The Doctor leaned out the TARDIS door, wind whipping him as a helicopter carried the TARDIS. He reached for the phone panel and opened it, quickly dialing and holding the phone to his ear. After a moment, the recipient picked up.
"Doctor, hello," Kate Lethbridge-Stewart said over the phone, "We found the TARDIS in a field. I'm having it brought in."
"No kidding!" the Doctor shouted.
"Where are you?" Kate asked.
The Doctor held the phone toward the helicopter.
"Oh, my gosh! Oh, Doctor, I'm so sorry, we had no idea you were still in there."
The helicopter suddenly changed course, causing the Doctor to lose his balance. He fell out of the TARDIS with a shout. He smiled and tucked his arms in, diving headfirst toward the Thames. He closed his eyes, enjoying the wind and fully integrating himself into the air. He suddenly flipped to his stomach, his arms spread, and blasted his rocket boots as hard as he could. He shot rapidly forward, still dropping a little. He lowered just above the Thames, his speed creating a small wake behind him. He rose away from the river and curved back toward the TARDIS, still rising. He struggled to keep the rocket boots going so fast and flapped his arms when he needed a boost.
He caught up to the TARDIS and slowed to the same speed. He grabbed the phone hanging from its compartment and held it to his ear. "Next time, would it kill you to knock?"
"I'm having you taken directly to the scene," Kate said.
"I'm taking myself, thank you very much!"
"What? Doctor, hello, are you okay?"
The Doctor struggled to keep up with his arm occupied holding a phone and he faltered for a moment. "Whoa . . . ! I'm just going to pop you on hold." He flew up to the doorway where Clara was watching, making sure he was okay. He held out his arms to her. "Come on. Come on."
Clara set her feet and forced herself to hop out into the Doctor's arms. The TARDIS flew away from him as he slowed down and sent his flight energy into Clara. She quickly felt lighter until she floated beside him. She smiled and the Doctor flew after the TARDIS, taking Clara with him. He swerved and dived and flew around the helicopter for fun, following it to its destination.
The helicopter slowed and lowered to the ground in an area surrounded by UNIT soldiers. The Doctor floated down first, a safe distance from the helicopter.
"Attention!" an officer shouted to the soldiers.
The Doctor saluted. "Why am I saluting?" he said as he lowered his hand and walked to Kate, followed by Clara.
"Doctor, as Chief Scientific Officer, may I extend the official apologies of UNIT?" Kate said, the helicopter's blades blowing her hair.
"Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, a word to the wise. As I'm sure your father would've told you, I don't like being picked up."
"That probably sounded better in his head," Clara said.
"I pick myself up," the Doctor finished, floating a few inches off the ground, "And I could outfly any of your helicopters any day," he said, touching her forehead.
Her hair suddenly stopped blowing wildly and floated stiffly around her head as her feet came off the ground. She looked surprised and slightly frightened. He moved his finger and she dropped to the ground, her hair blowing again. The Doctor's feet gently touched the ground.
"Kindly refrain from touching me in that manner," Kate said firmly but not angrily.
"Sorry . . . ."
"I'm acting on instructions direct from the throne," Kate continued.
"Nice scarf," the Doctor said, pointing to Osgood's multicolored scarf as he walked past her.
"Doctor," Osgood said.
The Doctor stopped and turned around while Kate and Clara walked toward the museum.
She looked like she was struggling to hold back her excitement. "Sorry, could you just do the same thing to me that you did to Kate?"
"What, you mean this?" He touched her forehead and they both rose off the ground.
She grinned widely with excitement. "Is my hair going . . . ?" She raised her hand beside her hair. "My hair isn't . . . it's not floating like Kate's did."
"What? Did I do that? I hadn't noticed." He tried to make her hair float, but he couldn't.
"Doctor? Come on!" Kate called.
"Just a minute. I'm fulfilling a request from a fan." He stared at her hair, concentrating. He closed his eyes and touched all five fingers to her forehead. He felt his flight energy inside Osgood, but it wasn't in her hair. He tried to force it into her hair.
"Doctor, we don't have all day!"
The Doctor felt a flare of frustration because she'd broken his concentration, but Osgood's hair suddenly floated just like Kate's had. "Hey! I did it!"
"Doctor!"
The Doctor gently put Osgood down and suddenly shot over the soldiers' heads, up the stairs, and into the museum to make up for holding them back.
"Think the real Queen of England would just decide to share the throne with any old handsome bloke in a tight suit just 'cause he's got amazing hair and a nice horse?" The Doctor turned to look at the horse when it whinnied and saw a big red rubbery thing covered in suckers instead. "Oh. It was the horse! I'm going to be King!" he said, horrified. He grabbed Queen Elizabeth's hand. "Run!"
The Doctor ran, picking up his speed, and his feet came off the ground.
Elizabeth gave up trying to run and just let him drag her. "What are you doing? Are you flying?"
"Don't know what else to call it."
"What's happening?" Elizabeth asked, totally confused.
The Doctor flew away from the ruins, smacking his dinging machine. "Come on! Know you're there!" he growled as he flew into the woods.
He swerved between the trees. He planted his feet and slid to a stop when he saw a suspicious-looking rabbit sniffing around on a stump. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa . . . . Oh, very clever. Whatever you've got planned, forget it. I'm the Doctor. I'm nine-hundred and four years old. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I am the Oncoming Storm, the bringer of darkness," he squatted beside the stump, "And you are basically just a rabbit, aren't you? Okay, carry on. Just a . . . general . . . warning." He smacked the device angrily.
"Doctor!" Elizabeth shouted from deeper in the woods.
The Doctor ran and jumped into the air, flying toward the sound of her voice. He spotted Elizabeth lying on the ground and skidded to a stop. "Elizabeth!"
"Oh, of course!" the Doctor said, holding the fez, beginning to remember, "This is where I come in." He smiled at Kate and Clara and threw the fez into the time fissure. "Geronimoooo!" he called, running toward the fissure.
"Doctor!" Clara said, reaching to stop him.
"Wait," Kate said, grabbing her arm.
The Doctor jumped into the whirling vortex. He fell out in a forest. The ground came to meet him. He closed his eyes to quickly calm down and felt the falling stop. He opened his eyes and gently touched the ground. The Doctor's previous regeneration, kneeling and holding the fez, stared at him in bewilderment. The Doctor slowly stood up and put on the fez, unsure what else to do with it, as he stared at his future self.
"Who is this man?" one of the Elizabeths asked.
"That's just what I was wondering," the Doctor said.
"Oh, that is skinny. That is proper skinny," the Doctor said, turning sideways to make himself comparatively skinny, "I've never seen it from the outside. It's like a special effect," the Doctor commented on himself as he walked closer. He floated a few inches higher to be the same height as his past self. "Oi!" He smacked the fez off his head, making him flinch. "Ha! Matchstick Man!"
The Doctor looked down at the Doctor's feet, floating in the air. He lifted his foot and stepped up onto the air to be taller again. The Doctor gently waved his hands downward and floated a few inches higher again. The Doctor looked down and copied the hand movement a few times, but nothing happened. He lifted his arms and flapped them gently to float higher again. They just stared at each other.
"You're not . . . ." the Doctor's past self began slowly.
They both lifted their arms and hesitated before reaching into their jackets. The younger Doctor pulled out his blue sonic screwdriver. The older Doctor pulled out his green one and activated it with a flourish, the claws on the end opening up. The Doctor slowly made his as big as it would get, jealous of the Doctor's bigger one.
"Physical passage may not be possible in both directions," the Doctor said to Clara and Kate through the time fissure, "It's- Ah! Hang on! Fez incoming!" he called, grabbing the fez off the ground and throwing it into the fissure, floating into the air just for fun.
They paused, waiting for a response.
"Nothing here," Clara said.
"So where did it go?" the Doctor's previous regeneration asked.
They waited a moment, confused and pondering.
"Okay, you used to be me, you've done all this before," the past Doctor said, hopping into the air beside his future self and crossing his arms, "What happens next?"
"I don't remember."
"How can you forget this?!" the Doctor questioned, pointing between them.
"Hey, hang on, it's not my fault. You're obviously not paying enough attention. Reverse the polarity!"
They both aimed their sonic screwdrivers at the fissure.
"It's not working," the older Doctor said.
"We're both reversing the polarity!"
"Yes, I know that."
"There's two of us. I'm reversing it, and you're reversing it back again! We're confusing the polarity."
With a whoosh of air, the Doctor's worst fear fell through the fissure. The Doctor of the Time War landed on his feet in front of them, holding a fez. The two Doctors immediately dropped to the ground, staring at him in horror. They couldn't let him know they could fly.
"Anyone lose a fez?" he asked.
"So I won't remember that I tried to save Gallifrey, rather than burn it. I'll have to live with that. But for now, for this moment . . . I am the Doctor again. Thank you." The Doctor of the Time War looked at the three TARDISes lined up against the wall. "Which one is mine?!"
The two Doctors looked at the one on the right, the most beat-up looking TARDIS.
"Ha!" he walked toward it.
"One more thing," the oldest Doctor began, "You're going back to believing you destroyed Gallifrey, so take care of yourself. Go look for freedom and peace."
"Freedom and peace can be found in many places," the middle Doctor added.
"From the solitude of a cave in the mountains . . ."
"To an American teenage girl's backyard."
"A teenage girl's backyard? That's oddly specific." His eyes lit up. "You're telling me where I need to go next!"
"Maybe . . . ." the middle Doctor said, scratching his ear.
"But I'm going to forget."
"It might end up somewhere in your subconscious," the oldest Doctor said.
"Thank you, gentlemen," the Doctor stepped inside his TARDIS and it dematerialized.
"Or perhaps it doesn't matter either way," the Curator finished, biting his finger, "Who knows? Who . . . knows?" he said, pushing the side of his nose. He turned and walked away, bending over his cane.
The Doctor turned back to the painting. He turned to look at the Curator again and looked closely at his feet. He was walking, but his feet weren't touching the ground. The Doctor faced the painting again, a smile on his face.