Chapter Two: Defender of the box

The man with a bow tie and his companion stood face to face with a small group of people that had surrounded the TARDIS. The Doctor scanned their faces slowly and inhaled deeply. "Earth smell. This is quite probably Earth." he muttered. "But what's this?" He drew another breath and closed his eyes. "A hint of bubblegum, perhaps?" His face grew grave and glanced at the group once more.

"What does that mean Doctor?" Amy whispered quietly.

"It means," he looked around once more, "you're a very long way from home."

Most of the people stood facing the TARDIS looked human, but there were a few that were something different. There was a blue woman (who was undeniably naked), an extremely fat man, a man who looked like the Devil himself and a hunched boy with a large, reptile-like tongue which hung loosely from his mouth. Amy's instinctive thought was that they were aliens, but the Doctor wasn't so sure and he conjured up a few theories of his own. There was one man who stood facing them and the Doctor deduced that he was this odd group's leader. He wore a long red cloak and wore a matching metal helmet that enveloped his head. The Doctor caught a glimpse of his face and it was weathered and old.

"Who are you and what is this blue box that is so special and unique that there is only one that exists in this whole multiverse?" The cloaked man spoke with a gravelly voice.

The Doctor scoffed and looked at him incredulously. "How'd you know that and not even know what it is?"

The old man smirked. "I can smell it. The metal. More metal than I can comprehend. Yet I see it in front of me and it's just wood. Very retro, by the way. Wood. With all that metal just crammed into it. Such an oddity. How could I resist?"

The Doctor's eyes widened in disbelief and he spoke quickly. "You mean to say that you, through some unknown force, pulled my TARDIS out of the time vortex itself across the universes, through the void, into this parallel world?"

"A TARDIS. It fits. I like it. And yes, in answer to your question. It all went vaguely like that. I had help, of course. And who, may I ask, are you? Some sort of protector or guardian of the box, perhaps? How do you both fit inside? It's hardly roomy."

Searching through his pockets, the Doctor pulled out his psychic paper and produced it to the man before him. "John Smith. Official defender of the box. That's this beauty behind me. And this," he paused to gesture to Amy, who was looking mildly concerned, "is my lovely assistant who carries out all sorts of wonderful maintenance and makes a smashing cup of tea. Now that we've introduced ourselves, we'll be on our way. Good day!"

Both Amy and the Doctor turned to go back into the TARDIS and far away from this man who was claiming to have effectively kidnapped the TARDIS, but the doors slammed shut in front of them almost immediately. Frantically clicking his fingers and searching for his key, the Doctor exclaimed, "no, no, no, no, no, no, no! Stop this Sexy, right now. Open up. Come on!"

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that. That piece of paper you just showed me is blank, which leads me to question whether you're telling me the truth. And I would like to investigate this most curious box further. Why else would I have gone through all this trouble to obtain it in the first place?"

Out of the corner of his eye, the Doctor saw an outstretched arm. Then, as the old man brought his arm round, the TARDIS began moving with it, as if attached to the arm itself.

"What? How are you doing that? Some sort of magnetic force field? Maybe if you extrapolated the energy and fed the compressed signal ba- No! Give her back! I demand you tell me who you are!"

"Oh dear. I'm afraid I won't be able to give it back. Not just yet. And yes, a magnetic force field is close. Something vaguely like that." The man smirked and his posse smirked also.

"Do you know who I am? I am the Doctor and I demand you give me my TARDIS back!"

"What are you going to do? Make me a nice cup of tea? I don't know who you are, Doctor, but you have no authority here. For you are now in the world of Mutants and we," the man paused to gesture to the group, "are the Brotherhood."