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"The lift's coming up," Martha indicated as Alice, Lazlo, Frank and Tallulah each had a makeshift weapon tightly grasped within their hands, ready to face whatever came out of that lift, eyes not once leaving the dial as it made its ascent, closer and closer to the top.

"I shoulda brought that gun," the young Texan muttered under his breath, hand sliding over his face, clutching a mallet.

"Tallulah, stay back," Lazlo warned, "You too, Alice, Martha," he now added, glancing at the two girls on his right-hand side holding out an arm to usher them back, "IF they send pig slaves. They're trained to kill."

"If the Doctor needs us to fight," the young redhead disagreed with Lazlo, and her friend glared back at him, "We're staying here, alright!"

"They're savages," he tried reasoning with her, holding the woman back with his arm, "I should know. They're trained to slit your throat with their bare teeth."

"Now there's an image I didn't need. Thanks, mate," Alice put sarcastically, a chill going through her before trying to shake it off.

Suddenly, Lazlo collapsed to the floor, his weapon slipping from his grasp and hitting the floor with a thunk as Tallulah quickly came to his aid, coming over all worried, "Lazlo? What is it?"

"No, it's nothing. I'm fine," yet at this moment, he was having trouble getting back up on his feet even though he insisted nothing was wrong, trying to prop himself up but failing to drop back to lean against the wall, "Just leave me."

"Oh, honey, you're burnin' up," Tallulah knelt beside him, resting her hand against his forehead, "What's wrong with you tell me?"

"One man down, and we ain't even started yet," Frank spoke nervously, glancing at Alice and Martha as they stayed with him in front of the lift.

"It's not looking good, Frank," Martha admits with a sigh as they watch the dial move the lift, getting ever closer.

"Nope."

When hearing a loud rumbling from the thunderstorm outside, followed by a brief flash of lightning, both medical students peer over their shoulders to the open area of the room behind them.

"Hang on a minute," the young redhead uttered as she and Martha fully turned to face the storm's noise before they ran to the other end of the room, now looking out, turning to one another to utter in unison, "Lightening!"

For the next few minutes, Martha, Frank and Alice began arranging long metal rods from outside across the room towards the lift while ensuring they didn't come into contact with the ground as Tallulah stayed beside Lazlo.

"Aw, you'll be all right, sweetheart," the blonde was trying her best to comfort Lazlo lovingly, caressing his forehead, "Don't worry," only to get distracted by the others dashing about the room was starting to irritate her now as she looked up, "What the hell are you three clowns doing?"

"Even if the Doctor stops the Dalekanium, this place is still gonna get hit," Martha explained to the showgirl.

"Great big bolt of lightning, electricity all down this building," the young Noble added, feeling rather proud of her and Martha's idea even though it meant it actually might kill those pig men in the process, brought a sense of guilt with it. Still, they had to try, "Connect this to the lift, and they get zapped."

"Oh my God, that could work," Tallulah rejoiced at the idea, no longer annoyed by them.

"Then give us a hand," Frank implied to her and with a nod, she went to peck a gentle kiss on Lazlo's cheek and began to help the others.

Not long later, they were finally done, but was it enough to save them as they inspected their handiwork, the rods now by the lift doors, "Is that gonna work?" the blonde asked, eyeing their work somewhat uncertainly.

"It's got to," Martha responded with a shrug as she and Alice stepped towards a pillar with Tallulah supporting Lazlo, leaning on it.

"Of course, it's gonna work, has to," the redhead added, her eyes drifting to the open area as she bit her lip, gnawing at it. The Doctor had been up there awfully a long time. The lightning could hit any moment, and he hadn't returned yet.

"I've got it all piped up to the scaffolding outside," Frank reassured with a smile, now bringing Alice back into the room, but she still couldn't help but be worried. Martha seemed to have caught on to this and was starting to get just as concerned as her friend, quickly glancing over to the open area and then back again.

"Yeah, okay, good job," Alice returned with a nod as Martha grabbed her friend's hand and squeezed it gently, "Let's go over here."

"Come here," Martha nodded, gesturing for the young man to join them, "Frank and sit in the middle and don't touch anything metal."

All four huddled tightly into the corner but made sure not to touch any metal, and mere moments later. The lift doors opened as pig slaves came just as a loud clap of thunder filled the air, making nearly everyone jump. A bolt of lightning strikes, coursing through the pipes, electrocuting the pig salves. The light is blinding, so they shut their eyes.

Upon opening their eyes, the sight of dead, almost charred bodies greeted them and was a little hard to take; the smell was just offputting, like burnt pork, but the guilt that both medical students were feeling didn't help either that they killed beings that were once like them.

"You girls did it," Tallulah praised them as they felt Frank wrapping an arm around each of their shoulders.

"But they were human like Lazlo was, probably had friends, family, and we killed 'em," Alice spoke unhappily, staring out, feeling numb for a moment.

"No, the Daleks killed them," Lazlo disagreed with her as he shakily got to his feet, "Long ago."

"What about the Doctor?" Martha asked, her eyes going wide as she and Alice looked at one another

"Spaceman," the redhead uttered fearfully.

With a sudden burst of adrenaline and confidence coursing through her, she dashed to the open area where the ladder was. Martha and Frank were not far behind. But now, peering over the building edge, she was surprised she wasn't feeling as scared as before.

"Please be alive, please be alive," the redhead spoke under her breath as she climbed the ladder, finding the sonic screwdriver along the way and putting it inside her coat pocket before continuing upwards.

Finally reaching the top, she finds two out of the three panels have been detached; the other is still upon the mast, and lying on his back, unconscious, is the Doctor.

"Doctor! Doctor!" Alice now hurried over to him. Martha and Frank were waiting nearby in anticipation as she kneeled beside him to check his pulse, thankfully finding two beats thudding against her fingertips; she sighed with relief, "Come on, Spaceman, look what I found," she pulled out the sonic from her coat as he began to stir.

"Are you always this careless?" Martha asked, coming over now, resting a hand on her friend's shoulder and looking at the Doctor whilst Frank waited behind them.

"Oh, my head," The Time Lord groaned painfully, scrunching his eyes closed for a moment to peer up to see the familiar relieved faces of Alice and Martha hovering over him.

"Hey," greeted the young Noble with a tiny smile.

"Hi," the Time Lord returned, still groggy, "You both survived then."

"Yes, we did. Thanks. I think you need to stop nearly giving me a heart attack, though," Alice frowned at him momentarily.

"Hi, just about. I can't help noticing that there's Dalekanium still attached," Martha pointed out.

At that, the Time Lord hurriedly got up, knowing things still needed to be done. He took his sonic screwdriver from Alice along the way before heading down the ladder with everyone else not far behind.

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"The Daleks will have gone straight to a war footing," the Doctor began to strategise at a hundred miles an hour as the group stood on a balcony looking out across New York, "They'll be using the sewers, spreading their soldiers out underneath Manhattan."

"How do we stop them?" Lazlo asked.

"There's only one chance," the Time Lord answered, all eyes on him, "I got in the way. That gamma strike went zapping through me first," he went to leave the balcony and headed towards the lift, everyone following him.

"Yeah, but what does that even mean?" Alice asked, looking over at him with a frown.

"We need to draw fire. Before they can attack New York, I need to face them," the Doctor turned his back on the others momentarily, running his hands through his hair a few times, making it messier each time; the redhead got a little mesmerised by it, wanting it to have been her hands instead. He had no right to look attractive as he did now at a time like this: "Think, think, think. We need some sort of space, somewhere safe, somewhere out of the way," he quickly turned to the showgirl, "Tallulah!"

"That's me. Three Ls and an H."

"The theatre!" the Time Lord goes on excitedly as if he hadn't heard her, "It's right above them, and, what, it's gone midnight? Can you get us inside?"

"Don't see why not," the blonde replied with a shrug.

"Is there another lift?" he turned to the others and asked.

"We came up in the service elevator," Alice and Martha responded.

"That'll do," he nodded. Martha leads the way, "Allons-y!" he called excitedly without even a moment of thought. The Time Lord unconsciously grabbed Alice's hand. She started to like him holding her hand more, even if he hadn't realised he had done it, along with Frank, Tallulah and Lazlo trailing behind.

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The group of six finally arrived inside the darkened theatre, going into the middle of the stalls, "This should do it," the Doctor confirmed with a nod, taking in his surroundings and noticing a stage from where they stood before hopping up onto the stalls balancing on them as taking out the sonic screwdriver from his coat pocket and switching it on, "Here we go."

"There ain't nothin' more creepy than a theatre in the dark," Tallulah observed as she shivered a little before becoming a little curious of the slender silver device in his hand, moving it about as it buzzed its blue tip glowing within the darkness of the theatre, "Listen, Doctor, I know you got a thing for show tunes, but there's a time and place, hunh?" At that moment, Lazlo collapsed into a chair beside her, quickly coming to sit beside him, "Lazlo, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just so hot," Lazlo tried to dismiss as Tallulah gently brushed her hand across his forehead.

"But...it's freezing in here," the blonde frowned at her other half in concern before looking to the Time Lord, "Doctor, what's happening to him?"

"Not now, Tallulah. Sorry."

"What are you doing?" Alice asked as she and Martha both frowned at him in confusion.

"If the Daleks are going to war, they'll wanna find their number one enemy," the Doctor explained, "I'm just telling them where I am," now holding up the sonic screwdriver and turning it on, before going to look over his shoulder at the girls knowing he needs to keep them safe, "Ally, Martha go back to Hooverville Frank can take you."

"No, why do you keep doing this?" Alice retaliated in question, "Keep pushing us apart just when things get bad," the young redhead now barked at him angrily, folding her arms in front of her and glaring back defiantly. Martha's expression was the same as she nodded in agreement, "Well, this time, we're staying."

"I'm telling you both to go. Frank can take you both back to Hooverville," the Time Lord demanded sternly to the young women, gesturing to Frank beside them.

"And I'm here to tell you we aren't going," Martha sassed back moodily, her head moving along with her hoop earrings as she and Alice glared at him, their arms folded in front of them.

"Both of you, that's an order," the Doctor glared back at them, but the young women stood their ground.

"Then what does that make you?" Alice's gaze comes over all stony, "Some sort of Dalek?"

Before the Time Lord even has a chance to respond to her, the theatre doors come flying open, along with people carrying guns who marched in, surrounding them.

"Doctor! Oh, my God! " the blonde showgirl exclaimed in horror, eyes wide as saucers, "Well, I guess that's them then, hunh?"

"Humans...with Dalek DNA," Martha asked nervously with a gulp as she looked at every one of them.

Frank moves to attack them, but the Doctor pulls him back, "It's all right. Just stay calm. Don't antagonise them."

"But what about the Dalek masters? Where are they?" Lazlo asked as Tallulah, and he held onto each other.

There is an explosion from on stage, and the Doctor ducked behind, pulling Alice down by her arm to his side. She clutched onto him for dear life as the others ducked behind the seats for cover. The Doctor is first to peer over the seats just as the smoke begins to clear, adjusting his eyes to see the Human-Dalek Sec chained to a Dalek and walking on all fours. Showing he wasn't afraid, the Time Lord slowly stood as the others peeked over their chairs.

"The Doctor will stand before the Daleks," one of the Daleks on stage ordered him.

Stepping over the chair he had previously ducked behind, the Doctor walked forward across the backs of the rows until he was at the front and stood before the Daleks.

"You will die, Doctor. It is the beginning of a new age," the other Dalek spoke as the others stood up from behind their seats to witness what was happening. Alice felt her heart pounding against her chest.

"Planet Earth will become New Skaro."

"Oh, and what a world," the Time Lord voiced sarcastically, "With anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt. That's Dalek Sec," he points to the creature in chains still on their hands and knees, "Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him," dropping his hand, "Is that your new empire? Hmm?" he ridiculed in question, "Is that the foundation for a whole new civilisation?"

"My Daleks..." Dalek Sec spoke up, looking at the Daleks on either side of him, "Just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you."

"Incorrect. We will always survive!"

"Now we will destroy our greatest enemy, the Doctor!"

"But he can help you," Dalek Sec pleaded with them.

"The Doctor must die!"

"No, I beg you, don't," Sec tried to reason with them once more as he crawled in front of the first Dalek.

"Exterminate!" the first Dalek yelled. Just as Sec stood, he was killed instantly on the spot.

The Time Lord voiced in disgust, looking at Sec's dead body, "Your own leader," his darkened gaze now clamped onto the two Daleks, "The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness, and you destroyed him," he went on before turning to the Dalek-Humans to ask, pointing back towards the stage, "Do you see what they did? Doctor," Alice uttered fearfully.

"Huh? You see what a Dalek really is?" he challenged, outstretching his arms, "If I'm gonna die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh? The Dalek-Humans. Their first blood. Go on, baptise them."

"I hate him so much right now," Alice uttered lowly to Martha even though she was as scared as anything, her heart racing.

"Dalek-Humans, take aim," a Dalek ordered the Dalek-Humans, now aiming their weapons at the Doctor.

A few moments passed before the Time Lord yelled, "What are you waiting for? Give the command!"

"Exterminate!" the very same Dalek ordered the Doctor screwing his eyes tightly shut, freezing up at the very word that had plagued him for many years. Martha now ducked her head against Frank's chest, her free hand tightly grasping Alice's, who returned it, closing her eyes, looking away and waiting for the inevitable to happen, yet it never came, as a heavy silence filled the air. Everyone peeled their eyes open to see the Dalek Humans still standing there.

"Exterminate!" the other Dalek ordered, yet nothing happened.

"Obey. Dalek-Humans will obey."

"They aren't firing," Martha let out a breath. Alice and she were looking at the Time Lord.

"What have you done?" the redhead frowns.

"You will obey. Exterminate."

"Why?" someone who once was the foreman asked the Daleks as the Doctor looked at them, a knowing smirk creeping onto his lips.

"Daleks do not question orders," a Dalek stated to them.

"But why?" the man continued to question back.

"You will stop this," the other Dalek ordered.

"But...why?"

"You must not question."

"But you are not our master," the Dalek-Human frowned back only to point out, "And we...we are not Daleks."

"No, you're not, and you never will be," the Time Lord added, still smirking, looking back to the Daleks, "Sorry, I got in the way of the lightning strike. Time Lord's DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom."

"If they will not obey, then they must die!" the other Dalek screamed, only to then kill the foreman.

"Get down!" the Doctor yelled as he leapt off the chair and ducked behind them, and everyone else did the same as both factions started firing on one another.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

During the conflict, something impossible happens: Daleks on stage get blown apart, and suddenly, Dalek Humans stop firing, remaining intact. Frank, Alice, Martha, Lazlo and the Doctor slowly stood up.

"It's all right. It's all right," the Time Lord approaches the hybrids, "It's all right. You did it. You're free."

Suddenly, the hybrids grabbed hold of their heads, high-pitched screams of pain. It wasn't the most pleasant thing to hear before falling to the ground dead.

"No!" the Doctor yelled as he understood what had been done, "They can't! They can't! They can't!"

Alice and Martha came to join the Doctor crouching beside one of the bodies before the redhead dared to ask, seeing nothing but pain in his ancient-looking eyes, wishing she could take it away, "What happened?"

"What was that?" Martha asked, crouching to the other side.

"They killed 'em," he answered, voice empty of any emotion, fists clenched tightly, "Rather than let them live. An entire species. Genocide."

"Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed," Lazlo spoke from behind them, "One of the Dalek masters must still be alive."

The Doctor gets to his feet, "Oh, yes. In the whole universe, just one."

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The Doctor walked into the laboratory knowing he needed to do this by himself, and the girls didn't even complain about it once, as they understood. He clamps his eyes on the last remaining Dalek, still hooked to its battle computer.

"Now what?" he asked, standing before them, hands shoved in his trouser pockets.

"You will be exterminated," the Dalek came with the ever-predictable response.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," the Time Lord rolled his eyes without care, rather bored of their nonsense, "Just think about it, Dalek-- What was your name?"

"Dalek Caan."

"Dalek Caan," the Doctor takes another step forward, "Your entire species has been wiped out. And now the Cult of Skaro has been eradicated. Leaving only you. Right now, you're facing the only man in the universe who might show you some compassion," he comes to a stop, 'Cause I've just seen one genocide. I won't cause another. Caan...let me help you," he and the Dalek stare back at one another, "What do you say?"

"Emergency Temporal Shift!" Dalek Cann yelled, vanishing before the Doctor, its wires hanging, which left the Doctor seething, who was too late to stop it.

"Doctor!" he heard Martha holler, spinning around to see her and Alice supporting Lazlo as they entered the room with Tallulah hurrying alongside, looking nothing but worried, "Doctor! He's sick!"

Lazlo's breathing was heavy and laboured as he gasped, struggling for air. The medical students lowered him to the floor. Alice noted how downtrodden the Time Lord's expression was as she saw no Dalek in the room.

"Hey, it's okay," Martha reassured him as Tallulah rested Lazlo's head on her lap, "You're all right."

"It's his heart. It's racing like mad," Alice turns to inform the Doctor as he approaches them and kneels. She shakes her head before frowning in concern, "I've never seen anything like it."

"What is it, Doctor?" the showgirl looked to the Time Lord for answers. Her voice was shaking, "What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe. What is it?"

"It's time, sweetheart," Lazlo managed to say between breaths, his hand coming up to touch her face.

"What do you mean 'time'? What are you talking about?"

"None of the slaves ...survive for long. Most of them only live a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on 'cause I had you. But now...I'm dyin', Tallulah."

"No, you're not. Not now, after all this," Tallulah shook her head, not wanting to believe it, before looking to the Doctor again, tears in her eyes, "Doctor, can't you do somethin'?"

"Oh, Tallulah with three Ls and an H..." the Time Lord beamed with confidence as an idea struck him, jumping to his feet, "Just you watch me," and with a heroic flourish, whipped off his coat, throwing it in Alice's direction who catches it, "Good catch Ally look after that for me will you," the redhead nodded being left almost breathless from the cheeks almost flushed watching him in admiration, "What do I need? Oh, I don't know," he paced about for a moment in thought, "How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh, look, I've got one," the Doctor turned to them smiling, "Lazlo, just you hold on," he runs about the lab mixing this and that taking his time, "There's been too many deaths today. Way too many people have died—brand new creatures, wise old men, and age-old enemies. And I'm tellin' you, I'm tellin' you right now, I am not having one more death! Got that? Not one!" he ran back, "Tallulah, out of the way!" getting Tallulah to move aside, he pulled out a stethoscope from his trouser pockets and placed it around his neck, "The Doctor is in."

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It's now early morning, and the sun is just beginning to shine down on the Doctor, Alice, Martha, Tallulah, and Lazlo, who is now healthy and dressed in an overcoat and hat to hide his face all waiting by a bench just as Frank returned to join them after having been in talk with the residents of Hooverville.

"Well, I talked to 'em, and I told 'em what Solomon would've said, and I reckon I shamed one or two of 'em."

"What did they say?" the Time Lord asked as he stopped leaning on the bench.

"They said yes," the young man returned with a smile that Tallulah happily gasped, pulling her boyfriend into a hug as the three-time travellers looked on all smiles, "They'll give you a home, Lazlo. I mean, uh, don't imagine people ain't gonna stare. I can't promise you'll be at peace, but, in the end, that is what Hooverville is for: people who ain't got nowhere else."

"Thank you..."Lazlo offered in gratitude to the young man as he hugged his girlfriend back, "I...I can't thank you enough."

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On Liberty Island, Martha, the Doctor, and Alice look at the Manhattan skyline right back to where they had started.

"Do you reckon it's gonna work, those two?" Martha asked.

"I don't know," the Doctor responded casually with a shrug, "Anywhere else in the universe, I might worry about them, but New York, that's what this city's good at. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and maybe the odd pig-slave-Dalek-mutant-hybrid too."

"The pig and the showgirl," Martha added, laughing a little.

"The pig and the showgirl."

"The pig and showgirl," the redhead giggled as she gazed across the water.

"Just proves it, I suppose," Martha pondered in thought, briefly glimpsing over at her best friend and the Doctor, a tiny knowing smile on her lips as she looked across the water, "There's someone for everyone.

"Maybe there is," the Time Lord uttered, smiling a little and side-glancing at the young Noble, noting the few flecks of brown in her hazel-green eyes at that moment, finding them mesmerising in the morning light. He knew that Rose was probably never going to come back. Of course, he would always care for her, but maybe it was time to move on.

He turned to start walking back towards the TARDIS, the girls following him.

"I meant to say...sorry," Alice offered with a sigh from beside him.

"What for?" the Time Lord asked, looking over at her.

"Well, because that Dalek got away," she responded with a shrug, "I know what that meant to you," the Doctor gulped harshly before going to the TARDIS key out. Alice touched his hand briefly, only then to take it away, which he didn't want her to, "Think you'll ever see it again?"

"Oh yes," the Doctor nodded, unlocking the TARDIS door and holding it open for the girls to pass by him. He paused in the doorway, muttering, "One day," he now stepped inside, clicking the door shut behind him.

At that moment, Alice watched him walk back up the ramp towards the console where she and Martha stood waiting for him and couldn't help but smile fondly back at him, and the Doctor smiled back at her. It made her feel all warm inside. She can't deny herself what she feels anymore that she is slowly but surely falling. But what she didn't know was that he was beginning to fall as well.