The Doctor, Willow and Martha land in 1930s Manhattan where the homeless are being stolen away in the night. Not only that, some old foes from their past have reappeared.

***

The TARDIS materialised in the corner of a large wall. The doors swung open to reveal the Doctor, Willow and Martha stepping out into the warm breeze. "Where are we?" asked Martha.

He inhaled the oxygen around them, enlightened by it. "Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely." The Doctor glanced up at a familiar sight. "Martha, have you met my friend?"

The women turned around to see the Statue of Liberty stood right in front of them. "Is that? Oh, my God. That's the Statue of Liberty."

"It's not even made out of stone, it was formed from copper and steel," Willow mentioned. "Not many people know that actually."

"Gateway to the New World. Give me you tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." The Doctor quoted.

They gazed out at the New York landscape in wonder. "That's so brilliant. I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new one."

"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."

"I wonder what year it is, because look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet." She pointed out.

"Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around..."

As he tried to decipher the correct time, Martha picked up a discarded newspaper from a bench. "November first 1930."

The Doctor and Willow shared a glance, unexpectedly impressed by her. "Wow, that's really good guessing."

"You're getting good at this." He added.

It was then that they saw her reading the newspaper, recognising their stupidity. "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. It's real. It's now." The Doctor took the newspaper from her hand, reading it for himself. "Come on then, you two. Where do you want to go first?"

"I think our detour just got longer." The Doctor responded.

"What is it?" wondered Willow.

He displayed the front page, Martha reading the headline curiously. "'Hooverville Mystery Deepens.' " It certainly sparked their interest. "What's Hooverville?"

***

The trio wandered through Central Park as the Doctor explained. "Herbert Hoover, thirty-first President of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then, New York was a boomtown, the Roaring Twenties, and then-"

"The Wall Street Crash, yeah?" surmised Martha. "When was that, 1929?"

He continued. "Yeah. 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."

"What, they actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?" she questioned.

"Yep," Willow replied. "It still happens in the present day. Thousands of people live in favelas and shantytowns like Hooverville, continually ignored by the general public."

As they entered Hooverville, the three observed the homeless either cowering in their man-made shelters and helping others. They seemed like a well-knit community, looking out for each other. The skyscrapers of Manhatten overlooked them like gods, representing everything they didn't have.

"Ordinary people lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything." The Doctor lectured. "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."

"You thieving lowlife!" A man yelled to another, the two breaking into a fight.

They shouted and screamed at each other, fighting until both got what they wanted. It was only when a dark-skinned gentleman in a brown hat and suit approached them, forcing the two away. "Cut that out! Cut that out right now!"

"He stole my bread!" he cried.

"That's enough!" he ordered, facing the other man. "Did you take it?"

"I don't know what happened. He just went crazy." The other man claimed.

Then, the first man tried to engage in the fight again, but the apparent leader prevented him. "That's enough!" he shouted, returning to the other man. "Now, think real careful before you lie to me."

He hesitated for a moment before confessing. "I'm starving, Solomon."

The leader, Solomon, held out his hand towards the thief. He solemnly retrieved the stolen loaf of bread and gave it to him. "We all starving. We all got families somewhere." To their surprise, he broke the loaf in half, giving the men one part each. It was a fair judgement. "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."

They grudgingly retreated as Solomon began to walk away. "Come on." The Doctor said to Willow and Martha. "I suppose that makes you the boss around here."

He glanced at the strange visitors. "And, er, who might you be?"

"This is the Doctor and Willow. I'm Martha." She answered.

Solomon raised his eyebrows, intrigued. "A doctor. Huh. 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?" asked Martha.

"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, both of you. But tell me. Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me." He pointed at 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?"

***

After they took a glimpse at Hooverville, the trio returned to Solomon. "So, men are going missing. Is this true?" The Doctor revealed the newspaper's front page, a look of worry appearing in the leader's eyes.

He nodded. "It's true all right."

Solomon gestured that they move to somewhere quieter, entering his tent as the three wished to know more. "But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register."

"Come on in. This is different." They followed him inside.

"How's it different?" Willow queried.

"Someone takes them, at night." He uttered. "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 checked.

"Doctor, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning." Solomon stated.

"Have you been to the police?" Martha wondered.

"Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal." He informed them.

It was true. Those with a house or money don't care that someone living on the streets had vanished, it happens all the time and they believe it's not worth looking for them. The worst feeling in the world is that no one cares for you enough to go and find you.

"So the question is, who's taking them and what for?"

Before the Doctor's question could be answered, a voice shouted for Solomon outside. "Solomon!" A boy, looking to be between his teenage years and his twenties, poked his head through the tent. "Solomon, Mister Diagoras is here."

They quickly exiting, acknowledging a well-dressed man in a black suit and hat addressing the people of Hooverville. "I need men. Volunteers. I've got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money."

"Yeah. What is the money?" The boy asked.

"A dollar a day." Mr Diagoras told them.

Solomon crossed his arms. "What's the work?"

He smirked. "A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?"

"A dollar a day? That's slave wage." He scoffed. "And men don't always come back up, do they."

"Accidents happen." He mentioned nonchalantly.

The Doctor squinted. "What do you mean? What sort of accidents?"

"You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?" Diagoras questioned. The Doctor raised his hand, annoying him. "Enough with the questions."

"Oh, no, no, no. I'm volunteering. I'll go." He stated.

Willow glared at him. "Seriously?"

Yet, despite her annoyance, she raised her hand. Martha huffed, also raising her hand. "I'll kill you for this."

"Anybody else?" Soon enough, Solomon and even the boy volunteered, thinking the same as the others.

***

Diagoras took them to the sewers, which wasn't as dirty as Willow first imagined. "Turn left. Go about a 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?" The boy, whose name Willow learnt was Frank, questioned.

"When you come back up." He told them.

"And if we don't come back up?" The Doctor asked.

He silently snarled at him. "Then I got no one to pay."

"Don't worry, we'll be back," Solomon assured him.

"Let's hope so," Martha added.

The others started their journey down the sewers, but the Doctor and Willow stayed behind. They suspiciously stared at Diagoras, as did he in return. Something told them that Diagoras was not a man to be trusted.

Eventually, they followed the others, Diagoras still staring daggers into their backsides. "Yeah, he's definitely sending us somewhere bad," Willow whispered to the Doctor.

"I would be surprised if he didn't." He responded.

Martha and Frank took the lead, both discussing their lives as the others trailed behind. "We just got to stick together. It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here."

"So what about you, Frank? You're not from around these parts, are you?" Martha figured.

He chuckled. "Oh, you could talk. No, I'm Tennessee born and bred."

"So how come you're here?" she wondered.

"Oh, my daddy died. Mama 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 lookout for us." He explained to her. "So, what about you? You're a long way from home."

Though Martha couldn't tell him the whole truth, she stated. "Yeah, I'm just a hitcher too."

"You stick with me, you'll be all right." He told her.

"So this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?" The Doctor asked.

"A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now, it seems like he's running most of Manhattan." Solomon spoke.

"How'd he manage that then?"

"These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way round."

The Doctor shined his torch on the ground, suddenly noticing a luminous green jellyfish that had been discarded on the floor. "Whoa!"

The trio crouched on the damp floor, recognising that it wasn't a normal jellyfish creature. "Is it radioactive or something? It's gone off, whatever it is." The Doctor picked it up in his hands, wanting a close look. "And you've got to pick it up."

"You better not lick it," Willow advised, remembering his obsession with licking objects to inspect them further. "I was right about Diagoras hiding something down here."

"Shine your torch through it." He instructed Martha. "Composite organic matter. Martha? Medical opinion?"

"It's not human. I know that." She mentioned.

Frank and Solomon shared a bizarre look that went unnoticed by the others. "No, it's not. And I'll tell you something else." The Doctor stood back on his feet. "We must be at least half a mile in. I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you? So why did Mister Diagoras send up down here?"

"Where are we now? What's above us?"

"Well, we're right underneath Manhattan."

The group continued further down the sewers, even though they knew that there was nothing exciting waiting for them at the end. "We're way beyond half a mile. There's no collapse, nothing." Solomon mentioned.

"That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?" queried Martha.

"Seems like it, doesn't it. He wanted us down here for a reason." Willow suspected.

"So why'd he want people to come down here?" Frank questioned.

At this point, the Doctor knew it was too dangerous for everyone else to be down here with him. "Solomon, I think it's time you took these three back. I'll be much quicker on my own."

Willow stepped towards him. "Hey, you're not going on without us-"

Although, a sudden squeal alerted them to the presence of someone else down in the sewers. "What the hell was that?"

"Hello?" Frank yelled.

"Shush!" hissed Martha.

"Frank." Solomon attempted to silence him, worried for their safety.

"What if it's one of the folk gone missing? You'd be scared and half-mad down here on your own." He thought.

The Doctor eyed him. "Do you think they're still alive?"

"Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost." Frank suggested as more squeals echoed.

"I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that," Solomon affirmed.

The five wandered towards the noise. "Where's it coming from? Sounds like there's more than one of them."

"This way." The Doctor said.

"No, that way," Solomon said.

Nevertheless, it was only when Martha's torch shined on something crouched in the corner that they knew where it came from. "Doctor? Willow?"

They all glanced in the same direction, seeing more clearly that there was a person in brown overalls hidden in the shadows. "Who are you?" asked Solomon.

Frank edged closer to them. "Are you lost? Can you understand me? I've been thinking about folk lost down-"

"It's all right, Frank. Just stay back. Let me have a look. 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" He knelt, finally recognising that the person looked more like a pig than a human being. Its eyes were normal, but the rest of its body was completely mutated into something different. "Oh, but what are you?"

The others were noticeably concerned. "Is that, er, some kind of carnival mask?"

"No, it's real." He informed him. "I'm sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Who did this to you?"

The Doctor didn't seem to notice that a crowd of similarly mutated pigs began to approach them. The group's eyes widened, starting to back away. "Hey, I think you were right about heading back. I think you should too." Willow pleaded.

The pigmen had snuck up on them, creeping in as the Doctor eventually realised the situation at hand. "Actually, good point."

He returned to the group, attempting to retreat. Although, it seemed that the pigmen were trailing them. "They're following you." Martha addressed.

"Yeah, I noticed that, thanks. Well then, Willow, Martha, Frank, Solomon."

"What?"

"Eh? Er, basically, run!" He exclaimed, the five sprinting back down the sewers with the pigmen on their trail.

Their squeals were horrifying, hellbent on capturing them. "Where are we going?!" Martha screamed.

"This way!" The Doctor led them through the dirty sewers of Manhatten, soon spotting a ladder that could lead them to safety. "It's a ladder! Come on!"

He climbed up first, using the sonic screwdriver to open the sewer drain lid. It unscrewed, allowing the others to make their escape. Meanwhile, Frank was trying to ward off the pigmen army with an iron aerial of some kind, though it didn't seem to be working. "Frank! Frank!" Solomon yelled to him.

The Doctor crawled through, pulling Willow and Martha to safety. "C'mon, Frank! C'mon!" Solomon shouted as climbed through the manhole too.

Frank heeded the warning, retreating to the ladder. Though the Doctor managed to take his hands, the pigmen held his legs and were pulling him away. "I've got you. C'mon! Come on!"

Nevertheless, the pigmen were stronger and eventually pulled poor Frank away. "Frank!"

"No!" The Doctor cried out as Solomon tried to yank him away from the sewer drain, the pigmen attempting to climb up. He slammed the lid shut, preventing the Doctor from going after him. 

"We can't go after him." Solomon justified.

The Doctor disagreed, trying to open it again. "We've got to go back down. We can't just leave him."

"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!" he cried in fear, shoving the Doctor away. "There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."

From out of the shadows, a young woman with a blonde bob emerged. She held a revolver and aimed it at them. "All right, then. Put them up." She disengaged the safety. "Hands in the air and no funny business." The group raised their hands, not wanting to be killed. "Now tell me, you schmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?"

"Who's Laszlo?" asked Martha.

***

They were taken to the woman's dressing room, the revolver still being pointed at them. "Laszlo's my boyfriend. Or 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 mother before he vamooses?"

The four occasionally flinched as she continually pointed the gun at them. "Yeah. It might, might just help if you put that down." The Doctor suggested.

"Huh? Oh, sure." She threw it away like it was nothing. "Oh, come on. It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear."

"Well, that's nice to know..." Willow uttered as the group lowered their arms. "What do you think happened to Lazlo?"

She sighed. "I wish I knew. One minute he's there, the next, zip. Vanished."

"Listen, ah... what's your name?" queried the Doctor.

"Tallulah." She answered.

"Tallulah-" 

"Three Ls and an H."

"...Right. We can try to find Laszlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night."

"And there are creatures. Such creatures." Solomon remembered, reliving the terrible memory of Frank being torn away from them.

Tallulah raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean, creatures?"

"Look, listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is." He revealed the jellyfish-like creature to her. "Because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting."

She glared at it in disgust. "Yay..."

Willow folded her arms, sighing. "I was wondering why that smell was following us."

***

The girls remained in Tallulah's dressing room as she got ready for her performance. "Laszlo. 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 rosebud."

"Haven't you reported him missing?" Martha wondered.

"Sure. He's just a stagehand. Who cares? The management certainly don't." She said whilst adjusting her angel wings.

"But you don't seem like the kind of girl who would back down." Willow thought.

She giggled. "But then they would fire me."

"But they'd listen to you. You're one of the stars." Martha assumed.

"Oh, honey, I got one song in a back street revue and that's only because Heidi Chicane broke her ankle. 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." She described.

"Okay, I get it."

"It's the Depression, sweetie. Your heart might break, but the show goes on." Tallulah glimpsed at her reflection, a frown on her face. "Because if it stops, you starve. Every night I have to go out there, sing, dance, keep going, hoping he's going to come back."

"I'm sorry, Tallulah," Willow said.

A small smile reappeared on her face, turning to her. "Hey, you're lucky, though. You got yourself a forward-thinking guy with that hot potato in the sharp suit."

She bowed her head, rubbing her engagement ring. "Oh, thanks."

"Is something wrong, sweetie?" she wondered.

Willow sharply looked up at them. "Oh, no. It's just... can I be honest with you two?"

"Yeah, of course," Martha told her as Tallulah nodded.

"I'm not sure I want to get married at the moment." She confessed, a weight being lifted off her chest. "I love him, I really do. But I've just lost my family and I've changed as a person because of it. I'm not sure I'm ready to commit myself quite yet."

"I'm sure everything will turn out for the best. I see the way you look at each other." Tallulah mentioned. "Still, you got to live in hope. It's the only thing that's kept me going because, well, look." She revealed a white rosebud, just like the ones Lazlo gave her. "On my dressing table every day still."

"You think it's Laszlo?" she wondered.

She shrugged, unsure. "I don't know. If he's still around, why is he being all secret like he doesn't want me to see him?"

Willow sighed, knowing that they were all unlucky in love at the moment. She stood up from her seat. "I should go check on the Doctor. We need to find out what that thing is."

The girls didn't even say goodbye as she exited the dressing room and headed up to the lighting gallery. She hid her emotions again, though Willow was glad that she was able to divulge her true feelings towards her relationship with the Doctor.

Once she arrived, Willow gazed over the auditorium in awe. The curtain was drawn and people were waiting for the performance to begin. The lighting gallery was bright, the Doctor hogging the spotlights to inspect the jellyfish-like creature. "Hey," she started, attracting his attention. "How's it going?"

"I just set everything up, come have a look." Willow obeyed, kneeling beside him as he examined it. "This is artificial."

"So, someone created this on purpose?"

"Or by accident." He added. "Genetically engineered. Whoever this is, oh, you're clever."

"Ladies and gentlemen. The Laurenzi Dancing Devils, with Heaven and Hell!" An announcer spoke as the curtain rolled back to reveal Tallulah and her dancers.

As the two tried to focus on the creature, they heard Tallulah singing in the background. "She's good, you know."

However, the Doctor took no notice, using a stethoscope to listen to the creature. "Fundamental DNA type four six seven dash nine eight nine. Nine eight nine. Hold on, that means planet of origin." Suddenly, it clicked for both of them. Their eyes widened in panic. "Skaro."

Something changed in Willow's eyes, memories of the Time War flooded back and the Battle of Canary Wharf. A potent image of Rose being sucked into the flood flashed before her eyes, hearing her screams all over again.

"Come on!" He took her hand, yanking her away from the creature. She was still deep in her trance as they returned to the area backstage where Tallulah and her dancers were now gathered. "Where is she? Where's Martha?"

"I don't know. She ran off the stage." She responded.

An abrupt scream jolted Willow awake, both realising that it was Martha. "Martha!"

They sprinted back towards the sewer drain, discovering it to have been opened again. The pigmen must have found a way to break through and take her. The Doctor put his coat back on, ready to go back in. "Where are you going?" questioned Tallulah.

"They've taken her." He answered.

"Who's taken her? What're you doing?" The pair climbed in, prepared to hunt the creatures down. "I said, what the hell are you doing?"

"How can it be Skaro?" Willow spoke. "I thought that..."

Although, before the Doctor could reply, he acknowledged Tallulah coming to join them. "No, no, no, no, no way. You're not coming."

"Tell me what's going on." She ordered.

"There's nothing you can do. Go back."

"Look, whoever's taken Martha, they could've taken Laszlo, couldn't they?"

"Tallulah, you're not safe down here."

"Then that's my problem. Come on. Which way?" She swiftly started walking, heading in the wrong direction.

The Doctor rolled his eyes before stating. "This way."

The showgirl turned around, closely following the two as they stormed through the sewers. As they ventured on, Tallulah piped up. "When you say, they've taken her, who's they exactly? And who are you anyway, big guy? I never asked."

There was a sudden noise, alerting them to a nearby presence. "Shush."

"Okay, okay."

"Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush." The shadow of a familiar being appeared on the wall, growing bigger as it came closer.

"I mean you're handsome and all-" The Doctor put a hand on her mouth, retreating behind a wall. 

They glared out as a bronze Dalek swerved past, sending a shiver down Tallulah's spine. Willow's eyes narrowed, her fingers denting her palms in fury. Once it was out of range, the three stepped out from the shadows. "They survived. How did they survive?"

"They always survive while I lose everything." The Doctor hissed.

"That metal thing? What was it?" Tallulah asked.

"It's called a Dalek. And it's not just metal, it's alive." He informed her.

"You're kidding me."

"Does it look like I'm kidding?" The Doctor raised his voice, staring her down. "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." Once again, the couple stared her down. "Yet again, that's a no with the kidding. Boy. Well, what's it doing here, in New York?"

"I'd like to know that as well," Willow mentioned, utilising a fury that had never been seen before.

***

They continued through, the Doctor still attempting to convince Tallulah to return to safety. "Every second you're down here, you're in danger. I'm taking you back right now."

However, they glimpsed one of the pigmen which made her scream. To their surprise, it tried to hide from them as the Doctor and Willow approached him. "Where's Martha? What have you done with her? What have you done with Martha?"

"I didn't take her." His voice shocked them all, a pigman who could speak properly.

Willow crept closer. "Can you remember your name?"

He turned away from the light. "Don't look at me."

"Do you know where she is?" asked Tallulah.

The pigman continued to face away from him. "Stay back! Don't look at me."

"What happened to you?" The Doctor asked.

"They made me a monster." He told them.

Willow gulped, her throat was aflame with anger. "The Daleks, I'm guessing. Why did they do that?"

"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."

"What about Martha? Do you know where she is?" she interrogated, flashing her torch in his face.

"They took her. It's my fault. She was following me." He admitted regretfully.

Tallulah stepped closer. "Were you in the theatre?"

"I never... Yes."

"Why? Why were you there?"

"I never wanted you to see me like this."

"Why me? What I got to do with this? Were you following me? Is that why you were there?" The pigman turned around, still shrouded by the darkness.

He sighed. "Yes."

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I was lonely." He told her.

"Who are you?" repeated Tallulah.

"I needed to see you."

"Who are you?"

As Tallulah edged closer to him, the pigman turned away once again. "I'm sorry."

"No, wait. Let me look at you." She raised her hands to his face, the light shining above them. It was then that Tallulah recognised the pigman for who he truly was. "Laszlo? My Laszlo? Oh, what have they done to you?"

"I'm sorry. So sorry." She embraced her lost love, happy to see him.

As much as the two enjoyed reunions, they wished to reunite with their friend. The Doctor questioned. "Laszlo, can you show me where they are?"

"They'll kill you." He said.

That didn't deter him in the slightest. "If we don't stop them, they'll kill everyone."

Sensing the confidence in the two, he obeyed. "Then follow me."

They followed Lazlo through the tunnels, making their way to where Martha was being held. After a few minutes of walking, they reached a point where they could see the Daleks analysing a group of humans.

Lazlo informed them. "They're divided into two groups. High intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken to become pig slaves like me."

"Well, that's not fair. You're the smartest guy I ever dated." Tallulah said.

"And the others?" wondered the Doctor.

"They're taken to the laboratory."

"Why? What for?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. The masters only call it the Final Experiment."

They watched as a Dalek scanned Martha with its plunger. "Intelligence scan, initiate. Superior intelligence. This one will become part of the Final Experiment."

"You can't just experiment on people. It's insane! It's inhuman!" she screamed.

"We are not human. Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory." The pig slaves and the Daleks started to usher the humans away, taking them to their secret laboratory.

"Look out, they're moving!" The Doctor held Willow back as the Daleks swerved past them, still not realising that they were there.

Lazlo had begun to direct Tallulah back the way she came until he noticed the Doctor and Willow weren't moving. "Doctor. Doctor, quickly!"

"We're not coming. We have a plan." Willow loudly whispered, taking the Doctor's hand. Even though she lied about the plan, she trusted the Doctor to think of one soon. "You two, go."

"Laszlo, come on." Tallulah pleaded.

Nevertheless, Lazlo did not move. "Can you remember the way?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"Then go, please." He begged.

Her eyes widened, confused. "But Laszlo, you got to come with me."

"Where would I go? Tallulah, I'm begging you. Save yourself. Just run. Just go. Go." Lazlo softly shoved her back until she finally got the message.

Tallulah jogged away in her shiny heels, Lazlo joining the Doctor and Willow. As the Daleks glided past, the three slipped into the line and stood between Martha and Frank. "Just keep walking."

Upon hearing his voice, Martha's eyes brightened. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you."

"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. You too, Frank, if you want." He mentioned.

Willow whacked him on the arm. "Hey!"

"It was a joke!" he winced.

The group followed the Daleks into their laboratory, the Timelords remaining undetected by the four. At the other end of the room, they witnessed Dalek Sec's shell convulsing. Smoke billowed out of it as if the creature inside was on fire.

Her eyes widened. "Of course, it's the bloody Cult of Skaro."

"Report." One of the Daleks ordered.

"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution." Another said.

"Scan him. Prepare for birth."

"Wait, did it just say birth?" Willow muttered to the Doctor.

The Doctor didn't have the chance to answer when Martha questioned. "What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?"

"Ask them." The Doctor suggested.

Martha appeared shocked and extremely against the idea. "What, me? Don't be daft."

"We don't exactly want to get noticed. Ask them what's going on." He told her.

Heeding his command reluctantly, Martha approached the Daleks ever so slightly. "Daleks, I demand to be told. What is this Final Experiment? Report!"

They faced her. "You will bear witness."

She squinted. "To what?"

"This is the dawn of a new age." It expanded.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"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." It was then that Sec's shell had stopped smoking, the light in its eyestalk going out.

Abruptly, the case opened up, revealing a mutated humanoid. Its head was similar to the Dalek inside the cage, but brown, instead of green. Somehow, it grew an entire body from scratch. Its small tendrils moved and its wrinkly hands quivered.

It stepped out, the group watching in horror. "What is it?"

The creature took a breath of air, gasping for it. The hybrid opened its eye and spoke with Mr Diagoras' voice, staring at the humans. "I am a human Dalek. I am your future."

***

Ugh, the ending's sloppy but I wanted to get it done. Hello everyone, sorry I took a break for a few weeks but I'm back now. I've done my exams for the year, so now I can relax and hopefully write a bit more. 

My focus has been on a new story of mine which is an AU of Jennifer's Body and Teen Wolf (yes, another crossover story) and on another Doctor Who fanfic that isn't connected with this series. I won't reveal anything yet, but I think it's going to be fantastic!

Well, the next chapter is 'Evolution of the Daleks', so I will see you all there!

- Alice ❤