A/N: I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. Martha has just seen New New York, now she's gonna see New York 1930s style. But it's not going to be as glamorous as she believes it will be.
This chapter is going to be based on the Doctor Who episode 'Daleks in Manhattan'.
I do not own Doctor Who. All I own is my OC Katy and this story
Please review, and no flaming will be tolerated.
Enjoy xx
MYSTERY IN HOOVERVILLE
"In New York (Uh, yeah)
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
There's nothing you can't do (OK)
Now you're in New York (Uh, yeah)
These streets will make you feel brand-new.
Big lights will inspire you (OK)
Let's hear it for New York (Uh)
New York (Yeah), New York (Uh)" – Jay-Z (feat. Alicia Keys): 'Empire State of Mind' (The Blueprint 3 [2009])
Bedloe's Island
The Tardis materialises in one of the corners of an eleven-pointed Army base exterior wall. Martha steps from her and takes a curious, and excited look around her surroundings.
"Where are we?" She asks, as Katy steps out after her and huddles into her peacoat for extra warmth when a stiff cold breeze goes by.
"Ooh, that's a bit rude…" She commented about the breeze, and huddles gratefully into the Doctor's warm embrace when he wraps his arm around her shoulders after he notices her shiver when he steps out of the Tardis last and shuts the door behind him with a click. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome, love!" the Doctor acknowledged her before taking in an enormous lungful of the fresh air with obvious delight. "Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely." The (newly dubbed) Time Couple walk over to Martha and the Doctor grins at her. "Martha, Katy, have you met my friend?"
The Doctor gestures behind him and up towards an enormous 93-metre-high green copper-clad statue of a crowned woman holding a torch in her raised right hand, and a tablet clutched to her bosom in her left. Martha's eyes widen when she recognises the statue.
"Is that? Oh, my God. That's the Statue of Liberty!"
"Gateway to the New World," the Doctor confirms. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." He quoted.
"That's so brilliant. I've always wanted to go to New York," Martha exclaims excitedly. "I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new one."
"Me too! Except Mum couldn't afford it…" Katy stated. She breaks away from the Doctor and goes exploring the island a little bit.
"Well, there's the genuine article," the Doctor confirms, as he gestures to the New York skyline off in the distance, just beyond the North Atlantic Bay, separating them from the mainland. "So good, they named it twice. Mind you it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. No wonder it didn't catch on."
Martha giggled, while Katy just rolled her eyes and picks up a discarded New York Record newspaper she had spotted on a nearby bench. She turns it to the front page and frowns when she sees what's written on it: 'HOOVERVILLE MYSTERY DEEPENS' in big bold capital letters.
"I wonder what year it is, because look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet."
Katy glances up from the newspaper and looks over to see where Martha's pointing and sees that the top level of the iconic building still had scaffolding and cranes around it. The Doctor studies the unfinished building curiously.
"Work in progress. Still got a couple of floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around—"
"November 1st, 1930." Katy interrupts the Doctor, who blinks at her in astonishment. Then grins.
"You're getting good at this." He compliments her, and Katy smiles back at him and holds up the newspaper.
"Thank you, sweetie. But I read it in this…" Katy stated as Martha comes over to look at the newspaper for herself.
"Eighty years ago. It's funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are." She gestures all around them. "It's real. It's now." The Doctor comes over and reads over Katy's shoulder, noting the headline too with a frown. "Come on, then, you two. Where do you want to go first?" Martha questioned, brightly.
"I think our detour just got longer…" the Doctor announces, as Martha takes another look at the newspaper; particularly at what the Doctor and Katy had been reading.
"'Hooverville Mystery Deepens'. What's Hooverville?" Martha asks, puzzled.
Central Park
Hitching a ride on a ferry, the Doctor, Katy, and Martha make their way to the mainland, and make their way towards what became known as Hooverville in New York, which was located in Central Park. Along the way, the Doctor gives a history lecture surrounding the origins of 'Hoovervilles.'
"Herbert Hoover, thirty-first President of the USA, came to power a year ago," He explains. "Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then…"
"The 1929 Wall Street Crash," Katy confirmed, living up to her History degree.
"Correct. Whole economy wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. All of a sudden, the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So, they ended up here in Central Park." The Doctor stated, solemnly.
"What, they actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?" Martha sounded appalled.
"Where else were they going to go?" Katy pointed out, as the three of them came across a small shanty town that was overlooked by the Manhattan skyscrapers. It was a pretty depressing sight.
"Ordinary people lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything." The Doctor confirmed.
"And this isn't the only place. There are loads of these makeshift shanty towns all over America." Katy added. "Nobody gives a damn about them, and you only end up here in Hooverville when you've got nowhere else to go."
"You thievin' lowlife!" The trio turn towards a fight breaking out not too far from where they were standing between a black man and a white man. "All morning I wait in the bread line for a single loaf!"
"I didn't touch it!" the white man protests, indignantly.
"Well, somebody stole it!" the angry black man shouted, which summons another black man dressed in a World War One trench coat and brown fedora out from his tent. He appeared to be the leader of this shanty town and had an obvious air of authority about him.
"Cut that out!" He shouts to be heard and pulls the two men apart. "Cut that out right now!"
"He stole my bread!" the black man starts pointing fingers at the white man.
"That's enough!" the authoritative black man snaps sternly before turning to the white man for his side of the argument. "Did you take it?"
"I don't know what happened. He just went crazy," the white man explained, but it appeared neither man entirely believed him.
"That's enough!" The authoritative black man rises to his full height and looks the white man in the eye. "Now, think real careful before you lie to me…" He warned, and the white man immediately backed down, looking ashamed.
"I'm starving, Solomon…" He confesses, and the now named 'Solomon' holds out his hand and the white man takes the bread out from inside his coat and hands it to him.
Katy was impressed.
"Wow, he's good…" She muttered underneath her breath at the Doctor who nodded in agreement.
"We're all starving. We all got families somewhere," and like King Solomon from the Old Testament Bible, Solomon rips the loaf of bread in half and gives one to each man. "No stealing and no fighting. 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."
He sends each of the men on their way.
"Come on," the Doctor said to Katy and Martha, before they approached Solomon. "I suppose that makes you the boss around here." He addresses Solomon who eyes him cautiously.
"And, er, who might you be?" Solomon asks. Martha steps forward to introduce them to him.
"He's the Doctor. I'm Martha, and this is Katy."
"A doctor, huh?" Solomon looks the Doctor up and down curiously. "Well, we got stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day."
"How many people live here?" Katy questioned.
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. So you're welcome, the three of you." He scrutinises the Doctor once again. "But tell me. Doctor, you're a man of learning, right?" The Doctor nodded. "Explain this to me." Solomon turns and points towards the unfinished Empire State Building. "That there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, when we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?" He sounded bitter, and frankly, Katy couldn't blame him.
"So, men are going missing. Is this true?" the Doctor cut straight to the chase.
"It's true all right," Solomon confirmed, darkly. He gestures at the three of them to follow him towards his tent.
"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 points out. Solomon pulls back the tent flap and stands aside to allow them in first.
"Come on in," they all duck into the slightly cramped canvas tent and wait for Solomon to join them before he responded to the Doctor's observation. "This is different."
"In what way?" Martha asked.
"Someone takes them, at night." Solomon explains. "We hear something, someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone like they vanished into thin air."
"And you're sure someone's taking them?" the Doctor clarified.
"Doctor, when you got next to nothing, you hold onto the little you got." Solomon was blunt. "Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning."
"Have you been to the police?" Katy asked, concerned.
"Yeah, we tried that." Solomon scoffs. "Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal."
"So the question is, who's taking them and what for?" the Doctor mused.
"Solomon!" A young man's voice shouts in from outside of Solomon's tent, and about two seconds later, he comes in looking at Solomon urgently. "Solomon, Mister Diagoras is here." Solomon abruptly leaves, followed closely by the young man. The Doctor, Katy, and Martha follow too, curious about who this Mr. Diagoras was, and what sort of power and influence he had to make those living here in Hooverville so amped up to see him.
It turned out that 'Mr. Diagoras' was in fact a businessman, responsible for the construction of the Empire State Building. He was dressed similarly to Al Capone: a dark, pinstripe suit, heavy black trench coat, scarf, black fedora hat, and black and white wing tip shoes.
"I need men. Volunteers," He calls out with a rough Brooklyn accent. "I've got a little work for you, and you sure look like you can use the money," He sneers somewhat arrogantly. It was apparent that he had a similar attitude to Al Capone too. The young man, Frank, who had informed Solomon of Diagoras' arrival, steps forward, looking at the businessman guardedly.
"Yeah. What is the money?" He inquires.
"A dollar a day," Diagoras responds. Solomon steps forward, looking cautious too.
"What's the work?"
"A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel collapsed. Needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?" Diagoras requests, but Solomon frowns at him.
"A dollar a day? That's slave wage. And men don't always come back up, do they." He points out, but Diagoras doesn't look very concerned about this.
"Accidents happen."
"What do you mean? What sorts of accidents?" the Doctor steps up to say his piece. However, Diagoras looks less than impressed with all the questions being thrown at him.
"You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?" the Doctor volunteers, but Diagoras misunderstands and barks at him in irritation. "Enough with the questions!"
"Oh, no, no, no. I'm volunteering." The Doctor explains, much to the chagrin of both Katy and Martha who had no choice but to follow him. "I'll go."
Both girls raise their hands, reluctantly.
"I'll kill you for this," Martha threatens the Doctor.
"Anybody else?" Diagoras asks, sounding somewhat bored. Both Frank and Solomon raise their hands too.
Sewers
Equipped with the materials and tools they would need to repair the caved in sewer system, The Doctor, Katy, Martha, Frank, and Solomon follow Diagoras towards a nearby sewer entrance, that would lead them towards the caved in tunnel. The men help both Katy and Martha down safely from the ladder, before Diagoras wastes no time in giving them last minute instructions.
"Turn left," He points in that direction. "Go about half a mile. Follow tunnel two seven three. Fall's right ahead of you, you can't miss it."
"And when do we get our dollar?" Frank asks.
"When you come back up," Diagoras responds.
"And if we don't come back up?" the Doctor prompts, eyeing Diagoras with deep dislike.
"Then I got no one to pay," Diagoras stated, like it should've been obvious to them. Solomon shoulders the bundle of rope he was holding a little higher on his shoulder and looks hard at the smug man.
"Don't worry, we'll be back." He promises, shepherding Katy, Martha, and Frank down the tunnel, before following them. The Doctor remains behind, staring into Diagoras' eyes for a few moments, before turning and following the others; falling into step beside Katy.
"I really don't like that guy…" She mutters, and the Doctor grunts at her in agreement.
Frank yells back to the rest of them.
"We just got to stick together. It's easy to get lost," He informs everyone. "It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here."
Martha sidles up to him, smiling curiously.
"So, what about you, Frank? You're not from around these parts, are you?" She guesses, and Frank grinned at her in amusement.
"Oh, you could talk. No, I'm Tennessee born and bred." He reveals.
"So how come you're here?" Katy pipes up.
"Oh, my daddy died. Mama couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the eldest, up to me to feed myself. So, I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads." Frank explains, casually. "There's a whole lot of runaways in the camp, younger than me, from all over. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. Solomon keeps a lookout for us." Solomon gives a small smile to Frank in acknowledgement. "So, what about you? You and your friends are a long way from home."
"Yeah, we're hitchers too." Martha explained too, with a secret smile on her face.
"You stick with me, you'll be alright." Frank flirts with Martha, who grins back.
"So, this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?" the Doctor inquires. Almost immediately, both Frank and Solomon frowned with distaste.
"A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman." Solomon explains. "Now, it seems like he's running most of Manhattan."
"How'd that happen?" Katy asked.
"These are strange times," Solomon shrugged. "A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. But for some folks it works the other way round."
"Woah!" The Doctor rushes over towards what looks like a luminous green jellyfish that was lying on the ground right in front of them. Both Martha and Katy wrinkle their nose when a bad smell suddenly wafts up them.
"Is it radioactive or something?" the Doctor squats down in front of the green jellyfish. "It's gone off, whatever it is." And then Martha gags when the Doctor picks it up, unflinchingly. "And you've got to pick it up…"
"Just be thankful he didn't lick it," Katy mutters to her, making Martha look at her in horror. The brunette walks over to the Doctor's side and squats down beside him, peering curiously at the jellyfish he was turning around in his hands while examining it, curiously. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something very familiar about the jellyfish.
"Katy, be a dear and shine your torch through it," the Doctor requests and Katy complies. "Composite organic matter." The Doctor mutters to Katy, before looking back at Martha for her opinion. "Martha? Medical opinion?"
"It's not human. I know that…" Martha confirms.
"No, it's not." The Doctor agrees, then abruptly gets to his feet, stuffing the green jellyfish into one of his coat pockets, as he looked around with a frown. "And I'll tell you something else. We must be at least half a mile in. I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you?"
"Yeah, you're right. So why did Mr Diagoras send us down here?" Katy pondered.
"Where are we now? What's above us?" Martha glances about for a clue.
"Well, we're right underneath Manhattan," the Doctor states, a bit grimly. Frank and Solomon look about nervously. The five of them continue walking, until they come across a nearby manhole cover, which sheds some light for them to see.
"We're way beyond half a mile. There's no collapse, nothing." Solomon realises.
"That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?" Martha questioned.
"Looks like it," the Doctor confirmed.
"So, why'd he want people to come down here?" Frank asks, and the Doctor looks back the way they came from and back at Solomon.
"Solomon, I think it's time you took these three back," the Doctor suggested, and Katy and Martha look at him aghast.
"What?" Katy protests, but the Doctor ignores her.
"I'll be much quicker on my own," he insists. Suddenly, they all start when some pig squeals echo all around them.
"What the hell was that?" Solomon demands.
"Hello?" Frank calls out.
"Shush!" Martha is quick to silence him, and Solomon gives him a stern look.
"Frank…"
"What if it's one of the folks gone missing?" Frank points out. "You'd be scared and half-mad down here on your own."
"Do you really think that they'd still be alive?" Katy reasons.
"Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here," Frank responded. "Maybe they just got lost." There were some more pig squeals, this time uncomfortably closer to where they were.
"I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that," Solomon stated.
"Where's it coming from?" Frank asks. "Sounds like there's more than one of them." The Doctor takes off walking down the nearest tunnel, heading straight towards where he had last heard the pig squealing.
"This way," He suggests, but Solomon grabs his arm and points in the opposite direction.
"No, that way." He states, and the Doctor was about to argue when he notices why Solomon suggested a different direction. Solomon was shining his torch on a figure crouched in a corner, hiding in the shadows. The Doctor goes to step towards it.
"Doctor?" Martha cautions him.
"Who are you?" Solomon calls out to the figure but gets no response. Frank makes an attempt to communicate with the figure.
"Are you lost? Can you understand me?" the figure still doesn't respond. "I've been thinking about folk lost down—"
"It's all right, Frank." The Doctor intercepts him and makes him stop coming closer, choosing to do it himself. "Just stay back. Let me have a look." Frank nodded, and the Doctor turns back to the figure, walking cautiously towards it. "He's got a point, though, my mate Frank. I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own." The Doctor uses soothing tones to attempt to gain the figure's trust. "We know the way out. Daylight. If you come with us—" The figure raises its head, revealing that it was a half-human, half-pig. The Doctor's eyes widen in fascinated curiosity. "Oh, but what are you?"
"Is that, er, some kind of carnival mask?" Solomon questioned. The Doctor's face falls in sad realisation.
"No, it's real." He tells Solomon, then fixes a sad, sympathetic look at the pig-man. "I'm sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Who did this to you?" The Doctor asks, calmly. Something moves in the shadows, drawing everyone's attention towards it.
"Doctor? Sweetie, I think you'd better get back here…" Katy suggested, nervously. The Doctor pauses and glances over at the approaching shadows and decides that Katy had a point.
"Doctor!" Martha warns.
"Actually, good point…" the Doctor agrees and starts backing away from the pig-man, without taking his eyes off it, as he returns to the group.
"They're following you," Martha realises.
"Yeah, I noticed that thanks." The Doctor responded, sarcastically. He makes it back to Katy's side and discreetly takes her hand in his. "Well then. Katy, Martha, Frank, Solomon…"
"What?" Katy mutters, scared.
"Eh? Er, basically, run!" the Doctor shouts and takes off back down the tunnel the way they originally came, pulling Katy along with him. Martha, Frank, and Solomon run after them as the group of pig-men chase after them back to a junction.
"Where are we going?!" Martha shouts frantically.
"This way!" the Doctor turns down a random tunnel and spots something down a side passage. "It's a ladder! Come on!" The Doctor scrambles up the ladder first and uses his sonic to open the cover at the top. Frank grabs an iron T-bar to ward off the pig men with Solomon's help as Katy and Martha climb up the ladder to safety.
"Frank! Frank!" Solomon shouts at him.
"You go next!" Frank urges Solomon who hesitates but climbs to safety. Frank abandons the T-bar and scrambles up the ladder, just as Solomon turns to lend him assistance with some help from the Doctor.
"C'mon, Frank! C'mon!" Solomon urges the young man frantically. Frank almost makes it to the top of the ladder, but the pig-men manage to grab Frank's legs. The Doctor seizes Frank's hand in his.
"I've got you. C'mon! Come on!" the Doctor pulls with all his strength, but the pig-men were stronger and pulls a terrified Frank back down into the tunnel.
"Frank!" Solomon yells out in horror.
"No!" the Doctor is equally horrified.
Theatre Props Room
Solomon shoves the Doctor out of the way as the pig-men start to climb the ladder to get at them, and he slams the lid shut.
"What are you doing?!" Katy shouts out in protest.
"We can't go after him!" Solomon reasons, and the Doctor looks at him angrily.
"We've got to go back down. We can't just leave him." He attempts to open up the tunnel leading back down into the sewer, but Solomon stops him again.
"No, I'm not losing anybody else. Those creatures were from Hell. From Hell itself! If we go after them, they'll take us all! There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."
Katy, in her frustration and despair of leaving behind Frank, turns and comes face to face with a gun. Which was being held up by a petite young woman with perfectly permed platinum blonde hair, who was scowling at her.
"What the hell?" Katy blurts out as she immediately raises her hands in surrender, drawing the attention of everyone else.
"Katy!" the Doctor immediately darts forward but stops when the woman cocks the hammer on the gun.
"Hands in the air and no funny business." The woman orders, and the Doctor immediately obeys her, as does Solomon and Martha. "Now tell me, you schmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?"
"Who's Laszlo?" Katy asks, calmly.
Dressing Room
The young woman leads the four of them to her dressing room, still holding the gun in her hands, and all four of them eye off the weapon nervously; especially when she starts waving it around carelessly while she talks to them.
"Laszlo's my boyfriend," the blonde explains. "Or was my boyfriend until he disappeared two weeks ago. No letter, no goodbye, no nothing. And I'm not stupid…" she says while aiming the gun and poking herself in the chest with it, making the four of them wince. "I know some guys are just pigs, but not my Laszlo. I mean, what kind of guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?" She asks, all chatty-like.
"Yeah. Um, it might, might just help if you put that down." The Doctor suggests, indicating to the gun still held in the blonde's hand.
"Huh?" she looks down at the gun, then shrugged. "Oh, sure." She tosses it onto a nearby chair, causing everyone to react with horror, expecting it to fire. When it doesn't, they look at her quizzically. "Oh, come on. It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear." She explains.
"And you couldn't have told us this earlier?" Katy glowers at the blonde in irritation, where she was standing between the Doctor and Martha nearby the doorway. Everyone relaxes and takes a seat or leans against something.
"What do you think happened to Laszlo?" Martha asks, politely.
"Wish I knew," the blonde pouts. "One minute he's there, the next, zip. Vanished."
"Listen, uh, what's your name?" the Doctor asks.
"Tallulah," the blonde responded, with a smile.
"Tallulah," the Doctor repeats.
"Three Ls and an H."
"Right," the Doctor continued, dismissively. "We can try to find Laszlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night." He explains.
"And there are creatures. Such creatures." Solomon added, still looking a bit disturbed at this discovery. Tallulah frowns at them curiously.
"What do you mean, creatures?" She asks.
"Look, listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is." He pulls out the green jellyfish from his pocket and shows it to her. "Because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting."
"Yuck!" Tallulah makes a face at the green jellyfish.
Props room
The Doctor and Solomon go back to the Props Room so the Doctor could scavenge around for parts to build a gizmo so he could identify what exactly the strange green jellyfish was. Solomon approaches him, bringing a small Art Nouveau radio.
"How about this? I found it backstage." He offers up the radio, and the Doctor grins and accepts it.
"Perfect. It's the capacitors I need. I'm just rigging up a crude little DNA scan for this beastie. If I can get a chromosomal reading, I can find out where it's from." The Doctor stated, indicating towards the green jellyfish. Solomon nods but continues to scrutinise the Doctor curiously.
"How about you, Doctor? Where are you from? I've been all over. I never heard anybody talk like you. Just exactly who are you?"
"Oh, I'm just sort of passing by," the Doctor explains, not going into elaborate detail. This causes Solomon to frown at him, suspiciously.
"I'm not a fool, Doctor." He warns him, and the Doctor looks at him briefly and nods, looking sheepish.
"No. Sorry." He apologises.
Solomon walks back over to the New York sewer entrance they had all scrambled out of to escape the pig-men earlier. He looks solemnly at it, obviously still kicking himself over the fact that he had failed to help Frank.
"I was so scared, Doctor." He admits. "I let them take Frank because I was just so scared. I got to get back to Hooverville. With these creatures on the loose, we got to protect ourselves. Ain't no one else going to help us." He realises with a determination.
The Doctor nods approvingly.
"Good luck." He wishes Solomon, who nods and doffs his hat at him respectfully.
"I hope you find what you're looking for, for all our sakes."
Tallulah's dressing room
Katy and Martha remain behind in Tallulah's dressing room with her, while the Doctor and Solomon go on their little scavenging hunt. The blonde vaudevillian started preparing for her next show. She was dressed up in an angel costume that consisted of a white leotard with spangly silver tassels, nude sheer hose, silver Mary-jane heels, a pair of large white wings, and a slightly tacky tiara with a halo perched in her neatly coiffed blonde curled hair.
"Laszlo," Tallulah sighed. "He'd wait for me after the show. Walk me home like I was a lady. He'd leave a flower for me on my dressing table. Every day, just a single rose bud."
"Haven't you reported him missing?" Katy asked, feeling a bit sorry for her.
"Sure," Tallulah scoffs, a bit sadly. "He's just a stagehand. Who cares? The management certainly don't."
"Can't you kick up a fuss or something?" Martha suggested. Tallulah just gives her a look.
"Okay, so then they can fire me."
"But they'd listen to you. You're one of the stars." Martha was persistent, but Tallulah just laughs lightly at her, amused. "Oh, honey, I got one song in a back street revue, and that's only because Heidi Chicane broke her ankle." She explained how cutthroat the vaudeville industry really was like in the 1930s. "Which had nothing to do with me whatever anybody says. I can't afford to make a fuss. If I don't make this month's rent, then before you know it, I'm in Hooverville."
"Okay, I get it." Martha looks despondent.
"It's the Depression, sweetie." Tallulah explains, sympathetically. "Your heart might break, but the show goes on. Because if it stops, you starve. Every night I got out there, sing, dance, keep going, hoping he's going to come back."
"I'm sorry," Martha apologises, sincerely.
"Hey, you're lucky, though. You've got yourself a forward-thinking guy with that hot potato in the sharp suit." Tallulah winks at her and Martha immediately blushes and corrects her.
"Oh, no. He's not. We're not together. He's with Katy," She indicates to Katy who smiles politely at her.
Tallulah looks embarrassed.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were, because I've seen the way you looked at him. It's obvious."
"No, the Doctor and Katy are together. I've only just met them recently." Martha insists, looking at Katy in a panic, not wanting to cause problems. But Katy smiles and takes her friend's hand.
"Martha, relax. You're fine." She reassures her, then spots something sitting on the dressing table, and reaches for it. "Oh, looks like your Laszlo's come through with his little gifts." Katy holds up a simple little white rose bud and hands it to a surprised, but bittersweet Tallulah who pins it to her leotard with a dreamy smile.
"You think it's Laszlo?" Martha frowns.
"I don't know. If he's still around, why is he being all secret like he doesn't want me to see him?" Tallulah ponders, sadly.
"I really wouldn't worry too much about it. He'll probably show up when you least expect it." Katy attempts to reassure the blonde, who sighed.
"I hope so."
There was a momentary pause, before Katy sighed and gets to her feet.
"I'm gonna see what the Doctor's up to. See if he needs any help." Katy states before walking from the dressing room in search of her boyfriend.
Lighting Gallery
Katy eventually finds the Doctor up in the Lighting Gallery, pouring over a strange looking gadget that he just constructed from scraps of metal and electronic parts. He was currently aiming a spotlight down onto the jellyfish, which he had pinned inside the gizmo, and powered by the sonic screwdriver.
"That's it," the Doctor mumbles to himself, adjusting the angle of the light slightly. "We need to heat you up." He puts on his glasses and leans in to examine it closer.
"Need any help, sweetie?" Katy announces herself, and the Doctor looks up slightly and smiles warmly at her.
"Nah, I've got it covered." He responds. "But you can stay here, if you want. I don't mind." The Doctor was quick to add when he saw that she was about to turn and walk off. Katy looks at him hesitantly.
"You sure? I don't want to distract you…" Katy states, but the Doctor beckons her closer.
"I'd enjoy some company," He insists, and Katy comes over and takes a seat, cross-legged, in front of the Doctor with the gizmo in between them. Sounds of the theatre filling up beneath them in the audience below for the performance, fills the spacious auditorium while the Doctor continues examining the jellyfish, and Katy finds her mind starting to wonder a bit. To the point that she almost misses the Doctor speaking to her.
"Sorry?" She blinks at the Doctor, who was looking at her with mild amusement.
"I just asked if there was something on your mind," the Doctor repeats himself, with a small smirk on his face. Katy scrunches up her face a little.
"Nothing that you'd probably call noteworthy," Katy responds, dismissively.
"Try me," the Doctor insists, still poking and prodding at the jellyfish. "You never know what might interest me." He points out, and Katy hesitates a bit longer before sighing and caving to the Doctor's request.
"Well, I'm still going over what the Face of Boe told us. That fact that apparently, we're both not alone in this world." Katy admits, and the Doctor pauses for a moment; a slightly tense frown forming on his face.
"What about it?" the Doctor eventually asks.
"That's the thing, what if what he says is true? I mean, I made it off Gallifrey before it was…" She trailed off, trying to think of a more graceful way of saying it was destroyed, to avoid making the Doctor feel guilty.
"… destroyed?" Katy looked at him with surprise, before the Doctor smiles at her fondly, with just a hint of sadness in his eyes at the reminder that their home planet no longer existed. "You can say it, love. I've had time to accept it for what it is." He reassures her, and Katy returns the smile a little sheepishly.
"Well, if it happened with me, who's to say someone else did too?" She asks, and the Doctor sighed and sat up a little, looking a little pained himself.
"I hear what you're saying, darling. And I won't deny it, I've had the same thought too. But I just don't see how. You being here is a miracle in itself. It just seems too good to be true..." He trails off, looking somewhat troubled.
"I hear you. But my gut instinct is telling me otherwise; there's another Time Lord out there, that we've overlooked." Katy insists.
"I'll believe it when I see it." The Doctor was doubtful and returns his focus back on the jellyfish; an indication to Katy that he wanted to change the subject. So, Katy obliges. She frowns down curiously at the rancid smelling jellyfish with trepidation.
"Have you figured out what that thing is yet?" She asks, and the Doctor frowns in concentration.
"Not just yet. It's still warming up." The Doctor responds.
"Do you want my opinion?"
"I'm all ears," the Doctor mumbles.
"Call me crazy, but it does sort of resemble something utterly impossible…" Katy stated.
"Which would be?" the Doctor looks up at her, curiously.
"A Dalek," Katy guesses.
The Doctor scoffs; looking a bit sceptical. But doesn't immediately reject her suggestion and goes back to probing the jellyfish, muttering underneath his breath as he does. The lights dim overhead, and Katy gets to her feet and wonders over to the balcony to catch a glimpse of what was going on stage. The orchestra sounds loudly, giving the introduction to the next act.
"This is artificial," the Doctor exclaimed, half-drawing Katy's attention down at him. The MC walks out on stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen. The Laurenzi…" His voice is drowned out by the Doctor's voice.
"Genetically engineered…" Katy turns away from the MC to focus on the Doctor. He glances up at his girlfriend, impressed with his discovery. "Whoever this is, oh, you're clever." She grins at him and turns her head to look back at the MC.
"…Dancing devils, with 'Heaven and Hell!'"
The curtains open, revealing a chorus line of ladies in red devil dresses, who pull back their large sequined red feather fans to reveal Tallulah, the angel in white. Katy smiles and turns around to lean against the balcony wall to listen and observe the performance.
"You lured me in with your cold grey eyes, your simple smile, your bewitching lies. One and one and one is three. My bad, bad angel, the Devil and me. You put the devil in me. You put the devil in me. You put the devil in me. You put the devil in me. My bad, bad angel, you put the Devil in me."
Tallulah sings, and Katy, despite enjoying the glitz and glamour of a 1930s vaudevillian show, was mystified by how much it sexualised women with the scantily glad costumes they were required to wear. The amused, slightly irked smile on Katy's face faded a little when she sees Martha attempting to sneak across the back of the stage behind the dancers, a look of determination on her face.
"What the hell are you doing?" Katy mutters to herself. The Doctor, meanwhile, had taken his stethoscope and was listening to the jellyfish through them, growing more and more disturbed with what he was finding.
"Fundamental DNA type four six seven dash nine eight nine," He mumbles to himself. He pauses. "Nine eight nine…" The Doctor sits up, attracting Katy's attention and she looks over at him curiously. "Hold on, that means planet of origin." His brown eyes widen in horror. "Skaro!"
"What did you say?" Katy blurts out, shocked. The Doctor gets to his feet, and grabs Katy by the shoulders, looking her in the eyes.
"You were right," He informs her, and Katy pales.
"I didn't want to be!" She stated, and both their heads jerk towards the stage when a high-pitched scream is heard.
"Come on!" the Doctor grabs Katy's hand and both of them sprint from the lighting gallery to investigate.
Stage
The audience are laughing at the chaos that Martha was creating by her presence on stage in the middle of the act. Tallulah was getting annoyed with her.
"Get off the stage. You're spoiling it!" She hisses at her, but Martha points insistently towards the wings.
"But look. Over there!" Martha insists, and Tallulah turns and looks and screams when she sees a pigman standing there watching them. It immediately turns and bolts. "Hey!" Martha chases after the pigman backstage. "Wait!"
Backstage/Props Room
Martha chases the pigman towards the props room that it makes a beeline for. She attempts once again to stop it.
"But you're different to the others! Just wait!" She urges. But she hears the lid of the sewer hole clang open, indicating that the pigman had made a break for it down into the tunnel's underneath New York.
The Doctor and Katy make to the backstage area, overhearing the comments made by several of the dancers.
"… it was something out of a movie show!"
"… Oh, that face! I ain't never going to sleep." One of them exclaimed, shuddering.
The Doctor finally spots Tallulah, looking extremely shaken and confused. He and Katy run up to her, urgently.
"Where is she? Where's Martha?" The Doctor asks, and Tallulah looks about helplessly.
"I don't know. She ran off the stage…" She blurts out, and all three of them look towards the prop room when Martha suddenly starts screaming.
"Martha!" The Doctor shouts, and he, Katy, and Tallulah run towards the sound. They come across the sewer lid, which hadn't been put back properly. The Doctor shrugged on his trench coat after taking it back from Katy.
"Where are you going?" Tallulah demands the Doctor and Katy, who look back at the blonde somewhat impatiently.
"They've taken her," Katy reveals, as the Doctor shoves aside the sewer lid.
"Who's taken her?" Tallulah questions. Neither of them responds to her, and Tallulah asks a different question. "What're you doing?" The Doctor ignores her question as he starts climbing down the ladder, followed closely by Katy. "I said, what the hell are you doing?" Tallulah tried again. When neither of them responds to her question again, Tallulah huffs in frustration and grabs a nearby fur coat. "Crazy, the both of them."
She starts making her way down the ladder too.
Sewers
The Doctor helps Katy down from the slightly slippery ladder, which had years of goop and slime crusting the rungs; making it a bit slick, and instantly balks when he sees Tallulah following them. It was already going against his best interests that his girlfriend was coming with him. But considering that Katy was a) his girlfriend and b) one of his companions, he was responsible for her safety and therefore was obligated to bring her along. The same couldn't be said for Tallulah.
"No, no, no, no, no way. You're not coming!" The Doctor states, sternly. Tallulah just fixes him with a challenging frown.
"Tell me what's going on," She demands. The Doctor attempts to make her go back up the ladder.
"There's nothing you can do. Go back!"
"Why? You're not making your gal stay behind, why should I?" Tallulah retorts. "Besides, whatever's taken Martha, they could've taken Laszlo, couldn't they?" She points out.
"Katy and I are a team, and she's, my responsibility. You're not." The Doctor reasons with the blonde. "Tallulah, you're not safe down here." He added, and Tallulah just glares at him defiantly.
"Then that's my problem." She states, fiercely. Katy couldn't decide if she approved of Tallulah's act of defiance or was just as irritated as the Doctor was for an unwanted tagalong, putting her own safety at risk. "Come on. Which way?" Tallulah demands, and then takes off down a nearby tunnel.
"This way!" the Doctor reluctantly calls out to her and points down the opposite direction to where she had been going, and Tallulah comes back and heads down that way. She misses the exasperated glances shared between him and Katy, before they quickly catch up with the stubborn blonde.
Sewer 2
A visibly terrified Martha is forcibly led through the sewers towards an unknown destination. She was mentally kicking herself for foolishly running head long into what was obviously a trap … or what looked like one, as the pigman she had been following didn't seem entirely dangerous. If anything, the expression she had seen on his face before he turned and ran for it, was almost miserable and dare she say it? Longing.
Martha struggles in her captor's strong grip.
"No! Let me go!" She yells, before she is pushed against a wall. A line of terrified, captured men is escorted past her, and Frank is among them. His eyes widen in horror when he sees Martha.
"Martha," He calls out to her, and she sags with relief and grabs him in a hug.
"You're alive! Oh! I thought we'd lost you!" She tells him. A pigman roughly shoves Frank; an obvious indication that it wanted him and Martha to keep moving. "Alright, alright, we're moving!" She glares at it as she and Frank fall in line and continue walking towards the unknown destination the pigmen wanted them to walk towards.
Martha and Frank cling to each other nervously.
"Where are they taking us?" Frank mutters.
"I don't know, but we can find out what's going on down here…" Martha realises and reassures Frank at the same time.
With the Doctor and Katy
The Doctor, Katy, and Tallulah continue on their own way through the sewer system, searching for Martha and her captors. It was a very tense situation, not helped by the fact that Tallulah was making a running commentary the entire time, when it was incredibly obvious that silence was golden right now.
"When you say, they've taken her, who's they exactly?" She asks a visibly irritated Doctor. "And who are you anyway? I never asked…"
"Shush!" the Doctor snaps, sharply.
"Okay, okay…" Tallulah mutters, a bit sullenly.
"Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush…" the Doctor repeats himself urgently, pulling both Katy and Tallulah back against the wall of the sewer. The shadow of a Dalek is cast on the wall ahead of them, and Katy's eyes widen in alarm.
"I mean you're handsome and all…" Tallulah attempted to joke, but Katy puts her hand over the blonde's mouth and glares at her warningly. The Doctor grabs both girls by their arms and drags them back towards a service alcove, shielding both of them with his body, waiting until the Dalek is safely past and away.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." the Doctor despaired. "They survived. They always survive while I nearly lose everything!"
"They must've somehow escaped during the Battle of Canary Wharf…" Katy stated, just as frustrated as the Doctor was. Tallulah just stares after the Dalek looking at it with confusion.
"That metal thing? What was it?" She asked, her voice just a tad louder than the two of them really liked.
"It's called a Dalek," the Doctor explained, in a low harsh voice. "And it's not metal, it's alive."
"You're kidding me…" Tallulah let out a nervous laugh, but the Doctor immediately snarls at her.
"Does it look like I'm kidding?!" Tallulah looks taken aback by his harsh tone. "Inside that shell is a creature born to hate, whose only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek too. It won't stop until it's killed every human being alive."
"But if it's not a human being, that kind of implies it's from outer space…" Tallulah stated, and the nervous smile on her face drops when she sees the completely serious expressions on both the Doctor and Katy's faces. "Yet again, that's a no with the kidding. Boy. Well, what's it doing here in New York?" She ponders.
"A question we really don't want to find out the answer to, if we can help it." Katy mutters in response.
The Doctor glances down at Tallulah, darkly.
"Every second you're down here, you're in danger. I'm taking you right back now…" The Doctor grabs her by the arm and escorts her back. But they come across the pigman that Martha had gone after back at the theatre, and Tallulah screams again when she sees it. It attempts to hide, but the Doctor is hot on its tail.
"Where's Martha?" he demands. "What have you done with her? What have you done with Martha?"
"I didn't take her!' the pigman responded.
"Can you remember your name?" Katy questioned him.
"Don't look at me," the pigman insisted. Tallulah walks over to him, trying to get a better look at the creature who had taken her new friend.
"Do you know where she is?" She asks. The pigman immediately flinches away.
"Stay back! Don't look at me." He pleads, and the Doctor raises his hand at him, reassuringly.
"What happened to you?"
"They made me a monster," the pigman explained, realising that the Doctor didn't mean him any harm.
"Who did?" Katy asked, curiously.
"The masters," the pigman confirmed and the Doctor frowned when he realised what he was talking about.
"The Daleks. Why?"
"They needed slaves," the pigman shrugged. "They needed slaves to steal more people, so they created us. Part animal, part human." He explains. "I escaped before they got my mind, but it was still too late."
"We're really sorry that this has happened to you," Katy stated, sadly.
"Do you know what happened to Martha?" the Doctor added, just as sympathetic, but also concerned for Martha's safety. The pigman looked really guilty.
"They took her," He reveals. "It's my fault. She was following me." Tallulah comes forward, and the pigman eyed her warily.
"Were you in the theatre?" She asks.
"Yes…" He hesitates.
"Why? Why were you there?" Tallulah demands, a little frightened. The pigman still avoids looking her directly.
"I never wanted you to see me like this…" He mumbles, ashamed.
"Why me? What I got to do with this?" She insists. "Were you following me? Is that why you were there?" The pigman finally turns around and lets the light reflect on his face so that Tallulah could see him properly.
"Yes," he said. The Doctor and Katy suddenly realise that this was Laszlo and look at the doomed couple with sadness.
"Who are you?" Tallulah demands, firmly.
"I was lonely…"
"Who are you?"
"I needed to see you…"
"Who are you?" Tallulah asks in a near whisper. Laszlo hesitates again and turns away.
"I'm sorry," He goes to leave, but Tallulah finally reaches him and grabs his arm, turning him back around so she could study his face.
"No, wait! Let me look at you…" Tallulah studies his partially transformed pigface, while Laszlo waits nervously for her reaction. Was she going to freak out and reject him once she knew the truth? Tallulah gasps when she finally realises who he is and cups a hand over her mouth. "Laszlo? My Laszlo?" She reaches out a tentatively touches his face as tears well up in her eyes. "Oh, what have they done to you?"
"I'm sorry. So sorry…" Laszlo sags with relief, but still looks ashamed of his appearance. To Katy, this was really starting to look like a real-life version of Beauty and the Beast or Phantom of the Opera.
The Doctor comes over to get Laszlo to reveal Martha's location.
"Laszlo, can you show us where they are?" He asks, somewhat urgently.
Laszlo looks at him with pity.
"They'll kill you," He warns.
"If I don't stop them, they'll kill everyone." The Doctor points out, and Laszlo nods, looking determined.
"Then follow me."
With Martha
The pigmen forcibly march Martha, Frank, and the rest of the kidnapped men towards a small out of the way alcove in the sewers and make them line up and stand against the wall. Both Martha and Frank are understandably confused and scared about what was going on.
"What are they keeping us here for?" Frank whispers to Martha, who bites her bottom lip nervously, obviously just as in the dark about all this as Frank, but also attempting to keep her wits about her and look for the next opportunity to escape, and hopefully with Frank in tow.
"I don't know. But I've got a nasty feeling we're being kept in the larder." Martha responded, uncomfortably.
Out of sight of the pigmen and the captured men, Frank, and Martha; Laszlo brings the Doctor, Katy, and Tallulah to where they can see Martha and Frank. Suddenly, the pigmen start getting nervous.
"What're they doing? What's wrong? What's wrong?" Frank questions, urgently. Suddenly, a Dalek trundles in, causing Laszlo to hide and pull the Doctor, Katy, and Tallulah with him so they wouldn't be noticed.
"SILENCE! SILENCE!" the Dalek bellows. Martha makes a face at the Dalek, unaware of the very real danger she and Frank were in.
"What the hell is that?" She mutters, quizzically.
"YOU WILL FORM A LINE! MOVE! MOVE!" The Dalek demands, and Martha decides at the very last minute to cooperate, praying that the Doctor would arrive soon to help them.
"Just do what it says, everyone, okay? Just obey…" Martha states and stiffens when the Dalek pauses in front of her and turns its eyestalk to study her.
"THE FEMALE IS WISE! OBEY!" It shouts robotically, just as another Dalek rolls in.
"REPORT!" It demands, and the first Dalek debriefs it.
"THESE ARE STRONG SPECIMENS. THEY WILL HELP THE DALEK CAUSE!" It reports, and Martha frowns.
"Dalek?" She whispers to herself, wondering what that word sounded so familiar.
"WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE FINAL EXPERIMENT?" the first Dalek inquires to its associate.
"THE DALEKANIUM IS IN PLACE. THE ENERGY CONDUCTOR IS NOW COMPLETE."
"I WILL EXTRACT PRISONERS FOR SELECTION!" the first Dalek swivels back round and rolls closer to an older black man that one of the pigman slaves pulls forward. The Dalek extends its plunger like arm towards the man's face, and it shines a blue light into it. "INTELLIGENCE SCAN, INITIATE!" The blue light flashes for a few minutes. "READING BRAIN WAVES." Then the plunger arm detracts. "LOW INTELLIGENCE."
"You callin' me stupid?" the black man glowers at the Dalek in offence. The Dalek swivels on the spot; a sign that it was agitated.
"SILENCE! THIS ONE WILL BECOME A PIG SLAVE. NEXT!" The pigmen seize the black man's arms and starts dragging him away down the sewer corridors.
"No, let go of me. I'm not becoming one of them. No! No." The man's voice fades away, as the Dalek trundles up to the next man in line.
"INTELLIGENCE SCAN. INITIATE!" The process is repeated over and over again; with the Dalek either sending the person away, or immediately moving onto the next person. Laszlo, the Doctor, Katy, and Tallulah observe this, while Laszlo gives them an explanation about what the Daleks were doing.
"They're divided into two groups. High intelligence and low intelligence," Laszlo explains. "The low intelligence are taken to become pig slaves like me."
"Well, that's not fair." Tallulah protests on Laszlo's behalf.
"Shush!" the Doctor tells her sternly.
"You're the smartest guy I ever dated," Tallulah whispers, complimenting Laszlo.
"Why? What for?" Katy asked, confused.
"I don't know. The masters only call it the Final Experiment." Laszlo shrugged, just as puzzled as she and the Doctor appeared. The Dalek by this time had gotten up to Frank and had scanned him.
"SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE!" It announces, before moving on to Martha and scanning her. "INTELLIGENCE SCAN, INITIATE." Like the others it only takes a few minutes. "SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE. THIS ONE WILL BECOME PART OF THE FINAL EXPERIMENT." The Dalek indicates a visibly agitated Martha.
"You can't just experiment on people. It's insane! It's INHUMAN!" She shrieks angrily at the Dalek, who remains unperturbed by her anger.
"WE ARE NOT HUMAN." It reminds Martha, before turning to the group of pigmen slaves idling nearby. "PRISONERS OF HIGH INTELLIGENCE WILL BE TAKEN TO THE TRANSGENIC LABORATORY." It instructs, before forcing the prisoners into a quick march down the sewer corridor.
"Look out, they're moving!" the Doctor warns and flattens himself and Katy against the wall. Laszlo turns to guide Tallulah away, with Tallulah grabbing onto Katy's arm to pull her with them. However, Katy shakes her off and she and the Doctor stay behind.
Laszlo notices this and pauses to find out why.
"Doctor. Katy. Quickly!" He urges, but the Doctor hastily waves him off, and Katy notices this, realises he had something planned, and quickly explains their decision to stay.
"We're not coming. I think the Doctor has an idea. You go!" Katy urges, and turns back to the Doctor's side, waiting for his next move. Laszlo hesitates, then realises that he needed to get his girlfriend to safety, but also knew that this mysterious (and incredibly stubborn) couple may need his help, since he looked like the pig slaves.
Tallulah tugs on his arm insistently.
"Laszlo, come on!" she whispers, and Laszlo quickly makes his decision and grabs onto Tallulah's shoulders, looking determinedly into them so he could get his point across.
"Can you remember the way?" He asks her, and Tallulah looks slightly confused by his question.
"Yeah, I think so…" She confirms.
"Then go, please." Laszlo insists, and gently shoves her away. However, Tallulah continues to cling to his arm.
"But Laszlo, you got to come with me." Tallulah insists, obviously unwilling to let him out of her sight again, having missed him for the past several weeks. However, Laszlo shut down; despite how much he really wanted to go with her.
"Where would I go?" He pointed out, indicating his currently deformed appearance, which makes Tallulah pause when she sees his point. "Tallulah, I'm begging you. Save yourself. Just run. Just go. Go!" Laszlo pleads with her, and she eventually leaves.
The Doctor and Katy witnessed this, looking at him sadly, but then refocused on the task of liberating Martha, Frank, and the other prisoners from the Daleks. The trio waited for the Daleks to glide past them, before the Doctor and Katy slip neatly into the line with the prisoners, with Laszlo falling into place with the pig slaves, pretending to be herding the prisoners along with them. The Doctor had managed to get behind Martha, who jumped when she senses someone behind her and sags with relief when she sees him.
"Just keep walking…" the Doctor mutters to her underneath his breath.
"Oh, I'm so glad to see you," Martha exclaims, slightly teary from her fear.
"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later." The Doctor acknowledged sarcastically. "You too, Frank, if you want…" He mutters to Frank who was behind Katy. The brunette reaches behind and grabs the frightened boy's hand and squeezes it reassuringly.
Dalek Laboratory
The Daleks lead their group of frightened prisoners back to their laboratory in the Empire State Building. However, neither of them realised that they had picked up three extra prisoners back in the sewers. The Doctor and Katy tense up when they see two other Daleks in addition to the two that had brought them up here with the other prisoners.
"The Cult of Skaro?" Katy mutters to the Doctor who nodded.
"Looks like it," the Doctor responds back. Both ignore the questioning looks from both Martha and Frank when they overhear their brief commentary. One of the Daleks was smoking and vibrating on the spot, like it was a dishwasher on the last part of its washing cycle, while another hovers nearby monitoring it.
"REPORT!" One of the Daleks, who had been escorting the prisoners, orders. The supervising Dalek swivels round.
"DALEK SEC IS IN THE FINAL STAGE OF EVOLUTION." It reveals.
"SCAN HIM. PREPARE FOR BIRTH."
"Birth?" Katy echoes, blankly.
"Evolution?" the Doctor frowned. Martha leans back to whisper to the Doctor.
"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?" She mutters, and the Doctor shrugged, even though he was just as curious about what the hell the Cult of Skaro were up to.
"Ask them," the Doctor suggested, and Martha looked taken aback by the idea.
"What, me? Don't be daft." She dismisses the idea, but the Doctor nudges her insistently in the back.
"I don't exactly want Katy or myself to be noticed. Ask them what's going on," the Doctor insists, urgently. Martha sags, but reluctantly complies with the Doctor's request. She clears her throat.
"Daleks, I demand to be told. What is this Final Experiment? Report!" She orders, and the three Daleks swivel round to briefly address her.
"YOU WILL BEAR WITNESS!"
"To what?" Martha questioned.
"THIS IS THE DAWN OF A NEW AGE."
"What does that mean?" Martha asks, looking somewhat nervous.
"THERE ARE ONLY FOUR DALEKS IN EXISTENCE, SO THE SPECIES MUST EVOLVE A LIFE OUTSIDE THE SHELL." The Doctor and Katy's eyes widen in horror when they hear this 'interesting' piece of information. "THE CHILDREN OF SKARO MUST WALK AGAIN!"
The smoking and vibrating Dalek suddenly stops smoking and the light in its eyestalk blinks out. The shell casing opens like a door hatch and a biped struggles out. The shell casing closes, and the newly revealed biped straightens up.
"Oh, my God…" Katy mutters, grabbing onto the Doctor's hand in her fear. The Doctor also looks deeply disturbed by this strange, disfigured biped.
"What is it?" Martha whispers.
The biped had the one-eyed head and hands of a Dalek blob, but it was wearing what looked like Mister Diagoras' black suit with white pinstripes. It opens its one eye, takes a deep breath and speaks with Diagoras' Brooklyn accent.
"I am a human Dalek. I am your future…"
A/N: This is the end of the chapter representing 'Daleks in Manhattan'. Stay tuned for the next update.
TTFN x