The Madman with The Box
Chapter 1: Everything Changes
I run around the corner of Classen, holding Ares's glasses in the air. "I've got your glasses!" I tease him.
"Give – " He pleads. His voice comes to an abrupt stop. His expression fades to that of shock.
"What?" I ask, cocking a brow at him. He remains silent.
His jaw falls open and two words slip between his lips
"Turn around" He stutters, his voice barely audible.
I whip around to be face-to-face with a blue box. The words Police Box decorate the top of it. The windows are bubbled and the handles a dim yellow. The light on top appears to be turned off.
Ares comes and takes his glasses out of my hand. "What is that thing?" He says, putting on his glasses.
"Some sort of police box, I think. Why do you expect me to know everything?" I complain.
"You're the smart one. You do know everything."
Suddenly, the doors open and we are faced with brown hair and green eyes. The man wears a light blue button-down shirt and a blue bowtie. His black pants barely go down to his ankles, showing his black socks inside his black dress shoes. His light brown blazer blows in the wind.
He looks back and forth from me to Ares. I break the silence. "Who are you?"
"I could ask you the same thing. How did you notice my TARDIS?" he says.
"For one, how could we not notice it? Two, a what?" I answer.
"A TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. By the way, what time is it?" he curiously asks.
Ares immediately pulls out his cell phone. "It's 2:30. Why?"
"No, no. What's the year?" he says, as though it's obvious.
"Where have you been? It's 2016. Almost Christmas, in fact." Ares replies.
"Oh, no wonder its so cold. Who are you?" he mutters, snow crunching under his feet as he moves towards us.
"Well, who are you, Crazy Bowtie Man?" I retort.
He glares at me. "I'm the Doctor, and bowties are cool."
"Doctor Who?" I reply, looking him up and down.
"Just the Doctor. Again, who are you?" He repeats.
"I'm Andrea, and this is Ares." I answer, "How did you get that Police Box here?"
"Complicated spacey-wacey stuff. Now, why am I here? Why did you bring me here?" He says, turning to the Police Box, "Why America?"
"You say that like it's a disgusting place." Ares says defensively.
He ignores Ares, and keeps muttering to himself. I clear my throat.
He turns around and says, "What?"
"I don't know who you think you are, but Ares's talking to you. Now, do you think America is a disgusting place or not?" I reply boldly.
Ares stares at me, shocked. I'm not known to aggressive. I'm actually known to be shy towards people I don't know. I don't know where this attitude came from, either, but I feel like I've known this man my whole life. Even though we've only just met. But I couldn't have; I've never even seen him before.
"You're fierce. She's fierce!" he says to Ares and I, half-shocked and half-impressed.
"Yeah? I'm about to become dangerous as well. Now answer me." I snap at him.
"No. I don't think America is a horrible place. I was just wondering why the TARDIS took me here. I mean, she could have taken me anywhere. Why here?" The Doctor says.
"Wait. That machine goes wherever it wants to go? You don't control it?" I ask.
"Well… sort of." Before he can say anything more, an ear-splitting explosion is heard nearby. We hear glass shattering, and then screams. I turn away from the Doctor and see Ares running towards the front courtyard.
I turn back around just in time to see the Doctor disappearing around the corner, heading towards the explosion. I run after him.
"Where are you going?" I pant.
"Why do you care? You've only just met me." He says, slightly annoyed.
"Exactly. I've just met a man who somehow hauled a Police Box onto Classen SAS without being seen. Then he calls it a TARDIS and says it can travel through time and space. You're either a madman with a box, or you're telling the truth." I explain to him.
We turn another corner and are facing two doors. He pauses a moment and says, "How do you know that my TARDIS can travel through time and space?"
"Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. I only assume that it can travel through space, but I seriously doubt it can travel through time."
"Wow." He says, impressed, "Well, which way now?"
"They both go the same way." I say hurriedly and push open the right door.
We continue to run. We run around a final corner and see a large crowd, with teachers holding it back. Pushing our way to the front, we see black ash in the end of the building.
"The music department!" I yell. I try to push past a teacher but she holds me back.
"You can't go down there! I know you're concerned about your friends, but what if there's another explosion?" She says in a logical but too-calm voice.
"I'm really, really sorry about this, and I hope you can forgive me, but we need to get down there."
Next thing I know, the Doctor and I are jumping over her seemingly lifeless body and head towards the music department, towards the smell of burnt flesh.
"You didn't have to punch her!" The Doctor complains to me.
"I was acting on impulse. You'd understand if you had friends who were down there." I rephrase. "Who are down there."
We arrive at the music department. Blackness covers everything, giving a deadly look to the place. There is a hint of red on the ground, and tiny bits of cloth litter the area. The pianos that were sitting in the hall are broken into a million different pieces.
I can barely tell where the door is for the high school choir room. As soon as I find the door, the Doctor pulls me back.
"Careful. The inside is untouched, and I doubt this door is bomb-proof." He whispers
"Yes, but if something or someone is in there, they've either got my friends hostage, or my friends are dead." I say, undaunted.
He looks me in the eye and smiles. "Geronimo."
We open the door and stand in the entryway, listening for voices. We are answered with non-human voices.
"Which of you is most important?" A robotic voice says.
"We are all the same, for the billionth time." I hear Isabel remark, half-irritated and half-scared.
A farther away robotic voice speaks. "Tell us! Or you will be ex-term-min-ated!"
I feel the Doctor tap on my shoulder. What? I mouth to him.
He points to the door. He looks slightly concerned. I don't know who he is, but right now I think to myself, really? We came this far just to run? I punched a teacher in the face!
No.
He jerks his head towards the door and mouths something that looks like daleks.
I turn back around, ignoring him.
"-To the crucible!" is all I hear before my ears catch a beam-me-up like noise, like from Star Trek.
"The rest of you will be ex-term-min-ated!" The robot voice says.
I jump out from around the corner. Before the Doctor can stop me I yell, "Hey! You!"
I realize that the name of the thing standing before me must be a race called the daleks. A tall cylinder with a rounded top stands in the center of the room. A long plunger like an arm juts out of it's front, it's whole body studded with bronze, metallic, shiny ornaments. It stands atop a flat black platform, which I can only guess is their way of moving.
Before the dalek can say anything, the Doctor steps out beside me.
"Doc-tor!" The dalek moves back a little bit.
"Dalek!" The Doctor moves forward.
"EX-TERM-MIN-ATE!" The dalek yells.
"I wouldn't if I were you." The Doctor pulls out a round, jelly-filled cookie, "Exterminate me and the TARDIS explodes. You know what that means."
The dalek stays silent and still. The Doctor turns towards the other students in the room. "Get out of here."
They run out. Elle and Lily are the last people to leave. They whisper to me, "They've taken Isabel."
I nod my thanks.
But my heart sinks. If I had stayed in class, they might've taken me instead, and not Isabel, I wonder, blaming myself, but instead, I chose to ditch. I'm so useless.
The Doctor is right at eye-level with the dalek. "So, daleks, what are you planning? Universe dominance, I know, but what are you trying now?"
"The truth would break your hearts." The dalek says, and I can imagine it smirking.
"Tell me!" The Doctor demands.
All of a sudden, the dalek looks like a projection. Then it disappears.
The Doctor pulls out of his pocket a pen-shaped object. It has a green light on the end, and four silver grips holding it. Everything else is brass except for the handle. The top part of the handle is black and probably leather. The lower part is white.
He walks right to where the dalek was, and points the pen upwards. He presses a button, and the green light lights up, making a buzzing noise.
"What's that?" I ask.
"A sonic screwdriver." He says simply.
"So…what does it do?"
"Well, it does many things. But right now it's getting coordinates to the dalek crucible." He presses another button, and the grips let go of the light, springing open, "Bingo! There they are!"
He runs past me and out of the room. I run after him, passing Ares, who just stares at me like I'm crazy. I ignore him and continue to trail after the Doctor.
When I finally catch up to him, I ask, "Where are you going? And how come the daleks are afraid of you?"
"The daleks are my enemies, it's a long story. I'm going to their crucible." He says absentmindedly.
We run all the way back to the police box. He steps inside and says, "Don't follow me."
"Too bad." I say as I step inside.
As I close the door behind me, I realize that it is bigger on the inside. The floor is brown, and there are several staircases going in different directions. The closest to me goes up to a glass floor that is lit up by blue lights. In the center is a control panel with several buttons and levers. A screen is hanging from a round bar, which is hanging onto a glass pole. The walls are brown with holes in them, but the holes hold lights in them. Next to the door is a large circle, probably a larger screen than the one on the pole.
"I told you not to follow me!" The Doctor says, getting in my face and staring angrily into my eyes.
"They've taken Isabel, my best friend. I'm going to find her, and you're my only ride." I reply fearlessly.
"Daleks can kill you in one shot. If you get shot, you will die immediately. There would be no chance to save you. Is she still worth that chance?"
I look into his eyes. "Anyone is worth that chance."
He stares at me, as though evaluating me. His eyes pierce my skin, tear my muscles, and fracture my bones. After his eyes tear me apart, they burn my mind, trying to get inside.
I blink. When I open my eyes again, he flashes a smile, but quickly hides it. "Fine! Fine! But if you die, don't blame me!"
"I wouldn't be able to." I joke.
He goes to the console and starts pressing buttons and pulling levers. He flies around the console, moving his hands so fast I can't tell whether they are pressing buttons or not.
"By the way," The Doctor comments as his hand flies around, "anything to say about my TARDIS?"
"Yeah, already past that fact that it's bigger on the inside." I reply, waving a hand to dismiss it. "Anyways, how are you going to defeat them this time?"
"I'll find that out when I find out their plans." He says with confidence.
"So you're going to face the daleks empty-handed, and hope that they don't shoot you? And you were just telling me to stay behind. Tsk, tsk, tsk" I joke and wave a finger at him.
"Well, sort of. I'm going to use this Jammy Dodger and tell them that I will make the TARDIS explode if they shoot me. If the TARDIS explodes, they know it will erase the universe, including themselves."
We land with a thud. He runs in front of me and opens the doors, leaving me to follow quickly after him.
The inside of the ship is mostly white. A machine is parallel to me. It has an opening about as tall as me, and is all white, except for brass lines running vertically on it. There are 3 consoles, but not like the TARDIS console. They have a bump where the daleks can put their plungers on it, and a screen over that, all set on 3 brass panels. There are five daleks surrounding the machine.
"Oi! Daleks!" The Doctor calls out.
The daleks turn around. "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" They call back to him, moving forward.
As they begin to move forward, I realize that they weren't facing the entryway to the machine, but a person. Black hair, brown eyes, looks exactly like…
"Isabel!" I call to her, moving forward.
"Both of you, stay still, or I make the TARDIS explode!" The Doctor tells the daleks and me. I pretend to believe him and stay still.
I watch Isabel as the Doctor asks them about what they are planning. But… something's wrong…
"Why do you need the girl?" The Doctor asks.
"She is val-u-able!" A dalek says in its menacing tone.
"How do you mean 'valuable'?" The Doctor asks.
"Doctor… I think they've done something to her." I say as soon as I realize what's wrong.
"What do you mean?" The Doctor turns to me.
"Well… don't you think she would have made an effort to come to me when I called to her?" I say, looking at him nervously.
The Doctor stays silent as he walks over to her. He walks around her for a minute, looking her up and down. He pulls out his sonic screwdriver and moves it up and down all around her. He opens it and observes it. His eyes become wide and surprised. He repeats this process, then comes and stands next to me, his expression unreadable.
"What is going on? Doctor, look at me." I say quietly, turning towards him and away from Isabel.
"She is no longer Isabel. She is a dalek." He practically whispers, unable to look me in the eye
"No, no. She can't be. You've made a mistake." I deny.
"But I am." A female voice confirms