After walking out of the TARDIS with Annabelle and the Doctor close behind her, Martha asked him, "Where are we?"
In turn, the Doctor said, "Ah! Smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely!" Then he turned to Martha and asked her, "Martha, have you met my friend?"
With a quick turn of her head, Martha started to ask him, "Is that... Oh, my God, that's the Statue of Liberty!"
While Annabelle had simply rolled her eyes to herself, the Doctor said, "Gateway to the New World. 'Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free'."
As she continued to stare up at the Statue of Liberty, Martha said, "That's so brilliant. I've always wanted to go to New York. I-I mean, the real New York, not the new, new, new one."
After turning his back on Annabelle and Martha, the Doctor said with a nod of his head, "Well, there's the genuine article. So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam, originally. Harder to say twice, no wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."
While Annabelle had looked anywhere but at the city that stood on the other side of the ocean, Martha said, "Wonder what year it is? 'Cause look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Work in progress. They've still got a couple of floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around..."
It was then that Martha said, "November 1st, 1930."
As he turned his head to look over at Martha, the Doctor said to her, "You're getting good at this."
While the Doctor had turned to look over at the newspaper that Martha was holding, Martha said, "That's nearly eighty years ago. It's funny, 'cause you see those old newsreels, all in black and white, like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. It's now." While the Doctor had only continued to stare down at the newspaper after taking it out of Martha's hands, Martha said to him, "Come on, you. Where do you want to go first?"
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "I think our detour just got longer."
As she looked at the newspaper once more, Martha said, "'Hooverville Mystery Deepens'. What's Hooverville?"
* * *
As he walked through a park with Martha and Annabelle, the Doctor said, "Herbert Hoover, thirty-first President of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then, New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties. And then..."
In turn, Martha said to him, "The Wall Street Crash, yeah. When was that, 1929?"
With a nod of his head, the Doctor replied, "Yeah. The 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."
Martha asked him, "What, they actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?"
With a sigh, the Doctor said to her, "Well, not everyone is an Original vampire that can compel others into keeping their home from being stolen out from under them." After glancing over at Annabelle and seeing the way that she was looking at him, he said to her, "Sorry."
When Annabelle had only continued to stare at him with a blank look on her face, the Doctor had simply grimaced to himself before he brought his attention back over to Martha when she'd asked him another question.
* * *
While the three of them had walked through Hooverville, the Doctor told Martha, "Ordinary people lost their jobs, couldn't pay the rent, they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. No one's helping them. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go."
It wasn't long afterwards that they heard a voice yell, "You thieving low life!" While Annabelle had turned to the fighting that was occurring after hearing a groan, one of the men went to kick the other as he said, "All morning I wait in the bread line for a single loaf..."
In turn, the other man said to him, "I didn't touch it."
After glancing over at the Doctor and Martha and seeing how they both started to walk in the direction of the current fighting, Annabelle had only let out a sigh before she went to walk after them at the same time that she heard another voice yell, "Cut that out! Cut it out, right now."
The first voice yelled, "He stole my bread!"
Then the third voice yelled, "That's enough!" Then Annabelle watched as the third man turned to the second one and asked him, "Did you take it?"
The second man replied, "I don't know what happened, he just went crazy."
When the first man had attempted to throw himself at the second one once more, the third man yelled, "That's enough!" Then he turned to the second man and said to him, "Now, think real careful before you lie to me."
With a shake of his head, the second man told him, "I'm starving, Solomon."
When Solomon simply held out a single hand towards him, the man took the loaf of bread out of his coat before Solomon said to him, "We all starving. We all got family somewhere." After breaking the bread apart and handing it to the two men, Solomon said to them, "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 because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got."
After the two men had gone their separate ways, the Doctor quietly said to Martha, "Come on." While Annabelle had simply rolled her eyes to herself as she walked after them and over towards Solomon, the Doctor said to him, "I suppose that makes you the boss around here."
In turn, Solomon asked him, "And, uh, who might you be?"
Martha told him, "He's the Doctor, I'm Martha and that's Annabelle."
With a mere tilt of his head, Solomon said, "A doctor? Well, we got, uh, stockbrokers, we've got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. The neighborhood gets classier by the day."
It was then that Martha asked him, "How many people live here?"
Solomon told her, "Any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville, we a truly equal society. Black, white, all the same, all starving. So you're welcome, all three of you." Then he looked over at the Doctor and asked him, "But tell me, Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me."
After taking a couple of steps away from them and pointing a finger over at the unfinished Empire State Building, Solomon told them, "That there is 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?"
* * *
As he took a step closer to Solomon, the Doctor said to him, "So, men going missing. Is this true?"
After taking the newspaper out of the Doctor's hands, Solomon told him, "It's true alright."
After taking a step into a tent after Solomon with Annabelle and Martha close behind him, the Doctor asked him, "But what does missing mean? I mean, people must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register."
With a wave of his hand, Solomon said to them, "Come on in." While Annabelle had eyed the inside of the tent with narrowed eyes, Solomon told them, "This is different."
In turn, Martha asked him, "In what way?"
After silently looking between the three of them, Solomon said, "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."
With furrowed eyebrows, the Doctor asked him, "And you're sure someone's taking them?"
With a nod of his head, Solomon told him, "Doctor, when you've got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, a fire still burning."
With a nod of her head, Martha asked him, "Have you been to the police?"
With a nod of his own head, Solomon replied, "Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal."
In turn, the Doctor said, "So the question is who's taking them and what for?"
It was then that the flap of the tent was opened by a young man, who yelled, "Solomon! Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here."
It wasn't long afterwards that the four of them were out of the tent and looking at Mr. Diagoras, who said, "I need men, volunteers. I've got a little work for you. And you sure look like you could use the money."
With a nod of his head, the young man asked him, "Yeah, what is the money?"
With a nod of his own head, Mr. Diagoras said, "A dollar a day."
While Annabelle had only snorted to herself in response to his words, Solomon asked him, "What's the work?"
Mr. Diagoras told him, "A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel collapsed, needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?"
In turn, Solomon said, "A dollar a day is a slave wage. And men don't always come back up, do they?"
With a shake of his head, Mr. Diagoras replied, "Accidents happen."
It was then that the Doctor asked him, "What do you mean, what sort of accidents?"
With yet another shake of his head, Mr. Diagoras said, "You don't need the work, that's fine. Anybody else?" After the Doctor had raised his hand, he said, "Enough with the questions."
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "Oh, no, no, no. I'm volunteering. I'll go."
As she started to raise her own hand, Martha told the Doctor, "I'll kill you for this."
While the Doctor had only let out a chuckle, Annabelle had raised her own hand with a mere roll of her eyes, shortly before Mr. Diagoras asked them, "Anybody else?"
Then the young man from before had raised his own hand– including Solomon himself.
* * *
While Annabelle had simply stared up at Mr. Diagoras with her head tilted to the side and her eyes narrowed, Mr. Diagoras told them, "Turn left, go about half a mile, follow tunnel 273, the fall's right ahead of you. You can't miss it."
With a nod of his head, the young man asked him, "And when do we get our dollar?"
With a nod of his own head, Mr. Diagoras said, "When you come back up."
In turn, the Doctor asked him, "And if we don't come back up?"
With a shake of his head, Mr. Diagoras replied, "Then I got no one to pay."
While Annabelle had tilted her head some more and took a quick glance over at the Doctor and saw him simply shake his head at her, Solomon said, "Don't worry, we'll be back."
In turn, Martha said, "Let's hope so."
While Annabelle and the Doctor had only continued to stare at Mr. Diagoras, the young man from before said, "We just gotta stick together." While the Doctor had started to turn his back on Mr. Diagoras, the young man said, "It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here."
When the Doctor didn't hear Annabelle's footsteps from behind him, he said, "Come along, Annabelle. We haven't got all day."
In response to the Doctor's words, Annabelle had only tilted her head some more and continued to stare up at Mr. Diagoras for a couple of seconds, which resulted in her veins coming onto display and Mr. Diagoras himself simply eyeing the veins that appeared on her face before silently watching her turn her back on him and walk after the others with her hands clenched into fists and her veins still on display.
* * *
While the Doctor had only silently eyed the veins that were still visible on Annabelle's face, Martha asked, "So, what about you, Frank? You're not from around these parts, are you?"
With a laugh, Frank replied, "Oh, you can talk. No, I'm-I'm Tennessee, born and bred."
Then Martha asked him, "So how come you're here?"
Frank told her, "Oh, my Daddy died, Momma couldn't afford to feed us all, so, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself. So, I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There's a whole lot of runaways in the camp, younger than me from all over, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. Solomon keeps a look out for us. So, what about you? You're a long way from home."
Martha replied, "Yeah, I'm just a hitcher, too."
In turn, Frank said to her, "You stick with me, you'll be alright."
While Annabelle had eyed the inside of the sewers with narrowed eyes, the Doctor asked Solomon, "So this Diagoras bloke, who is he, then?"
Solomon told him, "Couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now seems like he's running most of Manhattan."
The Doctor asked him, "How'd he manage that, then?"
Solomon replied, "These are strange times. A man can go from being the king of the hill to the lowest of the low overnight. Guess for some folks, it works the other way around."
It was then that the Doctor said, "Whoa!"
While the five of them had stared down at– what looked like– a brain lying on the floor of the sewers, Martha asked, "Is it radioactive, or something?" Then– after pressing a hand against her mouth– she said, "It's gone off, whatever it is."
Then she glanced over at Annabelle and asked her, "Is this really not bothering you?"
With a mere shake of her head, Annabelle said, "No, not really. Besides, I've seen much worse things than whatever that is."
After Martha had simply shaken her head with a scoff, the Doctor had picked it up off of the floor, which got Martha to say to him, "And you've got to pick it up."
After sniffing the top of it, the Doctor said to Martha, "Shine your torch through it." After Martha started to do just that, the Doctor moved his fingers over it as he said, "Composite organic matter. Martha, medical opinion?"
With a nod of her head, Martha said, "It's not human, I know that."
The Doctor replied, "No. It's not." Then he quickly stood back up and said, "And I'll tell you something else. We must be at least half a mile in. I don't see any signs of a collapse, do you? So why did Mr. Diagoras send us down here?"
While Martha and Solomon had only looked around themselves, Martha asked him, "Where are we now? What's up above?"
The Doctor told her, "Well, we're right underneath Manhattan."
* * *
While the five of them had continued to walk through the sewers, Solomon said, "We're way beyond half a mile. There's no collapse, nothing."
Martha asked them, "That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?"
The Doctor replied, "Looks like it."
As he looked around himself, Frank asked, "So why'd he want people to come down here?"
With a scoff, Annabelle replied, "Why do you think?"
Shortly after both Solomon and Frank had shared a look with each other, the Doctor said, "Solomon, I think it's time you take these two back. Annabelle and I will be much quicker on our own."
It was then that some squealing was heard, which got Solomon to ask, "What the hell was that?"
Then Frank said, "Hello?"
While Annabelle had only rolled her eyes at Frank, Solomon said to him in a whisper, "Frank!"
In turn, Frank asked them in a whisper, "What if it's one of the folk gone missing? You'd be scared, half mad down here on your own."
While Annabelle had simply let out a scoff in response to his words, the Doctor asked Frank, "You think they're still alive?"
Frank replied, "Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost."
Then yet another squealing was heard, which got Annabelle to turn to Frank and say to him, "Tell me something, Frank. How many people do you even know that just so happen to make a noise just like that? Hmm?"
While Frank had only shrugged his shoulders in response to her question, another squealing was heard, which got Solomon to say, "I never heard nobody make a sound like that."
With a turn of his head, Frank asked, "Where's it coming from?" After the Doctor had taken a couple of steps away from them and some more squealing was heard, Frank said, "Sounds like there's more than one of them."
In turn, the Doctor asked them, "This way?"
Solomon said to him, "No, that way."
It wasn't long afterwards that Martha said in a whisper, "Doctor."
While Annabelle had slowly turned around to look at the figure that was leaning up against a wall, Solomon asked the figure, "Who are you?"
Then Frank asked the figure, "Are you lost? Can you understand me?" When he didn't receive a response, he took a step forward and said, "I've been thinking about folk lost down here."
With a raise of one of his arms, the Doctor said, "It's alright, Frank, just stay back. Let me have a look." While he slowly made his way over towards the figure that was leaning against the wall, he said, "He's got a point, though, my mate Frank. I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight. If you come with us."
After coming to a halt in front of the figure and crouching down in front of it with the flashlight pointed in its face, the Doctor asked it, "Oh, but what are you?"
While Annabelle had silently eyed the figure with the face of a pig, Solomon asked, "Is that some kind of carnival mask?"
With a turn of his head, the Doctor told him, "No, it's real." After looking back at the creature, the Doctor said to it, "I'm sorry. But listen to me. I promise I can help. Who did this to you?"
It was then that Martha said, "Doctor, I think you'd better get back here." While Annabelle had silently eyed the other pig-like creatures, Martha yelled, "Doctor!"
In turn, the Doctor said, "Actually, good point."
While the Doctor had slowly backed up towards them and away from the pig-like creatures, Martha told him, "They're following you."
The Doctor replied, "Yeah, I noticed that, thanks." As he continued to make his way back to them, he said, "Right, then, Martha, Annabelle, Frank, Solomon."
While the pig-like creatures had continued to slowly walk over to them, Martha said, "What?"
The Doctor told them, "I think, um, basically, run!"
As soon as he'd said 'run' and each of them– excluding Annabelle– had started to run, the pig-like creatures had let out squeals and started to run after them.
The few that hadn't run after the four of them were the ones that were continuing to walk over towards Annabelle, who was eyeing them with her head tilted to the side and her eyes narrowed, only to step aside when one of the pig-like creatures had lunged towards her before she shoved her hand into its chest and then proceeded to rip out its heart.
Then she silently watched as the pig-like creature had simply fallen face-first onto the floor of the sewers before she looked over at the two remaining pig-like creatures that had let out separate squeals of their own and then ran at her as well.
In response to their actions, Annabelle had snapped the neck of one of the pig-like creatures and then grabbed the back of the neck of the other and then proceeded to repeatedly bash its head into one of the walls to the sewers.
It wasn't long after its squealing had ceased and it had slumped down onto the floor that she heard the Doctor yell from another part of the sewers, "Annabelle!"
With a sigh, she muttered to herself, "Bloody hell."
Then she'd sped in the direction of the Doctor's voice, only to stop when she saw that several of the pig-like creatures were surrounding Frank, which got her to silently eye each of them before she'd shoved them all out of the way and jumped up and out of the sewers– just in time for Solomon to close the cover to the sewers.
And while Martha had stared wide-eyed at the blood that was covering at least one of Annabelle's hands, Solomon said, "We can't go after him."
As he threw himself back onto the sewer covering, the Doctor yelled, "I've got to go back down! We can't just leave him."
In turn, Solomon said to him, "No. I'm not losing anybody else! Those creatures were from hell! From hell itself! If we go after him, they'll take us all! There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."
It was then that the four of them heard a voice say, "Alright then, put 'em up!" While Martha and Solomon were quick to raise their hands, the woman with the gun in her hand said to them, "Hands in the air and no funny business."
After slowly raising his hands, the Doctor glanced over at Annabelle and told her, "Raise your hands." When she didn't move to raise her hands, he said, "Raise your hands, Annabelle."
When she still refused to raise her hands, the Doctor simply sighed to himself and looked back at the woman, who said, "Now, tell me, you schmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?"
While Annabelle had simply rolled her eyes to herself, Martha asked the woman, "Who's Laszlo?"
The woman told her, "Laszlo's my boyfriend. Was my boyfriend until he disappeared two weeks ago. No letter, no goodbye, no nothing. And I'm not stupid. I know some guys are just pigs, but not my Laszlo. I mean, what kind of guy asks you to meet his mom before he vamooses?"
With a slow raise of one of his hands, the Doctor said to her, "Might... Might just help if you put that down."
In turn, the woman said, "Huh?" After looking over at the gun that she was still pointing at them, the woman said with a nod of her head, "Oh, sure."
After watching Martha quickly push herself behind the Doctor once the woman had thrown the gun into a nearby chair, the woman told them, "Oh, come on, it's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear."
With a sigh, Annabelle said, "At this point, I think I would have preferred if it were a spear and not just some prop."
While the Doctor was quick to give Annabelle a pointed look, Martha took a step past the Doctor and asked the woman, "What do you think happened to Laszlo?"
The woman replied, "I wish I knew. One minute he's there, the next, zip, vanished."
As he took a step forward, the Doctor asked her, "Listen, um, what was your name?"
The woman told him, "Tallulah."
In turn, the Doctor said, "Tallulah."
Then Tallulah said to him, "Three 'L's and an 'H'."
With a sigh, the Doctor said to her, "Right. Um, we can try and find Laszlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night."
Then Solomon told her, "And there are creatures. Such creatures..."
With a mere tilt of her head, Tallulah asked him, "What do you mean, creatures?"
The Doctor said to her, "Look, listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is." After showing her what they'd found in the sewers, he told her, "Because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting."
In response to seeing what he was holding, Tallulah simply grimaced to herself, while Annabelle had only rolled her eyes with a sigh.
* * *
While Annabelle had silently eyed the thing that looked similar to a brain with her eyes narrowed and her head tilted to the side, the Doctor had pointed a single spotlight at it as he said, "That's it, just need to heat you up."
Then she glanced over at the Doctor and watched as he put on a single pair of glasses and crouched down in front of it, shortly before Annabelle heard Tallulah yell, "Girls, it's showtime!"
Then she heard a female voice say, "Lois, you spoil my sashay tonight, I'm gonna punch you."
Then the woman that she assumed was Lois said to the first woman, "Oh, quit complaining, Myrna. Go buy yourself some glasses."
It wasn't long afterwards that she heard Tallulah say, "Come on, honey, take a look. Ever been on stage before?"
Martha replied, "Oh, little bit, you know, Shakespeare."
In turn, Tallulah said to her, "How dull is that? Come and see a real show!"
While Annabelle had only rolled her eyes in response to their words, the Doctor said to himself, "This is artificial!"
And while the Doctor had messed around with the equipment that he'd made for himself, a voice was heard yelling, "Ladies and gentlemen..."
Then the Doctor said, "They genetically engineered it. Whoever this is, oh, you're clever."
With a mere raise of her eyebrow, Annabelle asked him, "Do you mean to tell me that you haven't got the faintest idea of just who was behind the creation of whatever that is?"
When the Doctor had only shaken his head, Annabelle had only rolled her eyes to herself, shortly before she heard Tallulah sing, "You lured me in with your cold gray 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. My bad, bad angel, you put the devil in me."
Then– after that– Annabelle heard nothing more for a while but the playing of some instruments before she eventually heard a voice ask, "What are you doing?"
Then she heard Tallulah ask, "What are you doing?"
Then she heard a second voice say, "You're on my tail. Get off my tail!"
With a shake of her head, Annabelle had turned her head away from the sound of voices and looked back over at the Doctor, who said, "Fundamental DNA type 467-989." After taking off the stethoscope, he said, "989. Hold on, now that means planet of origin..."
After simply turning his head and looking away from Annabelle, the Doctor remained silent for a couple of seconds before he said, "Skaro."
After watching the Doctor quickly get up and run away from both her and the object that he was studying, Annabelle had only frowned to herself before she muttered to herself, "What the bloody hell is Skaro?"
* * *
After running up to Tallulah and grabbing onto her, the Doctor asked her, "Where is she? Where's Martha?"
In turn, Tallulah said to him, "I don't know. She ran off the stage."
It wasn't long afterwards that a scream was heard, which got the Doctor to quickly run after the sound of the screaming and Tallulah to simply run after him.
Then the four women that Tallulah was standing with looked over at Annabelle, who had only stood there with a blank look on her face before she let out a sigh and slowly walked in the direction that the Doctor and Tallulah had just gone in.
It wasn't long afterwards that she heard the Doctor yell, "Martha!"
Then she heard Tallulah ask, "Oh, where are you going?"
The Doctor told her, "They've taken her."
While Annabelle had made her way into the room and watched the Doctor remove the covering to the sewers, Tallulah asked him, "Who's taken her? What are you doing?" When the Doctor didn't respond to her question, Tallulah asked him, "I said what the hell are you doing?"
Then she looked over at Annabelle, who only raised her eyebrows at Tallulah before she jumped down into the hole and landed just in front of the Doctor, who said to her, "Oh, there you are. I was wondering where you went off to." After seeing Annabelle simply blink at him, he only raised his own eyebrows to himself before he looked up into the hole and said to Tallulah, "No, no, no, no way. You're not coming."
In turn, Tallulah said to him, "Tell me what's going on."
The Doctor replied, "There's nothing you can do, go back."
Tallulah told him, "Look, whoever's taken Martha they could have taken Laszlo, couldn't they?"
The Doctor said to her, "Tallulah, you're not safe down here."
In turn, Tallulah said to him, "Then that's my problem. Come on. Which way?"
After Tallulah had made a left turn and started to walk away from the ladder, the Doctor had glanced over at Annabelle and saw the way that she was simply rolling her eyes to herself before he walked ahead of himself and said, "This way."
* * *
While Annabelle had simply looked around the inside of the sewers with her eyes narrowed and the Doctor had simply held his screwdriver out in front of himself, Tallulah asked him, "When you say they've taken her, who's they, exactly? And who are you, anyway? I never asked."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Shh."
With a wave of her hand, Tallulah said to him, "Okay, okay."
Once more, the Doctor said to her, "Shh!"
It was then that the three of them could see the shadow of something heading in their direction, which got Annabelle to silently eye the growing shadow, just before Tallulah had started to tell the Doctor, "I mean, you're a handsome enough..."
It was then that the Doctor had quickly covered her mouth with one of his hands and dragged both Tallulah and Annabelle into another section of the sewers, shortly before Annabelle's eyebrows had furrowed when she saw a creature that she had never seen in her life prior to that moment slowly making its way past them.
It wasn't until the creature had made its way past them that the Doctor had moved away from Tallulah and Annabelle as he said, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." While Annabelle had taken a step away from the wall and stared after the creature with her head tilted to the side, the Doctor said, "They survive. They always survive, while I lose everything."
With a point of her finger, Tallulah asked him, "That metal thing, what was it?"
The Doctor told her, "It's called a Dalek. And it's not just metal, it's alive."
In turn, Tallulah said to him, "You're kidding me."
With a quick turn of his head, the Doctor asked her, "Do I look like I'm kidding?" After turning his head to look away from Tallulah, the Doctor said, "Inside that shell there's a creature born to hate, who's only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek, too. They won't stop until it's killed every human being alive."
With a shake of her head, Tallulah said to him, "But if that's not a human being, that kind of implies it's from outer space." When the Doctor had only glanced over at her, she said, "Yet again, that's a no with the kidding. Oy! Well, what's it doing here in New York?"
When the Doctor didn't respond and only stared ahead of himself, Annabelle glanced over at the Doctor and saw the way that the Doctor only stared in the direction that the Dalek had gone in with a look on his face that Annabelle could only describe as either hatred, anger, or even both for that matter.
And for someone like the Doctor that seemed to enjoy anything and everything that there was about life from what she'd noticed about him so far during their journeys, Annabelle couldn't help but wonder what it was about the Daleks that had made him look as angry as he did then.
Because as far as she could tell, the look that he had on his face while staring after the Dalek was at least a little bit similar to the look that she had on her own face during her last encounter with her father prior to her father's own attempt of killing her back when she was still in Spain with her siblings in the year 1702– before she would end up being forced to remain daggered for eleven years of her life and then wake up to find herself in New Orleans after the dagger had been removed from her heart.
And despite her constant and ongoing anger towards her own parents for what they did to her, Annabelle couldn't help but find that her curiosity on these Daleks and just what they had done to the Doctor in the first place to have him hate them as much as he did simply overrode her constant anger towards her own parents and only made her want to find out just what it was about these Daleks that had gotten the Doctor to hate them as much as he did.
Because for the first time during the five-hundred and thirty-three years in which she'd known of the Doctor– due to the handful of encounters that she had with him over the years prior to her encounter with the Judoon– she found herself being rather curious about the Doctor and the past that he had to have shared with the Daleks and the reason for why he seemed to hate them as much as he did.
* * *
As he kept a tight enough grip on Tallulah's arm, the Doctor told her, "Every second you're down here, you're in danger. I'm taking you back right now."
However, the moment that they saw one of the pig-like creatures, the three of them had come to an abrupt halt and Tallulah had simply let out a scream, which got the creature to attempt to run away from them before the Doctor asked the creature, "Where's Martha? What have you done with her?" While Annabelle had only raised her eyebrows to herself in response to seeing the Doctor walk after the creature, the Doctor asked, "What have you done with Martha?"
It was then that she heard the creature say, "I didn't take her."
With his eyebrows now furrowed, the Doctor asked him, "Can you remember your name?"
In turn, the creature said, "Don't look at me."
As she took a couple of steps in the direction of the Doctor and the creature, Tallulah asked, "Do you know where she is?"
Then the creature yelled, "Stay back! Don't look at me."
With a mere snort of her nose, Annabelle said, "Oh, yes, because repeatedly saying 'don't look at me' is really going to keep someone from looking at you."
After giving Annabelle a pointed look, the Doctor asked the creature, "What happened to you?"
The creature told him, "They made me a monster."
The Doctor asked him, "Who did?"
The creature replied, "The masters."
In turn, the Doctor said, "The Daleks. Why?"
While Annabelle had only tilted her head at the mere mention of the Daleks, the creature said, "They needed slaves. They needed slaves to steal more people, so they created us, part animal, part human. I escaped before they got my mind, but it was still too late."
Then the Doctor asked, "Do you know what happened to Martha?"
The creature told him, "They took her. It's my fault, she was following me."
It was then that Tallulah asked, "Were you in the theater?"
In turn, the creature said, "I never... Yes."
Then Tallulah asked, "Why? Why were you there?"
The creature told her, "I never wanted you to see me like this."
Tallulah replied, "Why me? What I got to do with this? Were you following me? Is that why you were there?"
After turning away from the wall and looking directly at Tallulah, the creature said, "Yes."
After a couple seconds of silence, Tallulah asked, "Who are you?"
The creature told her, "I was lonely."
As she took a couple of steps in the direction of the creature, Tallulah asked, "Who are you?"
The creature said to her, "I needed to see you."
Once more, Tallulah asked, "Who are you?"
As it started to turn away from her, the creature said, "I'm sorry."
It was then that Tallulah said, "No, wait. Let me look at you." After the creature had moved itself into a spot of light, Tallulah said, "Laszlo? My Laszlo? What have they done to you?"
In turn, the creature– now known as Laszlo– said to her, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
While Annabelle had silently eyed the two of them with her eyebrows furrowed and her nose scrunched up, the Doctor had taken a step closer to Laszlo and asked him, "Laszlo, can you show me where they are?"
With a mere turn of his head, Laszlo told him, "But they'll kill you."
With a shake of his head, the Doctor replied, "If I don't stop them, they'll kill everyone."
After only glancing over at Tallulah, Laszlo said to him, "Then follow me."
* * *
While the sound of pigs squealing was heard, Annabelle heard Frank ask, "What are they doing? What's wrong? What's wrong?"
It was then that Annabelle heard an unfamiliar voice yell, "Silence! Silence!"
While the Doctor and the others had pressed their backs into the wall and Annabelle had only tilted her head after hearing the voice, she heard Martha ask, "What the hell is that?"
Once more, she heard the voice yell, "You will form a line! Move! Move!"
With her eyes narrowed, Annabelle stared at the Dalek that seemingly stood in place, while Martha yelled, "Just do what it says, everyone, okay?! Just obey!"
As it moved down the line of people and the pig-like creatures, the Dalek said, "The female is wise. Obey!"
Then another Dalek made its way over to the first one and said, "Report!"
As the first Dalek turned to face the other one, it said, "These are strong specimens. They will help the Dalek cause."
In turn, Martha said to herself, "Dalek."
Then the first Dalek asked the other one, "What is the status of the final experiment?"
The second Dalek told the first one, "The Dalekenium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete."
In turn, the first Dalek said, "Then I will extract prisoners for selection." After one of the pig-like creatures had grabbed one of the men, the Dalek said, "Intelligence scan - initiate."
After one of the items attached to itself had made its way up to the man's face, the Dalek said, "Reading brainwaves. Low intelligence."
With a nod of his head, the man asked the Dalek, "You calling me stupid?"
In response to his words, the Dalek yelled, "Silence! This one will become a Pig Slave. Next."
While the apparent pig slaves had started to drag the man away, the man yelled, "No, let go of me! I'm not becoming one of them. No, let me go!"
Then the Dalek had turned its attention over to another man and said, "Intelligence scan - initiate."
While Annabelle had kept her attention on the Dalek and simply watched it with narrowed eyes, Laszlo told them, "They're divided into two groups: high intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken to become Pig Slaves, like me."
In turn, Tallulah said, "But that's not fair!"
With a quick turn of his head, the Doctor said to her, "Shh!"
Then Tallulah quietly told Laszlo, "You're the smartest guy I ever dated."
While Annabelle had only rolled her eyes at Tallulah, the Doctor asked Laszlo, "And the others?"
Laszlo said to him, "They're taken to the laboratory."
With his eyebrows now furrowed, the Doctor asked him, "Why? What for?"
Laszlo replied, "I don't know. The masters only call it the final experiment."
With its attached item pointed up and into Frank's face, the Dalek said, "Superior intelligence." Then it turned to Martha and said, "Intelligence scan - initiate. Superior intelligence. This one will become part of the final experiment."
It was then that Martha told the Dalek, "You can't just experiment on people. It's insane! It's inhuman!"
The Dalek replied, "We are not human." Then it turned to the Pig Slaves and told them, "Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the Transgenic Laboratory."
As soon as the Dalek had started to make its way past them, the Doctor said, "Look out, they're moving."
Shortly after the two Daleks had started to head away from the Pig Slaves and the other humans, Tallulah and Laszlo had quickly started to run away from them, only to stop and turn when he saw that Annabelle and the Doctor weren't following them, which got Laszlo to say to them, "Annabelle. Doctor. Hey, quickly!"
With a quick turn of his head, the Doctor told him, "I'm not coming. I've got an idea. You go."
Then Tallulah said to Laszlo, "Laszlo, come on."
After glancing over at Annabelle and seeing that she made no attempt to leave, Laszlo looked back over at Tallulah and asked her, "Can you remember the way?"
With a nod of her head, Tallulah said to him, "Yeah, I think so."
Laszlo replied, "Then go, please."
Tallulah told him, "But, Laszlo, you've got to come with me."
In turn, Laszlo asked her, "Where would I go? Tallulah, I'm begging you. Just save yourself, just run. Just go! Go."
After taking a quick glance over at Annabelle, the Doctor asked her, "So, I suppose it's safe to say that you're not going to be joining her?" When Annabelle had simply let out a scoff in response to his question, the Doctor said, "Right. Of course you're not and I would be a fool to think that you would listen to me, right?"
With a bit of a smirk on her face, Annabelle replied, "Oh, not to worry, Doctor. You are still a fool, nonetheless."
Shortly after the Doctor had only turned his head to look over at her with furrowed eyebrows, the two Daleks were seen entering another part of the sewers, just before the Doctor and Annabelle had quickly stepped into the line of humans and the Doctor said to Martha, "Keep walking."
In turn, Martha said to him, "I am so glad to see you."
The Doctor replied, "Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. You, too, Frank, if you want."
While Frank had only chuckled to himself, Martha asked, "Wait, where's Annabelle?"
It was then that Martha heard Annabelle say from just behind her, "Right here."
And in response to Annabelle's words, Martha had simply let out a sigh, which got Annabelle to simply eye her with furrowed eyebrows before shaking her head to herself and letting out a sigh of her own.
Because for the first time in her life, a human had actually found comfort in being around her and the idea of a human actually finding comfort in her made her feel sick.
And despite the Doctor's wishes of keeping Martha alive and safe, Annabelle simply wanted to tear into Martha's neck at that very second– just to show Martha that Annabelle Mikaelson wasn't someone that she should find comfort in.
* * *
While Annabelle had silently eyed the four Daleks that seemed to be standing in the room, one of the Daleks yelled, "Report!"
Another one of the Daleks said, "Dalek Sec is entering the final stage of evolution."
In turn, the first Dalek said, "Scan him. Prepare for birth."
With his eyebrows furrowed, the Doctor said, "Evolution?"
Martha asked, "What's wrong with old Charlie Boy over there?"
With a mere tilt of her head, Annabelle said, "I think the better question here is why exactly these Daleks seem to have names of their own."
After glancing down at Annabelle for a moment, the Doctor said to Martha, "Ask them."
Martha replied, "What, me? Don't be daft."
The Doctor quietly told her, "I don't exactly want to get noticed. Ask them what's going on."
In turn, Martha asked him, "Well, why can't you get Annabelle to ask them what's going on?"
After glancing down at Annabelle once more, the Doctor said, "I don't know if you've noticed, Martha Jones, but Annabelle isn't exactly fond of being told what to do. If I were to try and force her into asking them what's happening here, she might very well retaliate by killing everyone in here– but the Daleks themselves– and I have no way of knowing if the Daleks are even capable of permanently killing her or if she will simply just get back up after some time of lying on the floor and try and then ultimately fail of getting back at them." When Martha had only glanced back at him with furrowed eyebrows, he told her, "Annabelle still has some parts to play in her very own timeline and if she were to be permanently killed by at least one of these Daleks, it could very well ruin her entire timeline and make it so that certain aspects of her future life never even happen in the first place– thus making it where Annabelle Mikaelson dies in the year 1930 and doesn't live to see what becomes of her family in just over ninety years from this very moment. And I can't have that– not when I know a major aspect of her life that hasn't quite yet happened and is still slowly unfolding from this moment onward."
After glancing back at Annabelle and seeing that she wasn't listening to a word that either of them were saying and was simply keeping her entire focus and attention on the Daleks, Martha had taken a step out of the line and said, "Daleks, I demand to be told." While the three Daleks had slowly turned around to face her, Martha asked them, "What is this final experiment?"
After one of the Daleks had moved closer to her and simply just stared at her, Martha yelled, "Report!"
It was then that the Dalek told her, "You will bear witness."
With her eyebrows furrowed, Martha asked, "To what?"
As it turned its mechanical head, the Dalek said, "This is the dawn of a new age."
With a mere shake of her head, Martha asked, "What does that mean?"
The Dalek told her, "We are the only four Daleks in existence. So, the species must evolve. A life outside the shell. The children of Skaro must walk again."
Then it turned its back on Martha and made its way back over towards the other Daleks, shortly before one of the Daleks had opened up and a creature had stepped out of it and the metal had simply closed up behind the creature.
While Annabelle had simply eyed the creature that was standing on two legs, Martha asked, "What is it?"
As the creature had simply raised its head, the three Daleks backed away from it, shortly before the creature said, "I am a human Dalek. I am your future."