The Hybrid
As the Doctor ran around the flight controls trying to figure out what was going on, the TARDIS sped through time and space back to his home world. The cloister bells rang, red lights flashed, and the whole ship was shaking as though it were under attack. The TARDIS knew that she was being forced to travel despite her reluctance, and so she protested every way she could. The Doctor was doing everything he could to regain control of his ship, and as he spun around the center console, trying to keep his bearings, he realized that he was moving far back in time and to a distant part of the universe.
BAM! The ship crashed at its destination; The Doctor fell backwards. Sparks shot out of the console as the red flashing lights and the alarm sounds turned off. The whole ship had shut down. Questions of what had just happened, where he was, and why filled The Doctor's head as he tried to get the door opened to find out where he was.
He stepped outside and looked out over the red desert. Not here again, he thought as he surveyed the land. He immediately recognized the unique contour of the arid landscape, the strange red colored sky, and the towers of the distant city surrounded by a bubble. He was back in Gallifrey after just escaping it, but he still had no idea how they would have gotten him here. First, they trapped him in a confession dial so he would confess something he didn't know, and now they've managed to catch him again? There would be hell to pay for how they keep tormenting him.
Off in the distance, the Doctor could see combat ships flying his way. The ships landed hundreds of feet in front of him. Soldiers, officers, and lastly, members of the high council came down from the ramp to greet The Doctor, and welcome him home yet again.
"You know, Doctor," Ohila said as she approached the bottom of the ramp, "you really strayed from your principles the way you acted last time. Nevertheless, we need your help to save Gallifrey."
"No can do," he said in a hurried tone, "I need to go find out who this Clara person was to me. So if you don't mind helping me get my ship running again that would be gre-
"I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not going anywhere until you help us. The Cloister Bells have been ringing twice as fast since you left and we're sure that catastrophe is going to strike soon."
"What do you expect me to do about this inevitable catastrophe? I can't stop inevitability. Gallifrey's destined to fall. I've already seen it's end. By the way, how did you get me here?
"By a newly developed TARDIS magnet. Doctor, while it may be inevitable that Gallifrey will fall, we are very concerned about falling by the hands of The Hybrid. As you know from the prophecies: 'it will stand in the ruin of Gallifrey as it breaks millions of hearts to mend it's own.' We want to be prepared against that."
"You think I care about prophecies? It's more than likely to be wrong! I tell you what, help me get my TARDIS running again and maybe I won't insist that you to get off my planet!
The Cloister Bells started to ring faster and louder. Officers began to order the soldiers back onto the ships to go back to the city. "Let's go, Doctor! We'll find out sooner or later whether the prophecy of The Hybrid is true. For now, we need to meet with the rest of the high council to come up with a plan."
The Doctor had no way out of this one. Between The TARDIS being inoperable and the soldiers more on the council's side than his, he knew he had to go back with them. When they arrived at the council's chambers, every council member looked at The Doctor with reverence as though he had ultimate authority over what should happen next. He really hated that. But he knew that he needed to try to debunk their prophecy because there were aspects to it that just seemed wrong.
"The Hybrid is prophesized by the Matrix to be the perfect blend of two warrior races," The Doctor said to the council, "but everyone assumes that these are the Time Lords and Daleks. You know there are other warrior races out in the universe, right? If the Hybrid really does exist, it could be anything. Also, how do you know that it's The Hybrid that's coming?"
"The Matrix keeps generating the prophecy everyday now." Ohila responded. "For many moons we've gotten nothing out of the Matrix except this prophecy, and ever since this started the Cloister Bells have been ringing non-stop, getting louder and faster with every passing moment."
Up to this point the Bells had been almost deafening, but after Ohila had finished her last sentence, they suddenly stopped. The Bells that had been ringing for months on end had finally stopped.
"Well then!" The Doctor exclaimed with a slight degree of sarcasm, as he jumped up from his chair, "seems like your impending doom has come, at last! Let's go give it the same warm welcome you gave me!"
While the Time Lords prepared themselves for what would happen next, everything stayed very quiet. The sound of The Cloister Bells had begun to seem normal after so long, but now there was complete silence, and with it no sense of immediate danger. In a way, it seemed like the calm before the storm, but to The Doctor, that calm could very well be the storm. He knew that waiting idly like the rest of the Time Lords would do no good, and besides which he hated that. The Doctor was already running out of the council chambers to go down into The Cloisters before any of the council members knew what he was doing. While one could get partial access to The Matrix's information from the council chambers, The Doctor wanted to dig deeper for information in The Cloisters.
The Cloister Wraiths circled around the pillars as The Doctor made his way into the center where he could access The Matrix. Having made it out alive of The Cloisters twice now, he was pretty confident in himself. When he made it to the center of The Cloisters, The Matrix mainframe appeared to be malfunctioning. He could hear it's computer drives working, but they were running much slower than normal. The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the mainframe. Yep, it's definitely malfunctioning. Either It's constant predictions about The Hybrid slowed it down, or something else… The doctor thought about what was going on when he looked up at the big screen above the mainframe. It normally shows predictions, advanced calculations about time and space, and other data at a rapid pace, but now it only had the prophecy of The Hybrid stuck on the screen. It did not, however, show the prophecy that every Gallifreyan knew. Instead, it showed this: The day has come when two warriors will stand in the ruin of Gallifrey as they break millions of hearts to mend their own.'
The Doctor looked at the screen. "Ha! Two individuals, not the blend of two warrior races! I knew there's a reason I don't trust prophesies!" The screen suddenly went black. Strange, he thought. As he got ready to find the secret exit he'd known about since he was young, The Cloister Wraiths started to move around faster and more frantically trying to guard The Matrix. It definitely seemed that way. The Doctor did his best to maneuver past The Cloister Wraiths and find his way around the maze of The Cloisters until he reached the secret exit. The exit would get him to where spare TARDISes are, but he wasn't going to run away like he did last time. He finally reached the mysterious hatch on the ground. With his hands on the ground he fumbled to get it open, and became totally focused on what he was doing. When he heard the screams of The Cloister Wraiths close by, it was already too late. The Doctor almost had the hatch open when a Cloister Wraith came up behind him and put its ghost-like hands on the sides of his head.
He had been here before, it's not like this was his only experience with inescapable traps. When the Doctor finally stood up, he was in a universe very much like our own. Colors, the ground, the sky, everything seemed like our reality, but he knew that this was a very different reality. This was a reality almost impossible to escape.
It looked like he was back in the desert of Gallifrey where his TARDIS crashed. There was no capital city in the background of this arid land, though, nor were there any signs of life. The Doctor was alone in what he knew was the virtual imprisonment of The Matrix. He had just barely remembered the second before whatever it was-likely a Wraith-put its hands on his head. He knew that his body would have been attached to fibre optic cables running to The Matrix mainframe. He knew that there was very little chance for him making it back.
And then he saw a figure walking towards him in the far distance. The figure skipped forward a hundred feet while it walked, then another hundred feet after that. It was teleporting forward to where The Doctor was standing. As the figure came closer, The Doctor stood in horror as he began to recognize that bundled-up black hair, black makeup, black dress and overcoat with a white shirt. It was The Mistress!
"I am so glad you could join me, Doctor." Missy said with her evil smile. "I've been waiting for you for a long time."
"How did you...how could you…"
"Now, now, Doctor, there's no need to worry about the how's and why's. Just know that I have grand plans for us."
"No! I absolutely refuse to be involved in any of your chaotic plans! How many times do we have to play these games before you realize that you are never the winner?"
"Doctor, when has there ever been winners and losers? We've played a lot, and I know that you like it just as much as I do."
"How could you say that...I never take pleasure in trying to undo your chaotic schemes."
"But, Doctor, you and I are so much alike. We get our kicks from traveling through time and space and meddling with the lives of other species. We've even worked together a few times to stop a force greater than either of us."
"I'd hardly say so. Anyways, tell me what you intend to do with Gallifrey."
"Nothing. All this planning was just to lure you here. You see, Doctor, I have always wanted for us to have some quality time alone, and now that you're stuck here with me I am assured just that."
The Doctor walked away, but Missy kept teleporting to him. This was much worse than being in the confession dial, The Doctor thought. This had to be some sort of mind game that Missy was playing before she got to her plans for destruction. But she just kept on toying with his head, and his patience.
"Doctor, do you know how many times I've tried to rule over your precious little Earth? Hmmm?
"Too many. Quit talking to me."
"But Doctor, you realize that with the way you interfere with those humans, you might as well be trying to rule them, too.
"Absolutely not. I'm saving them from you."
"Saving them, claiming your right over them, what's the difference?
The Doctor started to get angry as he turned to Missy, "There's a lot of difference. I'm trying to keep their lives' peaceful, without extraterrestrial disturbances. I've never once asserted a claim on their existence."
"Except your companions."
She was really pushing his buttons now. The Doctor had not been this angry in a long time. He grabbed Missy by her collar and started to shout in her face, "I have never laid claim to any human! All my companions have come with me by their free will! I don't go around dominating people like you do, so stop saying we're alike!
It took The Doctor a minute to realize what this all was, but when he realized it was like being an alcoholic who had hit rock bottom. This whole mind game was a way for Missy to unleash The Doctor's dark side. He had, after all, made bad choices in his not too distant past. He knew he had to act on his principles rather than his emotions.
While Missy kept at the mind game with the same evil smile on her face, The Doctor just took a step back from her and closed his eyes. He thought, I am not you. I will never be you. We may be the same species, we may have grown up together, even fought together, but my values are different from yours. I choose to not be angry with you. To give into my anger is to be the same as you. I know I am a good person, and therefore I will not be moved by your games.
When The Doctor finally opened his eyes, he was back in his TARDIS standing in front of the flight controls. The TARDIS was flying in the same place right before it had gotten pulled to Gallifrey. What he had just gone through was possibly the first time he had to battle his own emotions in order to make it out of a trap. How all that had happened, and whether or not it was just a battle within his own head, he had no idea. But The Doctor had learned this: if he wanted to keep the universe safe, he had to trust his goodness and never let anybody get the best of his emotions.