Author's note: Well guys, you voted for it, now it's happening. The British Avengers. Fair warning: This will probably contain spoilers for all the movies/shows/books these characters are from (specifically, Harry Potter, Sherlock, Doctor Who, James Bond, and Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes). If there's a problem with that…tough. I should also mention this is set in the MCU, before the events of the first Avengers movie. However, characters from the MCU will appear AT BEST as cameos. I think that's all I needed to say, so…let's get into this, shall we?
Scottish Highlands, April 27 2012, 2:42 am.
Someone was creeping through the forest, the centaurs could hear them. Who would be foolish enough to trespass on their land, wondered Bane.
The centaurs were closing in on whoever it was. Bane could see Magorian through the gloom on his left, his bow drawn and ready. On his right, he could see Firenze was doing the same. Bane reached behind his back and grabbed his own bow and an arrow.
Whoever was foolish enough to trespass wouldn't even know what happened if they had wanted. However, Magorian had insisted in giving the human the chance to explain themself. Bane didn't like it, but they outnumbered the human twenty to one, and had them surrounded, so it wasn't like they could retaliate and win.
They were close enough that they could hear them now. They seemed to be digging through the dead leaves and mud among some of the trees. "Where is it?" murmured the human, clearly looking for something specifically. From their voice, they seemed to be a male. Young, but definitely an adult. On his left, Magorian signalled for him to stop, which Bane passed on to Firenze, who passed it on down the line. Whoever was on Magorian's left would have received the same signal to pass to the other centaurs too.
"AHA!" cried the human, picking up something off the ground. From where Bane was, it looked like a stone. But why would a human come all the way here for just a stone? There were literally billions of them across the world.
The man pocketed his treasure, and strode straight towards an odd-looking tree, one that Bane didn't remember being there. Suddenly, the man grabbed a knob on the tree, and opened it like a door.
"HE'S GETTING AWAY!" cried Magorian. "EVERYONE, ATTACK!" Twenty arrows began to rain down through the air, striking the tree and the ground where the man had just been as the door closed. As the centaurs began drawing and firing more arrows, a strange sound could be heard in the forest. Something like an alarm, but as it got quieter, the tree began to disappear.
"What sort of magical item is that?" asked Bane, as the tree completely vanished. "How did he do that?"
"That was no magic," said Magorian. "No witch or wizard would have made something like that."
"So what was it then?" asked Firenze. "Was it something a muggle made?"
"It wasn't a muggle either," said Magorian. "It was…something else."
"Something…else?" asked Firenze. "What?"
"I can't say," said Magorian. "But it's definitely the start of something disastrous. I fear what may soon happen."
Meanwhile, the man sat at the controls of his machine, flipping switches and turning knobs with clear intent. "Welcome back, master," said a computerised voice.
"I love it when you say my name," said The Master, smirking with amusement as he spun the stone he held in his hand. "Now, let's see if you're anything like the stories say." The Master walked through a door at the back of his TARDIS, and entered a room where a woman was cowering away from him.
"Please…" said the woman, trying to keep as far away from him as possible. "Leave me alone."
"Oh, come on, you know I'm not going to do that," said The Master. "Besides, I just have one teeny, tiny job for you, and then you're free to walk out the door of the TARDIS."
The woman looked at him sceptically. "You'll…let me go?" she asked.
"Cross my heart and hope to die," said The Master, holding out the stone to her. "All you have to do for me is turn this stone over in your hand three times while thinking of a dead loved one."
The woman gave him a confused look, but took the stone anyway and began turning it over in her hand. As she completed the third turn, she gasped in shock as her late husband appeared before her. "Oh my God…" she breathed. "Is it…is it really…"
"It is," confirmed her husband. "I'm here, but only in spirit."
"In…spirit…" she said, trying to process what was happening. She noticed beside her that The Master was smiling. The look on his face didn't comfort her.
"Sweetheart," said her husband. "Don't trust this man. He's evil, nothing he says should be believed." The woman gasped at this, and turned to face The Master, who hadn't reacted to her husband's comments at all. "It's okay, he can't hear me. You're the only one who can hear or see me."
"What do I do?" she asked. "How do I…?"
"I assume you're talking to your late husband," said The Master, stepping towards the woman. "So it seems it does work, though only for the user. No matter, I can fix that." The Master roughly grabbed the woman's arm, getting a shock gasp out of her as he took the stone back. "Well, as I promised, you're free to go. Let's take you to the door, shall we?"
The woman's eyes widened. "What are you…" she asked, as The Master started dragging her towards the doors. "Stop, stop it…" She tried to fight him off of her, hitting and slapping at his arm, but his grip was too tight.
"Out you go," said The Master, yanking open the door and forcing her through. The woman screamed as she went through the door, and stepped onto open air. "Oh, stop that. You'll be reunited with your husband soon enough." The Master sighed as the woman continued screaming on her twelve-hundred-foot drop. "Women." The Master returned to the control panel of his ship, and put the stone into a compartment in it. "But you, my friend, you're going to be quite useful." He laughed a little as the compartment started glowing and flashing, with occasional bolts of electricity zapping the stone.