The console room lurched violent, almost tipping ninety degrees to the side, as the Doctor desperately hung on, his black jacket flapping by his side. Suddenly the ship righted itself, the man landing on the floor with a thud.
"What's all this then," he said angrily, brushing the dirt off his dark jeans and checking all the instruments. "Having a right go, aren't ya?"
"Professor?" asked a familiar voice. The Doctor looked up, confused and slightly annoyed.
"Ace?" he said, incredulously. "What are you doing here? I thought I left you..." He trailed off, wondering what did happen to Ace after she departed the TARDIS.
"Who are you and what have you done with the Doctor?" replied Ace, holding her baseball bat up high. The Doctor couldn't help but smile. Good old Ace, with a baseball bat that managed to take out a Dalek.
His smile quickly disappeared when he realized who wasn't with them.
"Rose?" he called, spinning in circles to check every era of the console room. "Where are you?"
"Oi!" said Ace indignantly. "Don't ignore me!"
"Yes, yes," said the Doctor, waving his hand dismissively. "You haven't seen a blond girl around here, have you? Yay high, bit of a personality at times?"
"No?" said Ace, confused, before steeling her resolve. "But if you don't tell me what's going on I'll knock you're block off."
"Ace," said the Doctor wearily, taking a step forward. Ace held her ground, holding the bat up high. Before the conservation could continue, the TARDIS shuddered, and landed.
"That's odd," said the Doctor, turning his attention back to the console. "I didn't set the co-ordinates. Where are we?" It was a redundant question. There was a chance Rose was out there, and he was going to find her.
He'd have to get by Ace first, who had put herself in front of him and the door.
"I swear, if you don't tell me what's going on, I'll blow this place to kingdom come."
"With your Nitro-9 no doubt. Ace, it's me," he continued, seeing the puzzled look on her face as she glanced at the backpack on her shoulders. "I'm the Doctor. I'm different, yes, but is it really hard to believe that I can change my body?"
Ace had to admit, she had seen stranger things. But she'd also learned not to be a fool.
"If you're really the Professor, prove it!"
The Doctor sighed, and looked wistful.
"Remember when the explosion in the chemistry lab took you to Iceworld," he said. "And I offered you a lift home, and we saw all sorts of amazing things. Daleks, Cybermen, Haemovores, Cat People? Dorothy, look at me."
He stood directly in front of her, in perfect distance from her bat, and looked into her eyes.
"I'm the Doctor."
Ace paused, then broke into a smile.
"Wicked," she said. "So, Professor, what's going on?"
The Doctor chuckled. He missed being called that, despite his insistence to the contrary.
"I don't know," he admitted. "But the answers are through that door. Lets go see, shall we?"
"Is this the East End of London?" asked Ace, incredulously. "Why on Earth would you come here?"
"I didn't. The TARDIS decided to come here. Clearly there's something amiss at the moment."
"Do you think it's Fernic?" asked Ace, concerned.
"No, we dealt with him a long time ago... Ah." The look on her face made it clear that the final end of Fernic had yet to happen for her.
"Forget I said anything," he said, before seeing a woman selling clothes. "Anyway, if you ever get into trouble, ask the locals. They know everything."
"Looking for a discount?" asked the woman as they approached. "I've got some fabulous stuff."
"Not at the moment," said the Doctor, beaming. "But you could help me another way. I was just wondering, do you know what the date is?"
"November 23rd," said the woman. "And you could get these for your daughter, just in time for Christmas."
"I'm not his daughter," said Ace, slightly revolted. The thought of the professor being her dad... she couldn't think of anything worse.
"Not right now," said the Doctor. "Say, what year is it?"
"Year?" asked the woman. "Are you drunk?"
"No, just making small talk," beamed the Doctor, giving off another one of his disarming smiles.
"It's 1993 of course," said the woman.
"Oh of course," said the Doctor, laughing at his own ignorance. "Silly me. Of course it's 1993. Except, well, there's just one slight problem."
"Oh?" asked the woman.
"These clothes won't be made for another twenty years," the Doctor replied, the charming smile gone, replaced with a cold hard seriousness. "None of those logos are relevant. Why are you selling clothes for pop culture that's yet to exist?"
"Am I?" said the woman, oblivious to the Doctor's building rage. "Well, it helps to be ahead of the curve."
"Doctor," said Ace, concern in her voice.
"Not now," said the Doctor.
"Doctor!" she repeated, more urgently.
"I said not n- oh. I see."
The two of them watched as the Cyberman slowly, deliberately, lumbered towards them, gun raised.
"Tell me, would you happen to have some Nitro-9 on hand?" whispered the Doctor.
"But of course Professor," replied Ace, huddling close to the Doctor.
"Okay, so, here's what we'll do. We'll lead it to the park, and then you can blow it up."
"Really?" said Ace, surprised. It wasn't like the Doctor to be so direct. He was normally more manipulative and cunning.
"We can't risk even one Cyberman running around in this time period," said the Doctor. "Get ready to run on my signal."
He straightened up and faced the Cyberman.
"Hello," he said cheerfully. "I'm the Doctor. No doubt you want to eradicate me for the glory of the Cyber-race."
"Doctor," came the metallic reply, as the Cyberman started to pick up speed.
"Now Ace!" cried the Doctor, and the two of them took off, the Cyberman in tow.
"Why isn't anyone else reacting to this?" asked Ace as they tore down the streets, dodging yet another blast from the Cyberman's gun.
"Perception filter most likely," said the Doctor, as they entered the park, the Cyberman close behind. They ran to the other end, only to find it padlocked shut.
"Now would be a good time Ace," said the Doctor, as the Cyberman aimed his gun. Before it could fire there was a massive explosion, knocking the Cyberman off its feet. It lay on the ground, the thing that could most charitably called life draining from it.
"You could have dialled it back a bit," said the Doctor, waving away the smoke.
"You said we couldn't take the risk," replied Ace. "Anyway, there goes most of my Nitro-9. Now what?"
"Now we go back to the TARDIS," said the Doctor. "And work out what's going on."
The attack hit him the moment he stepped through the TARDIS threshold. It felt like a thousand hands were tearing away at his insides. He winced in pain, falling to his knees.
"Professor?"
The Doctor tried to speak but couldn't, the pain too severe. It was bad, and yet, strangely familiar. But why?
There was no time for it now. The world was in danger, and he wasn't going to let a little thing of his past lives being ripped from the timeline stop him. He staggered over the console, checking the readings, scanning for alien technology.
"Professor?" repeated Ace, still concerned.
"This makes no sense," said the Doctor, panic rising. "Daleks, Cybermen, Slitheen, Draconian, Time Lord? What is going on?"
In the back of his mind a memory seemed to be trying to get his attention, but he ignored it, focusing on the problem at hand. And yet everything seemed strangely familiar...
"Hang on," he said. "Haven't we done this before?"
It was at that moment the console violently lurched.
"Why did you send the Cyberman out ma'am?" asked the young man, risking her wrath by daring to question her motives. He owed her his life, but the curiosity was driving him mad.
"I didn't mean to send it out you fool," snarled the woman. "Clearly the more Doctor there is, the weaker the containment field gets. No matter. He only needs to survive long enough to be ensnared in the trap. After that, I don't care what happens to him. As long as his suffering is forever enternal, that is."