice.

He won't let Paul stay and watch his 'brilliance' in action.

Another glaring issues.

Never took responsibility for his own actions, especially with his drinking.

Many complaints have been filed because of it, but once more, Cassius's brilliance continued to define technology that higher ups were willing to overlook them just for the sake of him coming up with something new.

Like subservient Daleks, apparently.

Seeing Cassius insistent on this, Paul's forced to play a card from his grandfather's deck.

"But you promised! If I go back empty handed, I'll be the laughingstock of the whole committee. They'll give my promotion away and give the grant to someone else," Paul took a different tone of voice as he tries leaning on Cassius's ego, giving the allure that he was someone from the committee on the search to gift a grant to someone worthy of it.

Ego.

One of the negatives of humanity.

"Oh yeah, I think I saw that," Cassius quickly saw error with trying to shoo Paul away.

Watching Cassius rub his eyes, Paul saw how the addiction gripped him tightly, that his skin was greyer than normal, ashy, his mind unset in places, and his quickness to anger.

A violent drunk that got lucky with inventing things people like and wanted to use, no matter their origins, or their inventor being a terrible man who was only lucky that he had Lulu and Paz was because they were disparate for references to get jobs elsewhere with people who didn't smell like they came out of a bottle themselves.

Which, if not for the air conducts, Cassius would smell like a bar on a bad day.

With the complications of Cassius's alcoholism and him involving Daleks in his work, this only made things even more dire for Paul.

"Okay, Doc, what do you want to know?" Cassius turned towards him with curiosity in his pale eyes as he wanted to know Paul's questions.

First one off the top of his head…

"I happened to notice the… the…" Paul meekly gestures towards the Daleks.

Looking past him, Cassius ah'd as he explained, "Yeah, it kinda fell into my lap. Aside from them being useless turned on their sides and stairs, they're quite useful bunches."

Curious, Paul asked where Cassius got the inspiration, playing off as a dolt who's doing his job for the committee and Cassius took the bait without even a blink.

"Well, it uh, started with a chance meeting, actually," Cassius formulated his words and the way he done it made Paul think he's trying to make it sound good enough for the committee.

Highly suspicious when he mentioned a meeting.

"A meeting?" Paul raised his brow at this before inquiring more about the meeting, putting on the facade that he needed to know this information when he returns to the committee.

Standing in front of him, Paul can smell the alcohol lingering on Cassius's breath as he explained, "Yeah, but uh, they didn't-didn't help me with this, they just inspired me. Don't know where to find them if you want to ask for their side. They came to me."

Explaining to him, Cassius regaled how someone came to him and from there he gained his inspiration with the Daleks. However, the person responsible didn't stay long, or left any way of contacting them, thus the committee can't call them to confirm the story.

Despite his shortcomings even Cassius wouldn't go far as stealing ideas, he may be a drunk, but he isn't an idiot.

Well, still an idiot when it comes to the Daleks, but semantics aside.

"I see. But I have to ask, why these…?" Paul played the stupid card just to get Cassius comfortable enough to spill the beans for him.

Shrugging his narrow shoulders, Cassius tells him that it was the person's idea and he went with it.

There was more to Cassius's story than he cared to tell and Paul knew he needed to keep playing along to get the whole truth.

There's no way Cassius didn't know what Daleks were, much less what they're capable of, this universe isn't a stranger to their diabolical plans.

Whoever this person was that gave Cassius the inspiration… given Cassius's state, Paul doubted he could get anything from him regarding the person.

He's shaken from his quiet thoughts when one of the Daleks came up to Cassius asking him, "Would. You. Like. Some. Tea?"