Hey guys! I'm back! School has been keeping me really busy as of late but I am still working on the story.
Hope y'all enjoy this chapter!
The next place I landed was quite a bit different than the last two places I went. And by that, I meant that it was quite a bit darker. Pitch black actually. My landing was also quite a bit rougher than before as well.
A second after my landing I heard a pair of screams. Looking around, my eyes adjusted enough that I could see where I was. 'An old house… an old, creepy house. Alright then where, and or when, could I be this time?'
Nothing about the place told me immediately where I was. There were plenty of episodes that involved creepy old houses. Starting from 10 with the Wolf to 12 with… that weird host… if I remembered that right. Though it soon became clear as I heard two voices again.
"Ah, the music room. The heart of the house. Do you feel anything?"
'Well… 11th Doctor. But is it Amy again ooorr…'
My unasked question was answered as the other voice spoke. "No."
'Clara.' I realized with a smile as I hurried their way. I hadn't met Clara before but I was most certainly looking forward to it.
"Your pants are so on fire." The Doctor said in a teasing tone as I heard his sonic sort of stutter.
I walked in to see Clara and the Doctor had their backs turned to me. Which made me smirk as a plan came to mind.
I watched as Clara turned to the Doctor and whispered to him, "Do you feel like you're being watched?"
The Doctor whispered back, "What does being watched feel like? Is it that funny tickly feeling on the back of your neck?"
"That's the chap."
"Then yes, a bit. Well, quite a big bit."
I raised an eyebrow at their conversation. Quietly I walked up behind them and said, "You know the whole point of whispering is so people don't hear you right?"
The two of them jumped and shouted a bit as they turned to face me, the Doctor pointing his sonic at me. "Harry!"
"Doctor… seriously I've always wondered, why do you keep on pointing your screwdriver at people and things? What is that going to do? Assemble a cabinet at them?" I asked, cheekily as Clara hit me in the shoulder.
"Don't do that again!" She shouted, earning a smile of apology from me.
"I didn't hear you complaining back at the Rings of Akhaten!" The Doctor retorted.
I gave the Doctor a look. "Haven't been there yet. But it's nice to know that I will be."
"Ah, right then." He said, haltingly. "Well, you'll have that to look forward to. Back at it then shall we?"
"Wait a second, what do you mean you haven't been there yet? I saw you there." Clara said, pointing at me.
"I, uhh, I'm sure you did. But that would have to be a future me. This is past me, before we actually met."
"No, you said you knew me from a tv show, which I didn't believe until you-"
"Ah ah!" Me and the Doctor interrupted.
The two of us shared a glance and judging by the Doctor's head gesture, I assumed he was handing the explaining things over to me. I cleared my throat and looked at Clara, only to blush slightly. What could I say? She was pretty and… well I always had a bit of a crush on her, before all this happened.
'Idiot! Bad thoughts.' I thought to myself as I shook my head free, before I went into explaining. "R-right, so basically, this little device that you see attached to my arm is what's called a time vortex manipulator which-"
"Yeah, yeah, it zaps you from place to place. You're originally from a world where everything here is fiction. My question is how you don't remember meeting me?"
I struggled to find the words to explain, but where my words fail, the Doctor's would suffice. "Ehh, wibbly wobbly timey wimey bullcrap. Basically I jump around time. Not in any sort of order apparently but that's what I do. So, you've met me but I haven't met you… till now."
"Oh… well that's… interesting." Just then the floor creaked and the two of them jumped around to look.
"I think she's here." She whispered.
The Doctor wandered around the room. That is until he discovered something curious. "Cold spot. Spooky. Cold. Warm. Cold. Warm. Cold. Warm. Cold. Warm. Cold."
"Doctor?" I asked, feeling quite amused as I stared at him as he drew a circle on the ground with a bit of chalk.
The Doctor jumped back up and looked back. "What?"
Clara also called out to him. "Doctor?" She asked, drawing my attention as she looked behind her.
"Clara? Are you alright?"
She looked at me and shook her head before again turning to the Doctor. "Doctor!"
"Oh not you too, what is it?"
"I'm not happy."
The Doctor considered that and said, "No." before he turned and walked out of the room.
"Hey!" Clara softly yelled, running after him before she stopped and looked at me curiously. "Aren't you coming?"
I smiled. "Yeah I'll be there in a bit. Go on." She hesitated. Something I found a little odd but before I could question it, she nodded and ran out of the room after the Doctor.
I shook my head with a slight blush. 'Dang, she's even prettier in person. What?' My head shook even more vigorously after that thought. "No! Just no. She's got Danny."
'If you wanna get technical, she doesn't have Danny yet.'
"That doesn't matter, she will have him one day."
'And then she will lose him. We could save her from that pain.'
"But the paradoxes-"
'Resolve themselves by and large. Besides, what would that really change? Less fights with her and 12?'
I scoffed. "Oh I doubt that'll happen."
'Danny might not die.'
That made me pause… "Now that's actually a good point." I groaned, shaking my head once again. "No! I'm not doing anything to change the future more than is necessary! And that's that!"
It wasn't until the chalk line the Doctor made started to steam that I realized what I was doing. Stiffening up slightly, I scratched the back of my head as I looked around, feeling just a little… scared. 'What am I scared about? It's not even a ghost. It's just an alien.'
Right after that thought, a big bang sounded behind me, making me jump around despite knowing what it was… probably. "Sorry! Sorry about that… I'll just be going now."
I walked out of the room, feeling like I had both won and lost the argument in my head. Soon I heard banging throughout the house. Luckily I ran into the Doctor and Clara.
Another bang rang through the house behind us, making Clara look behind her to see me, which seemed to actually calm her. "Okay, what is that? Was that you?"
"Nope." I said, with the p popped.
"It's a very loud noise. It's a very loud, very angry noise." The Doctor said, slightly nervously.
"What's making it?"
"I don't know. Are you making it? Harry?"
"No. No I am not." I said, much more calmly than either of them, before another pair of bangs rang out, making the three of them jump a little.
"Doctor?" Clara questioned.
"Yes?"
"I may be a teeny, tiny bit terrified."
"Yes?" The Doctor asked again.
"But I'm still a grown-up."
The Doctor laughed a bit. "Mainly, yes, and?"
"There's no need to actually hold my hand." She told him.
"Clara."
"Yeah?" She asked back.
The Doctor raised his hands. "I'm not holding your hand."
"Harry?"
"'Fraid not."
The three of them looked back behind them, just as lightning sounded and lit up the hallway to reveal the alien. I would have simply walked away… if Clara had not decided to grab my hand and pull me along with her as she and the Doctor ran through the house and downstairs.
Down there we ran into the professor and his psychic… that sounded like a good book idea… I shook my head, yet again. 'Later!'
The second we got there, a black, floating, rotating mirror appeared out of thin air. At first the Doctor brought out his sonic and tried to examine the mirror. When that didn't work he turned to the professor and reached out for his camera.
"Camera! Camera!"
As soon as the camera was in his hands, the Doctor started taking pictures as fast as he could. Meanwhile, some kind of portal thing opened up on the other side of us. Me and the psychic, whose name I couldn't quite recall, stared into the portal.
When I noticed that the psychic was starting to hyperventilate, I let go of Clara's hand and put mine on the psychic's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. It won't hurt you ok? You're gonna be just fine."
"Doctor?" Clara questioned, drawing the Doctor's attention.
The Doctor turned and began taking pictures of the other thing we were now seeing. The woman in the distance screamed and the psychic collapsed. Together the professor and I caught her. Yet even after the psychic was back on her feet, things still weren't quite finished yet.
"Doctor…" Clara called again, drawing all our attention to the wall which now had the writing, 'Help me' on there. Of course, as quickly as it came, it disappeared.
Afterwards, the Doctor went with the professor to look at the pictures he had taken and Clara went to have a drink with the psychic, Emma. As for me? Well I went to throw away my tattered suit coat and redress my hand in the bathroom.
This was the best day of my life in Doctor Who to be honest. A nice, calm, relaxing day. 'I needed this.' I thought to myself, running my non injured hand down my face. After that, I was about to redress my hand… only to realize that I didn't have anything to redress it with.
So I went back downstairs. Assuming that the Doctor was still with the professor, I went to Emma and Clara. Who were also still talking.
"I don't know. People like me, sometimes we get our signals mixed up. We think people are feeling the way we want them to feel, you know, when they are special to us, when really there's nothing there." Emma said, in a sad tone.
I smiled. "That's not exactly new you know."
Clara and Emma looked over to me, both of whom looked confused. Emma more so than Clara. "What do you mean?"
"Confusing emotions? Whether you can read people's feelings or not, everyone does the same thing. We always hope that the other person feels the way we want them to when they're close to our hearts. It's only human."
"So what do I do? How can I be sure?"
I shook my head. "You can't. But, you know… maybe that's why it's called falling in love."
Emma still looked confused. "How do you mean?"
I shook my head again with a gentle smile. "That's not important. But this is. Don't try to stop your heart from falling in love, because in the end it may be worth it."
Clara smiled. "Besides, it's so obvious. It sticks out like a big chin."
Emma smiled and then looked between the two of us. "What about you and… I'm sorry, who are you?"
"Harry. Sorry, I forgot to say."
Emma nodded. "Like I was saying. What about you and Harry here?"
Me and Clara's eyes met for a second, just one, before we both looked at Emma and said simultaneously, "No way!"
I blinked and turned to Clara who likewise looked at me. "Why, what's wrong with me?" We asked together.
I blushed again. "N-nothing…" I cleared my throat before turning to Emma. "A-anyway, umm, I came down here cause I need a bit of cloth to rewrap my hand."
"What happened to your hand? Actually no, what happened to your clothes? Weren't you wearing a suit?" Clara asked.
I looked at her again before answering. "Well, to start from the top, I drove a sharp metal halo into a mechanical angel, my clothes… well this is at least partially due to a shipwreck, on that note, don't ever go on anything named the Titanic. Bad luck follows that name everywhere. For the third question, the jacket was ruined so I threw it out."
Clara blinked, "I'm sorry… you were on the Titanic?"
"Replica. Spaceship. Long story." I turned back to Emma. "Bandages?"
Emma, for her part, looked completely lost but eventually decided to look past the Titanic comment. "There should be some around here somewhere." Before she could do that though, the Doctor called.
"Clara! Harry! Let's go!"
The three of us went outside into the pouring rain and walked to where the Tardis had parked.
As we got closer, Clara whispered to the Doctor, "I've got this weird feeling it's looking at me. It doesn't like me."
"The Tardis is like a cat. A bit slow to trust, but you'll get there in the end." The Doctor replied before ran inside.
Clara though didn't look too sure about that and turned to me questionably. I didn't even have to ask what her question was. Not that I was all too sure what the answer to that question was.
Though I did have some idea. "Eventually… I think."
"Oh well that's reassuring." She said, a bit sarcastically as she tried to follow the Doctor inside. Only, when she tried to open the door to the Tardis, it wouldn't open. After a few tries, she turned back to me again. "See what I mean?"
"I mean… I did say eventually right?" I repeated before walking up to the Tardis and opened the door with ease, letting Clara go first.
"Why does she open for you and not me?"
I shrugged. "How would I know?" I asked as I followed her into the Tardis.
"Because you know everything, apparently." Clara answered as she looked around for a place to put her umbrella. She couldn't find one. "Hey. You need a place to keep this."
"I've got one. Or I had one. I think I had one. Look around. See if you find it. Did I have one? Am I going mad?"
I laughed gently. "You ask that like you're still sane."
The Doctor almost looked offended. "I am sane. It's everyone else that's gone all loopy."
I smirked, "You're a madman in a box Doctor. Embrace it." and turned to Clara again. "By the way, you should probably go shake that umbrella outside. Not here. She won't like that." The Tardis made a pleasant sound, felt like one of appreciation.
Clara nodded and went to shake off the umbrella outside. After that she asked, "So, where are we going?"
"That would be the wrong question Clara." I said to her, before suddenly letting out a big yawn.
"Are you tired?"
"It's possible."
Even the Doctor paused in what he was doing. He came over and took a look at me. "Harry? When was the last time you slept?"
Another yawn escaped me as I thought about the question. "I don't know. Umm… on the ship. Technically."
"Ship? What ship?"
I hesitated. "Uhh… the uh, the Titanic."
The Doctor looked more confused. "The Titanic?" He asked, thinking back. "The Titanic? I don't remember you sleeping in the… Titanic… oh." He realized, giving me an unamused look.
"What? It counts." I said weakly.
"Even if it did, it would have only been for an hour at most. You need sleep, Harry."
I sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll sleep after we're done here. Is that alright with you, Doctor?"
"No. But it's probably the best I'm going to get."
"Yeah. Probably is. Now why don't you go ahead and tell Clara where we're going?"
"Nowhere." The Doctor said simply as he turned to Clara. "We're staying right here. Right here, on this exact spot, if I can work out how to do it."
Clara was quick to catch on after that. "So, when are we going?"
The Doctor smiled. "Oh, that is good. That is top-notch."
Clara waited for an answer. When it became clear he wasn't gonna answer she prompted him. "And the answer is?"
"We're going always." He excitedly answered.
"We're going always."
"Totally."
"That's not actually a sentence." Clara told him.
"She's right, you know Doctor." I agreed. Both of us watched him go off and when he came back, he had grabbed his space suit. His bright orange space suit.
The Doctor held it up to his body with a smile. "Well, it's got a verb in it. What do you think?"
"Color's a bit boisterous."
"Is River's blaster around here? Cause I think she would want that thing incinerated."
The Doctor frowned as he looked down at the suit. "I think it brings out my eyes."
Clara and I shared a glance. "Makes our eyes hurt."
"Oh everyone's a critic." He complained before going off again to change. When he came back again, he flew us back in time and went outside to take pictures.
"Back off. Hot suit. Hot, hot, hot."
"When are we?" Clara asked.
"About six billion years ago. It's a Tuesday, I think."
After that we went forward in time, again, and again, and again. Each time the Doctor went out to take a picture. I kept an eye on Clara who, with each jump forward got more and more tense.
Eventually we got to the last jump. At the end of time the Doctor prepared to go out again. "Back in a mo." Right before he went out he actually noticed Clara's mood. "Are you all right?"
What did Clara do? She lied. She lied with a smile. "Totally. Peachy keen."
And the Doctor fell for it. Willingly or not, he fell for it. Yet still tried to make jokes. "Okay then. Well, don't press any buttons or pull any levers or make any funny faces. Actually, don't move. Stand completely still. Don't breathe. Well, you can breathe, but shallow breaths."
After he was gone, Clara watched the Doctor on the Tardis scanner. The ground was devastated. Just a bit of roof and chimney lying on the ground was all that was left of the world. She was staring at a ruined world.
I put my hand on her back, to console her. Even though this was basically the opposite of what I had chosen to do back at the house, in this moment, I didn't care. She was about to cry, and I could help. A lot more than the Doctor could.
"Clara-" Was all I could get out before Clara buried her head into my shoulder, shaking slightly, but not yet sobbing. I hesitated, not liking what was happening one bit, but eventually I wrapped my arms around her in a hug.
This was the scene the Doctor came back to. And naturally, he was awkward. "Oh. What's wrong? Did the Tardis say something to you? Are you being mean?"
Clara sniffled as she broke away from my embrace, and wiped her eyes. Then she looked back at the Doctor. "No, it's not that. Have we just watched the entire life cycle of Earth, birth to death?"
"Yes." He said, as though stating the obvious.
"And you're okay with that?"
"Yes."
"How can you be?" She didn't sound like she could understand.
The Doctor, sounding a little cautious, just said, "Tardis, she's time. We. Wibbly vortex and so on."
"That's not what I mean."
The Doctor was finally starting to realize how deep the hole he was digging was. "Okay, some help. Context? Cheat sheet? Something? Harry?"
I shook my head sadly as Clara spoke, ranted. "I mean, one minute you're in 1974 looking for ghosts, but all you have to do is open your eyes and talk to whoever's standing there. To you, we haven't been born yet, and to you we've been dead one hundred billion years. Are our bodies out there somewhere, in the ground?"
The Doctor looked uncomfortable by the subject. "Yes, I suppose they are."
"But here we are, talking. So we are ghosts. To you, we are just ghosts. We're all ghosts to you. We must be nothing."
"No. No. You're not that." He said, his voice steady, certain.
"Then what are we? What can we possibly be?" She asked, even by her voice I could tell that she was pleading for some kind of answer.
"You are the only mystery worth solving."
The Doctor took us back and walked back out into the rain we had left behind. I was about to follow when Clara called after me.
"Harry? Can I ask you a question?"
I only barely resisted the urge to say, "Well you just did.". She was asking seriously, so I would take it seriously. "Sure thing. What's on your mind?"
"We just watched the Earth from birth to death. I guess the Doctor's reaction could be understandable but, why do you seem about as calm and unaffected as he was by all of it."
I smiled sadly as I closed the door. "It was horrible. Horrifying even. It was sad. But the thing is… in it's own way, it was also so beautiful."
"Beautiful?" Clara asked.
I took a moment to think on how to best describe it. "There's beauty in everything Clara. If you look hard enough that is."
She didn't look too convinced of that, but there was another question on her mind. "What did the Doctor mean by what he said? About being the only mystery worth solving?"
"Now that I can't tell you. You have to find out about that for yourself."
"So, he'll tell me?"
I laughed… before I realized that she was still serious, and I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Right… n-no, no he won't tell you till you figure it out."
"Oh well that's great." She said in a little bit of frustration.
"Everything will be fine Clara. But until then the Doctor will need us. So let's go." I started to walk toward the door but Clara got in front and stopped me with her finger.
"What was it you told the Doctor? You haven't slept in days?"
"Technically-"
"Technically, the only sleep you've had was because you were forced to take a nap." The look on her face told me I wasn't getting out of the Tardis.
I sighed… something I've been doing a lot of lately. "Fine, I'll go sleep. Tell the Doctor I said goodbye, will you?"
Clara smiled, which once again made me blush a little. "Will do. Sleep well." And with that, she shut the door.
I stayed at the door a little while before I shook my head to get rid of my blush. "Get a hold of yourself Harry. It can't happen."
After I'd calmed down I went off and found my room again. As soon as I laid myself down on the bed, I was fast asleep in an instant. I was so deep in sleep that I didn't even wake up when my manipulator activated again in the night, sending me off yet again.
When I woke up again the first thing I noticed was this… my room had changed. There were more things scattered around the place. Picture frames which had been turned down, paintings hung up and a change of clothes on the door.
First thing I went for was the change of clothes. Having gone through two teleports with the same clothes… well by now I was just surprised that they were still holding together. The clothes were quite simple really. A short, black trench coat, a simple pair of pants and a grey t-shirt.
After I'd changed clothes I had to admit to liking it quite a bit… it was too bad that it would just end up getting ruined. At least that's what I thought, until I found the note in my pocket.
'Dear younger me, there is only one rule for being this far in the future… in this room that is. No snooping around. Anything that is turned around, must stay turned around. Too many spoilers I'm afraid.
Oh and p.s. The trench coat I left for you will survive many trips through the vortex. The t-shirt and slacks on the other hand… will not.'
The letter wasn't signed… though I suppose it wouldn't have to be. Considering it was from me. Anyway, after I had thrown the letter away, I went off in search of the Doctor. What I found though… was not what I expected.
"New console room? Fancy. But uhh… when did this happen?" The new room had confused me. None of the twelve Doctor's I knew had a console room like this one, with all the glowing crystals. Though that wasn't to say that I didn't like it. It was nice.
But… 'Did the Doctor regenerate again? Am I in a time that I don't know about? If I am… how can I help? How am I even supposed to know who the Doctor is? He could look like anyone.'
Seeing as I was alone, I decided to sit down against one of the crystal pillars and just wait. After all, I wasn't exactly in a hurry. The longer I got to relax, the more useful I'll be when I'm out in the action.
It ended up being hours before anything happened. But when it did… oh it certainly had the Doctor's chaotic smell to it. Though I had to admit that I did not expect three companions. I suppose the guy and one of the girls could have been together.
Then again that did not explain why the blond was calling all the shots and flying the Tardis.
"We've got to get out of here." The blond said, running around the console.
"We've still got the gadgets." The older man… the Doctor?... said?
'It's kinda weird that none of them have even noticed I'm here.' Granted, it seemed like they were in a hurry so…
"We just saw the head of MI6 get assassinated." The younger man said.
'Really? MI6? Huh… wonder what happened to Torchwood or UNIT.'
Then the black haired woman spoke up. "Yeah, by the same sort of bolts that came through that satnav."
"Where's that picture? I need to set the coordinates. Ooo, I've got it." The blond said again, and suddenly a picture of a fish popped up.
"So, wrong place, wrong time, twice in one day. That's got to make us targets. And why do you keep looking at pictures of a fish?" The supposed Doctor asked the blond.
'That's what I'm wondering, Doc… though I'm also starting to wonder if the blonde is really the Doctor or not…' I thought to myself.
"Steganography. There's another image hidden within the pixels of that photo. It's basic spycraft in your time. Easy way to smuggle out information because there's no pattern to look for. No two stegs are the same."
'Ok, yep… that's the Doctor alright. I don't know anyone else who could possibly ramble on like that.'
"So one's hidden inside the other?" The younger man asked
"Doc…" The not Doc one said warily, looking at the Tardis door. I looked as well and noticed that the door was almost rippling.
'Well that's new.'
The Doctor however, and by now I was sure she was the Doctor, completely passed by the older man's warning. "Exactly. Luckily, I can read pixels. I took a correspondence class."
Now the older man was pointing at the door. "Doc…"
Something went ding and the Doctor grew excited. "Ooo, the outback. Gone full hermit."
The other woman had also noticed what was going on. "Doctor, something's trying to get in!"
'I don't think it's trying… I think it's just plain, getting in.' The idea that there was something that could just walk through the Tardis doors was quite frankly, terrifying.
Finally the Doctor noticed. "Oh, no, you don't!" She said, starting up the Tardis which sent the thing away. Afterwards, she ran up to the door and started scanning the door.
'Huh… nice sonic.' I thought to myself as I stood up.
"I didn't know things could get into the Tardis like that." The young woman said.
"Neither did I." The Doctor said, sounding more shocked than the rest of us.
"But you got rid of it."
"Technically the vortex got rid of it."
"Yeah, but what was it?" The older man, not to mention the other two blinked and stared at me.
I waved with a smile as the Doctor still didn't notice me. "At a guess, the same thing that attacked all those spies. And possibly us."
'A spy episode? What exactly have I missed?' I asked, watching as the Doctor studied her sonic.
The results were apparently shocking. "What? No readings? The sonic can usually read everything."
"Doctor?" The older man asked, pointing at me.
"Oi, pointing is rude. Besides, don't bother her. She's working… oh that's gonna take some getting used to. Oy vey."
"Doctor?" The other woman said, looking wary of me.
'Well I can definitely assume we haven't met before.'
"All right, park that. Live attacks. They're after us, but we need intel. Split resources. Graham, me, you and Harry are off to Australia to see my old mate from MI6. I say old mate. I've met him once, but he seemed very nice. We text, though. Does that count?"
"If you say so." The older man, Graham, said in a confused tone.
He wasn't the only one who was confused. "Wait… does that mean she knows I'm here? Or did she just subconsciously notice without actually realizing?"
"Wait, what? You're saying you're Harry?"
"Who else would I be?"
The Doctor remained oblivious. "Yaz, Ryan, how do you feel about undercover work?"
"Definitely!"
"I don't know."
I did my best to memorize those names. Which, considering everything that was going on, I would say I was doing quite well.
"Daniel Barton. He's our best lead. Well, he's our only lead. We'll get you a cover story. Hack his diary, get in there, check him out. Infiltrate VOR. Have a nose around their systems." The Doctor said, explaining the plan.
"Be spies, basically." Yaz said, sounding quite excited.
"What, with absolutely no training?" Graham said, sounding a bit worried.
"We got the gadgets." Ryan said.
"Well, yeah. All the gear, but no idea."
"Oh, thanks a lot." He said sarcastically.
"No, no, no, I think you'll be great. I have total confidence, you know? Just, er... just be careful, though." Graham turned to the Doctor. "It's safe for them, though, right?"
"Yeah. Eighty percent sure. Seventy five. Forty percent absolute minimum."
"Doctor." I interrupted.
"Err, right. Take this." She said, handing a recorder to Yaz. "Bio-scanner disguised as a digital recorder. I want to know everything about Daniel Barton. Like Graham said, be careful. Stay in touch. And remember. Rule one of espionage? Trust no one."
I threw my hands in frustration. Was she actively ignoring me?
"Hold on there Doc, who's this bloke?" Graham asked, pointing at me again.
I smacked his hand away, a bit annoyed. "Again, pointing is rude. Stop it. Doctor! Would you please start explaining things?"
Finally the Doctor noticed me. "Harry!" She said excitedly as she came over and gave me a hug. When she came away, still holding my shoulders, we looked into each other's eyes. For just a second, fear flickered in her's.
"Harry… have you seen this me before?" She asked.
I closed my eyes and shook my head. When I felt the Doctor try to walk away, I almost let her. But… I remembered. Regardless of what face the Doctor wore, the Doctor was always the Doctor. It was different. But different wasn't bad after all.
So before she could walk away, I grabbed her arms and put my forehead against hers. "Not gonna lie. It's weird… this feels a little weird. But I don't care. So long as you're still the Doctor, then nothing else matters." When I let go and opened my eyes again, she was smiling.
"Hold on a sec, what do ya mean this is Harry? He doesn't look like Harry."
"Huh? What do you mean I don't look like Harry?" I asked, but Yaz wasn't looking at me. It was like she was having a discussion with the Doctor. I tried to follow it, looking back and forth between the two of them.
In the end though, I couldn't figure it out. "Doctor? Would you mind explaining things?"
She looked at me again, seemed to think about it and then a mischievous look grew on her face. "Spoilers."
I sighed… "I take it you hear that a lot from me then."
"Yeah."
"How's it feel being on the other side of it?"
"Oh it feels fantastic. Now I get why River and you always took so much pleasure in saying it all the time."
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in while you can. But for now, can you explain what's happening right now?"
"I'll explain things to you later. But not right now. Cause right now, we've got a world to save, a company to take down, and a spy to meet." With that said, the Doctor patted my shoulders and with an energy quite similar to 11's, she started up the Tardis.
'Here we go again.'
After we'd landed and met O, and his two bodyguards, we went into O's house. And oh boy… this guy was a worse hoarder than my grandfather. Just stacks of random stuff everywhere. Papers and boxes. It looked like someone moved and never bothered to unpack.
"Cozy!" Was all the Doctor said about O's humble abode.
Something O saw right through. "You mean messy."
"Well at least you know it…it'd be a lot worse if ya didn't." I said, running my eyes around the room.
"You're right, I do. Didn't realise you were this much of a hoarder." Apparently this Doctor's tact had limits.
"What is all this stuff?" Graham asked.
"The full MI6 record of the unexplained, as compiled by me." O explained. "Human disappearances, sightings of unidentified objects, mysterious beings, possible alien incursions going back centuries. And a complete set of Fortean Times in mint condition. Look at all the evidence I gathered." He said, gesturing to everything around them. "And they just mocked me."
"No one's mocking you now." The Doctor said.
"I heard C was shot."
"C? Who's that, another agent?"
"Yeah. We were there. Nearly got us an' all." Graham answered.
"Does this connect to the attacks on agents? I have been monitoring the chatter, Doctor. Is it aliens? Aliens attacking spies all over the world?" O asked.
"And rewriting their DNA."
"That's terrifying. But wow! Why would they do that?"
"I don't know. They almost infiltrated my Tardis as we were taking off. I thought you might have something in your research banks that might give us some clues."
I wasn't the only one looking around O's place. Graham drew back the curtain to a bunch of screens and monitors. "Wow! This is some set-up. Paranoid, are we?"
"No. I prefer cautious. I like to know if anything's watching me."
"Well that makes sense, with you being a spy and all. A retired spy no less. I doubt there's a more dangerous job than retired spy." I laughed a bit and corrected myself. "No hold up. No, wrong… fired spy is more dangerous than retired spy."
"Thanks for that… as if I didn't already know that. Why do you think I'm in the outback?"
I cleared my throat and scratched the back of my head a bit. "Y-yeah… sorry."
"Nervous?" O asked.
I nodded slightly. "A bit. Not to mention confused and more than a little lost if I'm being honest here."
"Well don't be. I'm sure you'll be just fine here. The Doctor and I have spoken of you from time to time. I do believe that this is relatively the beginning of your journey. Am I correct?"
"Yes that's correct."
"Well it's very nice to meet you in person, even in these dark times." O said with a smile.
Then he turned to the Doctor. "So, Doctor. If you're already in the middle of all of this, how do you know they won't follow you here? How do you know you haven't become targets too?"
A little while later the external lights came on and O went to his monitors to investigate. "What just happened? Two movement sensors tripped." He turned back to the Doctor and asked, "What have you brought here, Doctor?"
"I don't know." Then in classic Doctor fashion she said, "Let's take a look outside."
"Looking outside was actually quite low on my list. But when does she ever listen to me?" Graham complained to himself.
It seemed he had gotten used to this side of the Doctor. Even if he didn't like it. I looked over to him. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say, never."
"Yeah."
"Well… it's nice to know that doesn't change."
"Really?"
I shook my head. "No, not listening is one of her more annoying qualities. I've just been lucky enough to not run into that too much." I blinked as I realized exactly what I said and knocked on the first piece of wood I could find. "What?" I asked when Graham looked at me weird. "I don't wanna jinx myself. Oh whatever… let's just go."
"Right."
After we went outside we immediately heard an animal howl. The two guards saw that we'd come outside and tried to warn us away.
"Please, all of you, back inside!"
The Doctor scanned around with her sonic but no dice. "No readings."
"You didn't get any readings off that thing in the Tardis either." Graham said.
"Exactly. There's something. It's like I can sense them."
"I know what you mean." O agreed.
The Doctor kept looking for any sign of the aliens. "They're out there, hiding. Tripping the sensors to let us know that they're here. It's like they're watching us."
"Like animals stalking their prey. Sorry, that wasn't helpful." O added.
The other of the guards, Seesay, upon noticing we were still there, took her turn to try and get us to go back inside. "From what I understand, we were sent here cos you're one of the few people that can stop the attacks on our colleagues. So please, go inside, figure it out, and let us do the job we came for."
Graham agreed with her and tried to get the Doctor to go in as well. "Doc, come on."
"Wait!" I called out, thinking of something. "You two! Come inside with us!"
"What?" Browning asked. "Seesay just said what our job was. Why would we go inside with you?"
"Because those things were able to get through the Tardis walls. They walked through them. I don't think those bullets will do anything!"
"Even so sir-"
"And you can protect us much better in a confined area! You know it as well as I, so get in here!"
"Harry has a point you two, get in here. That's an order." O said.
Almost as soon as everyone was inside, O's alarms started going off. He and the Doctor looked at the computers. "No signals off any of them. They've just obliterated those bodies. What can they be?" The Doctor asked.
O, who was still looking at the screens spotted something. "Looks like they're moving."
Graham spotted something too. "They're surrounding the building, look."
O smirked. "That's what we want."
The Doctor wasn't as sure as he was. "Do we?"
"Yeah. Just a little closer." He said, keeping an eye on the figures as they came closer. As soon as they came into range, O pushed a button. A barrier rose up and zapped the figures.
"Did you kill 'em?" Graham asked.
"More like they retreated." The Doctor noted.
"How did you know that would work?"
"That's a good question." I said, looking at O. There was something about him… I just couldn't place it. 'Probably nothing.'
"I didn't. Gambled."
"Some kit you've got here." The Doctor complimented.
"I've had a few years to rig it out. Just in case." O said, sounding quite proud.
That was wrong… something was wrong. "But… humans shouldn't… they're not capable of-" O looked at me in a way that told me to shut up.
"No, no, look. There's one still outside." Graham said, drawing our attention as one more of the figures walked up to the door.
Almost like flipping a switch, O turned to the Doctor. "Plan B. I've got a plan B. It's in the blueprints, Doctor. Just under the folder. I rigged it in case anything got past the first line of defence."
The Doctor quickly looked through the desk while Graham spotted the figure again. "It's coming through the wall! How can it do that?"
"Well, physical boundaries don't stop it, but it's still not used to this planet, or maybe even this reality."
After the figure was fully inside, the Doctor asked aloud, "Spring-loaded?"
"Yep."
Graham was confused. "What are you talking about?"
And he wasn't the only one. I watched as the Doctor aimed her sonic at the ceiling and a containment tank dropped down over the figure, surprising both me and Graham.
"Oh, you could have warned us about that!" Graham said.
"Re-route the charge. We've got to keep it in there. A bit quicker!" The Doctor shouted.
O shouted back as he worked. "Yes! Doing my best."
"That thing can't hold it."
"Is he just here for the running commentary?" O asked, referring to Graham as he re-routed the energy to the container around the figure, keeping it on lockdown.
"It worked!" He said excitedly. "It actually... it actually worked."
The Doctor walked up to the figure and started to question it. "Who are you? What are you doing to the people on this planet? Why are you changing their DNA? And why spies? Why are you only attacking spies? What are you, exactly, except for reluctant to talk?" She asked lastly, as it stayed silent.
"I'm thinking one more blast." O threatened.
"How many are you, in your race or species or whatever you are? Where are you from?"
"Far beyond." The figure finally said.
"So you can communicate, then. Beyond where?"
"Your understanding." The creature laughed.
"I think it's laughing at you, Doc." Graham pointed out, making me look at him weirdly.
"Who else would it be laughing at?"
"Yes, I got that. Is this your native form, wherever it is you're from? Is this what you look like at home?" The Doctor asked, sounding just a little annoyed now.
"We take this form to mock you. Your shape amuses us." It joked.
"Very funny."
"We are stable now. We are ready."
The Doctor was confused. "What does that mean, stable? Ready for what?"
"To take this."
"To take this, what? Hut? Country? Planet?"
"Universe." It said, in an arrogant tone.
A little while later, the already glowing figure started to glow a bit brighter. Something everyone noticed. Not that it was hard.
"Interesting. That glow's increasing. Life getting more intense?" The Doctor surmised.
O was a bit more pessimistic. "It's fighting back."
"Or something's going on."
As the light got more and more intense, O noticed something on his computer. "This isn't good, Doctor. It's trying to overload my systems." He said, right before getting an electric shock from the console. "It's like it's taken a suicide pill."
Then the light faded away and in place of the figure, stood Yaz. "How on earth did that happen?" I asked.
"Yaz!" The Doctor exclaimed, before turning to O. "Turn the power off in there."
"It's already blown out."
"Yaz! How are you even here?" As though providing an answer, the Doctor's phone rang.
"Hold on… since when do you have a phone?"
"You like it? I picked it out myself, oh hold on a sec. Yaz? I've got her. We're coming for you now."
The Doctor moved the Tardis inside the house to work on something. Meanwhile, Yaz and Ryan went outside to talk and I stayed glued to the still suspicious Mr. O, along with Graham.
"You chose to exile yourself here?" Graham asked.
O took a sip of his tea before handing Graham another mug. "Yeah."
Which Graham accepted gratefully. "Ta. Thanks. You never get lonely?"
"Yeah. But it's for the best." O said, sitting down in front of me and Graham.
"Right."
"How long have you known the Doctor, Graham?"
"Oh, that's a tricky one to answer, that. You see, things never really happen in a straight line with the Doc. How much do you know about her?"
"A bit. Our paths crossed very briefly once, when she was a man."
"When she was a what?"
"When she was a man." I answered, feeling even more suspicious of O.
"Has she never mentioned that?" O asked Graham.
"I thought she was joking."
"You got any idea where she's from?"
"Well, we've tried to ask, but she just changes the subject, you know."
"I've got a whole shelf over there all about the Doctor." O said, gesturing to the wall. "Everything I could gather. A lot of inconsistencies, but it's very, very interesting. Do you want to have a look?"
I frowned at that and cut in before Graham had a chance to answer. "You call yourself a friend of the Doctor?"
O nodded. "I am her truest friend."
"Well have I got news for you buddy. A true friend wouldn't go around 'collecting info' like that. And a friend of the Doctor wouldn't go around spreading her past out!"
"Oh?" He questioned before breaking into a smile. "Sorry couldn't help myself there. But yes that's what I do with my friends. If you need proof, why don't you just look over there?" O said, pointing to the other wall with another shelf of books.
I glanced at the other bookshelf before glaring at O. "What's over there? Cause if you say more books on the Doctor I'm gonna have call you a stalker and ask you to leave the Doctor alone."
"Yeah. What he said." Graham chimed in agreeance.
He looked at me like I was an idiot. "I told you, I gather information on my friends."
"So what? That's more stuff on the Doctor?"
He shook his head. "No, no, no, no. You're not getting it Harry. I'm talking about you!"
My glare turned to confusion in a blink of an eye. "What?"
O nodded eagerly, his smile turning slightly manic. "Picture it Harry. Right there on that shelf is your past and future."
Hearing that made me take a second glance at the shelf. "My future?" I asked, only faintly hearing my own voice. Even though I was only just starting out my journey, the idea of knowing my own personal future was tantalizing. Mesmerizing even.
In the end, it wasn't my willpower that snapped me out of my trance like state. But Graham's hand landing heavily on my shoulder. When I turned to look at him he shook his head.
I sighed. "Yeah. Guess you're right Graham." I said, before turning to Graham. "Burn it."
"W-what?"
Before I could repeat myself, the Tardis door opened and the Doctor came out with a large glass of… I didn't know. Something dark, that much was obvious.
"Come on, you three. Everyone out front. Lots to catch up on. I made iced tea. Possibly." She said cheerfully, swishing the liquid around a bit.
'Iced tea? Who is this lady and what has she done with the Doctor?'
After the four of us joined with Yaz and Ryan we got to work on trying to figure everything out. Soon we found out just how many of those alien creatures there were.
Unfortunately that was about the extent of our knowledge. Or at least, the knowledge we understood. An unrecognizable language even by the Doctor and the Tardis combined… data showing ten replicate Earths. It was impossible to understand.
But we knew who would understand… or at least everyone but myself knew. Some guy called Daniel Barton. And after another change of clothes, though I kept the jacket that I… gave myself… complicated. Ignoring.
After all that, the Doctor dropped off the two agents somewhere safe. Then she took us to the party and walked us right up to the check in desk.
"The name's Doctor. The Doctor. We're on the list."
After a quick check of the list, the receptionist let the six of us in. As we walked, I leaned towards the Doctor and asked, "Be honest. How long have you waited to use that line?"
The Doctor smiled brightly. "Far too long."
The six of them broke off in search of Barton after that. Though, not knowing what the person I was looking for… looked like, was a particularly impossible thing to do. I wasn't much of a casino guy either, so in the end I just ended up standing around near one of the exits in case he tried to make a run for it. Which he did.
The Doctor ran into Yasmin, Graham, Ryan and O in the Villa.
"None of you saw him come back in? He must be here somewhere." The Doctor said, looking around for where Barton could have been.
Yaz spotted him first. "There he is!" She exclaimed, pointing at Barton getting into his car.
"Oh, no, you don't!" The Doctor growled as the five of them gave chase. By the time they got out there though it was too late and Barton had already left.
"He's off!"
"I mean, who leaves their own birthday party? He's definitely guilty. So what do we do now?"
The Doctor looked around, before spotting some motorcycles nearby. "Remember our trip to the Great Kalisperon Bike-Off?"
The others grinned and moved to take them when the Doctor finally noticed something else. "Hold on gang. What happened to Harry?"
Harry was currently hidden away in the trunk of Mr. Barton's car. Unfortunately what he had hoped to be a nice, minutely bumpy ride turned into a roller coaster with no seatbelt or cushions. Not to mention the guns being fired.
When the ride was finally over, Harry waited a little bit after the doors had opened and closed before pulling the emergency string. This opened the trunk and allowed Harry to move around. When he got outside he saw that a plane was trying to take off.
He was at a bit of a loss as to what to do. That is until the cargo hatch happened to open. Something he found strange until he noticed the Doctor and the others were on the air field as well, running after him.
Quickly, Harry jumped onto the plane and waved the others over. One by one, they came. The Doctor was the first one on, fixing the sensors before it could alert the pilot that the door was open.
"She's in!" The Doctor celebrated. "Fix alert sensors."
Yasmin was the next one to get to the ramp, only just. "Argh!"
The Doctor and Harry quickly grabbed Yasmin before she could fall. "I've got you, Yaz." The Doctor said.
It wasn't long before Graham and Ryan got on board as well, then the only one left was O. Who was currently struggling to get onto the plane.
"Come on, son!" Graham encouraged.
The Doctor did the same. "I need to close the door!" In her own way.
With that being said, O made a last ditch attempt, managing to jump into the plane. After catching his breath he stood up. "Sorry. I've never been good at sprinting."
"What?" The Doctor asked in confusion.
Yet before she could address it, Ryan hurried them along. "Come on, Doctor. We're about to take off."
The Doctor nodded. "In the main cabin!" She said before closing the cargo hatch and leading the group through the plane.
"Here."
Now that they were all on board the plane, there was just one last wrinkle that needed ironing out. "What are we actually going to do?" Yas asked.
"Sit tight. See where he's going." The Doctor answered, before turning to O with a question of her own. "Never been good at sprinting?"
O nodded as he tried to catch his breath. "I was the last one in every race at school."
That didn't make sense. "No, no, no. I read your file. You were a champion sprinter."
That was it for Harry. It was long past time for a confrontation. He stood next to the Doctor and stared at O with hard eyes. "Who are you really O? Or to be more exact… what are you?"
Now that comment almost earned an impressed look on O's part. Almost. "Mmm, so it seems that even now, as young as you are, you're still clever as ever. Got me. Well done."
"What's going on, Doc?" Graham asked nervously.
"I don't know." She said, turning to Harry, question in her gaze.
Harry raised his eyebrow back at her. "What are you looking at me for? I didn't even know about you, how could I know who this guy is?"
"O" smirked. "You'd best take a look out of the window."
Everyone looked out the window of the plane and saw O's home, flying alongside the plane. As soon as he saw it, Harry knew exactly who O was. Only Time Lords fly Tardis'. And only one Time Lord would possibly interact this closely with the Doctor.
Harry turned to O with a glare and with a growl said, "You!"
O smiled toothily back at him. "Oh now I am truly impressed, Harry. You figured it out before even the Doctor could. Bravo.
"How's your house out there?" Graham asked.
"Bit Wicked Witch of the West, but you get the gist. Maybe. Maybe not."
"No." The Doctor said, slowly understanding.
"Oh, come on, Doctor, catch up. You can do it. Come on."
Her eyes widened as she finally figured it out. "Oh!"
"That's...that's my name, and that is why I chose it. Oh, so satisfying. Doctor, I did say look for the spymaster. Or should I say spy... Master? Hi."
"You can't be."
"Oh, I can be. I very much am."
"It's him, Doctor." Harry said regrettably.
"So what's going on, then? He's not really O?" Ryan asked.
"Trust me Ryan if you don't know him yet, you've been very lucky in your time as the Doctor's companions."
The Master put on a wounded expression. "Oh that's just hurtful Harry! I'm her and your best enemy." Then he smiled. "Call me Master."
"Call you what?"
"Master?"
The Master smiled. "Me, her and young Harry here, we go way, way, way back. Or way forward as the case may be with Harry."
"I met O." The Doctor said, still trying to put everything together.
The Master's smile grew. "I know."
"Years ago."
Now the Master laughed, joyfully. "I know!"
"But there was an O at MI6. C was talking about him." Ryan said in confusion.
"Yeah. A man very close to my heart. Well, in my pocket, actually. Do you want to see him? It's always good to keep a backup of one's work. Tissue compression, it's a classic. Oh." The Master took out a matchbox and opened it to reveal a human figure stuck inside.
The Doctor looked horrified. Harry meanwhile was feeling his heartbeat in his ears. This Master was different from the other ones he knew. The Master that Ten dealt with was dangerous but never really scared him too much.
Missy was the Master's attempt at being… not necessarily good but not completely evil like he was back then and right now.
This Master just straight up horrified him. Though that may have been just cause he didn't know anything about this Master. Or anything about his plans.
Speaking of the Master, he apparently decided to explain himself. "Ambushed him on his way to work for his first day. Shrunk him, took his identity and set myself up in MI6. Surprisingly good staff canteen."
The Master threw the matchbox away. "I have had a lot of fun." He said gleefully, as he clapped his hands and jumped in place.
"I need to warn Barton!" The Doctor shouted as she ran into the cockpit, only to run back out immediately. "Where's Barton? What have you done to him?"
The Master scurried about the plane like he was searching for him as well, only to plop himself down in a seat as the others rushed past him.
"Who's flying the plane?"
"Wrong question. The Master said, in a casual tone. "Check the seat."
As the others did that, the Master rose from his seat. "Cockpit bomb. Short fuse. I can relate to that!"
When the Doctor tried to turn off the bomb with her sonic, he got angry and shouted, "Now, do you really think that I would not make that sonic-proof, Doctor? Come on!" Then in a much calmer voice, he said, "Deadlock sealed. And I made sure - no parachutes on board."
Now the Doctor was starting to panic. "There must be a way!" After a few calming breaths she got at work to try and diffuse the bomb by hand. "Ah. Okay, okay."
While she did that, Yas turned to the Master and asked, "But where's Barton? We saw him coming in."
"Called away before takeoff. By me!" The Master explained. "Stick with me, Yaz, cos I control... everything. Even these guys."
With a whistle and a snap of his fingers, two of the light aliens from before popped up right behind him. "Yes!"
Just then, everyone heard the Doctor shout, "I can't do it! Get away!"
Mere seconds after she shut the cockpit door, the bomb exploded, depressurizing the cabin and knocking the Doctor to the floor.
"Doctor!" Harry shouted. He moved towards her to help as he saw the Master approach her, but the second he tried, the manipulator decided that just then was the time to activate, and he fell to his knee.
'Oh come on! This is the absolute worst time for this to be happening!' He thought to himself in frustration as he was forced to watch the two aliens rush her, only for all of them to disappear in a flash of light.
"Doctor!" This would prove to be Harry's last word as the manipulator ripped him away from that time and sent him off to a new adventure.
