Stiles grumbled as a branch nearly hit him in the face. Not a half hour ago, Stiles had been happily minding his own business, sitting at his laptop and playing videogames. Then he heard a sound that changed everything. It was definitely a machine, but it alive in some way. It was a wheezing and groaning sound, like the machine was straining against some massive force. That was all Stiles needed to determine that the best course of action would be to go and investigate it, to find out exactly what made such a bizarre and unrecognizable sound. After grabbing his bat, Stiles started roaming around in the direction he was sure the noise came from. Unfortunately the sun was going down and it would be dark soon. He didn't have long left before he wouldn't be able to see anymore and the source would probably be forever gone.
Stiles looked around the area, trying to find anything unusual. After the third sweep he noticed a bright blue color that had no business being in the Preserve. Curious, Stiles moved toward the object and raised his eyebrows in surprise as he recognized what it was. There were many nights where Stiles would have a bout of insomnia and decide to pass the time by going down some kind of research binge. He would begin on one topic and hours later find himself down some random Wikipedia rabbit hole on something completely unrelated. A few months ago Stiles found himself on one such binge, looking into police communication and reporting methods. He learned about Police Boxes and what they looked like. Stiles didn't know how a Police Box from 1960's London ended up in the Preserve just a short way from the Sheriff's house in Beacon Hills California in 2013 but that wasn't exactly the question that needed answering. No, the question was more of why it was there.
Stiles knew out of all his friends, the only one who had a chance of knowing what a Police Box was, was Lydia. She was smart and cleaver and still talked to Jackson all the time. Not that the last one would affect her knowledge of London police methods. Jackson lived in Lodnon yes, but he wasn't the kind to research those kind of things. Lydia wasn't the type to play pranks so Stiles could write off his entire group for the cause. New suspects filled his mind, not individual people but groups. Hunters, new supernatural entities, even serial killers crawl out of the woodwork every few days so Stiles never ran out of new suspects.
Stiles looked at the door on the box, grabbing the handle and pulling on it once. When it didn't budge he shifted his weight so that Stiles pushed with everything he had against the door. After it still didn't move he tried to look through the small windows only to find they were blacked out. He knocked on the door a few times but there was no response. Stiles circled around the box twice but didn't find any other entrance to it. Figuring he should report it to the others anyway, Stiles dug into his pocket only to remember that he left his phone on the charger. No help was coming, so Stiles had to make a decision on his own. He could go home and call someone or he could stay and stake out the box.
"Are you serious? We came all this way and you just, what? Scanned and decided there's nothing here?" a woman asked. In alarm Stiles scrambled to the other side of the box. He peaked out across the corner to see a woman and a man walking toward the box. The woman was in her thirties from the look of her with red hair. The man was brown haired and about the same age. While the woman was looking at him, he was looking at a device in his hands.
"I did scan the area. There's a few unusual things but nothing dangerous. Well, nothing particularly dangerous. Well, nothing that's our kind of thing really." The man said. Stiles felt his blood run cold. These people scanned the area, they were looking for something. The man said there was something but not their type of thing. Where they hunters? Where they hunters who followed the code like Chris?
"So that's it then? Are we just gonna leave." The woman objected. The man looked up toward the box, opening his mouth to answer her when he just stopped. Stiles frowned, wondering what he was focused on before realizing the man was looking directly at him! In a panic, Stiles ripped himself back from the side and slammed his back up against the box, clutching his bat to his chest. He winced at all the noise he made, knowing there was no chance the two couldn't know he was there.
Sure, Stiles had no issue with approaching strangers in Beacon Hills. As the Sheriff's son and part of the McCall Pack, Stiles had a number of protections that made him almost untouchable. At least, untouchable to normal humans. Those in the know of the supernatural world followed different rules, which is why Stiles still carried his bat everywhere. Hunters weren't supposed to target humans. They were supposed to leave humans out of it entirely. Yet Chris Argent had still dragged Stiles into a closet at the hospital to try and intimidate him into telling him Peter and Derek's location, Gerard Argent had Stiles kidnapped and beaten as a message to Scott, and of course the Calavara Family would have killed Stiles had he not informed her that her whole club was surrounded. That last one was more his fault, having walked directly into her lair, but the point still stands. Stiles didn't trust hunters to follow the code so he would rather approach potential hunters with some kind of knowledge or edge.
After a few moments of silence, Stiles moved to peak around the corner. The man and woman were gone! In confusion, Stiles took a step back, trying to get a better view. They were still gone! Deciding it was time to go get Scott, Stiles turned to run home only to freeze at the sight of the man and woman. While he had been distracted they had apparently circled around the other side. The man was giving Stiles a smile with his hands in the pockets of his brown overcoat, the machine no where to be seen. The woman had her arms folded across her chest, a frown on her face. "Hello! I'm the Doctor." The man said.
"Doctor? Doctor who?" Stiles asked. He just shook his head.
"Just the Doctor. And this is Donna." The man said, gesturing toward the woman beside him. She uncrossed her arms long enough to give Stiles a small wave with one hand before recrossing them. Having a name of 'Doctor' was so weird, but Stiles knew he didn't have a leg to stand on in that department. Ever since he was a kid, hardly anyone could pronounce his first name. Even Stiles himself couldn't pronounce that monstrosity of a name for a while, it was why his mom always called him 'mischief', because that was what he called himself. His last name was better, but still very Polish, so Stiles just introduced himself as 'Stiles' ever since he could remember. Even then people would give him a strange look and ask 'What's a Stiles' or 'What kind of name is Stiles'.
"I'm Stiles." Stiles said slowly. There was no harm in introducing himself. Like the 'Doctor', he wasn't using his given birth name and if they were involved with the supernatural they were going to learn who Stiles was real fast anyway. The man full on grinned.
"Oh, Stiles. Well, pleasure to meet you Stiles. Funny question, could you happen to tell us where and when we are?" the Doctor asked.
"Beacon Hills California, June 1st, 2013." Stiles was so caught off guard by the man hardly reacting the way he expected, that he didn't register the question until he answered it.
"California…oh America! Hear that Donna, we're in America!" the man said, turning to his companion for a moment before turning back to Stiles.
"Fantastic." Donna deadpanned, as if she didn't care either way. How could these two not know where or when they were? They also seemed connected to a strange box that shouldn't exist and were 'scanning' for something. The only explanation that Stiles could conclude is that they weren't hunters because they couldn't be human. Either that or they were some poor saps shoved into a box and dropped into the Preserve with no idea what was going on.
"What are you?" Stiles asked the Doctor. It was best to get that out of the way first after all. The Doctor and Donna both looked surprised, then the full on grin was back on the Doctor's face.
"Oh, you're a cleaver one! Cleaver's good, I like cleaver!" he said. So he wasn't human! The Doctor's smile then melted away and he looked much more serious than he had up until this point. "I'm a Time Lord." He said. There was such a heaviness to the title and Stiles ran the name through his memory but didn't come up with anything. He glanced between the man, the blue box, and thought about the strange question and name again.
"And I take it you can travel through time?" Stiles asked. It was mostly sarcastic, like the time he was teasing Scott about being a werewolf before they discovered that he was in fact a werewolf. The Doctor and Donna shared a surprised look, then the Doctor turned back to Stiles.
"You are good." He confirmed, but he was smiling again. Stiles felt like his brain needed a moment to reboot. Did this man just confirm time travel was a thing? That he could go to whatever time he wished? That didn't make sense! Then again, Stiles entire friend group were either mythological creatures or were possessed by mythological creatures so who knows what else was out there. Maybe time travel really was a thing.
"You're not here because of the werewolves are you?" He may have phrased it like a question, but Stiles was more stating a fact. It didn't seem like these two cared about his friend group. Donna actually looked stunned.
"Werewolves? Werewolves are real?!" she asked the Doctor. However the Doctor had his focus completely on Stiles. He leaned forward, pulling out a small pen like device from his pocket. He put the item just above Stiles face before hitting a button. The thing lit up and made a strange electrical whizzing sound before the Doctor pulled it back and looked at it. Then he put it back in his pocket.
"No, don't care about that, I am much more interested in you right now." The Doctor announced. Stiles took a small step back. He didn't like that. Ever since Scott got bit and they hit the reset button on the supernatural beacon hidden in the woods, Stiles had been running for his life from more things then he could count. Hunters, mythological creatures, random serial killers even. They all came to Beacon Hills looking to take out Scoot, Derek, and the rest of Stiles friend group. Over that time, a few had come to take an interest in Stiles, but it was never really about Stiles himself. Not usually anyway. It was usually about getting to Stiles friends through him. Like when Peter kidnapped Stiles to force him to locate Scott and Derek for him. Or when Gerard kidnapped Stiles to just make Scott upset. Or when the Chemist kidnapped and tried to kill Stiles because he thought it would lead the pack to him. Even the chimara trying to maim Stiles just to make his dad miserable. Even the Ghost Riders had no particular interest in Stiles, just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyone being interested in him wasn't a good thing.
"Why?" Stiles asked, trying to sound braver than he felt in that moment.
"Tell me Stiles, why are you out here? There must be some danger you're aware of," the Doctor said, gesturing to the bat Stiles was still holding. "and yet you came out here alone and practically unarmed. Why?" the Doctor asked.
"I heard a noise." Stiles admitted, glancing at the police box. The Doctor looked awed.
"Ah yes, and then you came straight to the TARDIS." He said, looking at the blue box. The Police Box was called 'TARDIS'? Donna looked confused.
"I thought you said it had a perception filter." She said. Perception filter? What was that?
"She does. The TARDIS is supposed to choose an appearance to blend it with its surroundings, but now she always appears like a Police Box. The Perception filter is supposed to keep people from noticing anything is off about it. Someone would hear her, or walk by, and the perception filter would make them think nothing is unusual about it." The Doctor explained. That sounded like something so much higher tech than anything that should exist on Earth!
"But so many people recognize the TARDIS." Donna objected, turning fully to the Doctor now. The man looked contemplative for a moment.
"Yes, but if you know what it is then the perception filter doesn't work. Once you're attention has been drawn to it then you can see through it. So how did…" the Doctor started pacing before he stopped. He looked up at the TARDIS with a huge grin, almost like he figured out something difficult and was super excited to get the answer. "Oh yes! That's brilliant!" he said. He started rushing around the box toward the door. Stiles looked to Donna but saw she was as confused as he was. They both rushed after him.
"Doctor, what is it? What's brilliant?" she asked. The Doctor reached the door before digging a key out of his pocket. He unlocked the door before glancing at them, grinning.
"Come on then, Allons-y!" he said before going into the box. Stiles had never felt so confused in his life. When Allison was alive, she and Stiles had studied a lot together and she taught Stiles a bit of French. Chris had no desire to pick up where she left off and honestly neither did Stiles. However when he spoke to Isaac on the phone from time to time, Isaac would purposely mess with him by randomly speaking French, prompting Stiles to study a little so he could know when Isaac was insulting him. Allons-y meant 'let's go', but go where? The man went into a small box that could barley hold one person and was expecting Stiles and Donna to follow him? And why didn't he bother answering the question Donna asked?
"Well, go on then." Donna said, gesturing to the door. Unsure, Stiles pushed open the door to ask what the Doctor was thinking when he froze. He had been expecting a small space with maybe a phone on the wall. Instead it opened into a massive room with a large consul in the center. The Doctor was racing around the consul, pushing buttons and pulling leavers. Stiles took a few steps inside, going past where the other wall should have been. He had been outside of this box, walked around it a few times. There wasn't any optical illusion, there wasn't a trick of appearance.
"It's bigger on the inside." Stiles gaped. The Doctor glanced over him with a massive grin, as if that statement was one of his favorite things to hear. He pulled another leaver before stepping away from the consul, looking at Stiles while he put his hands in his pockets. He looked much more serious and Donna moved around Stiles side to stand by the Doctor's.
"This is the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimensions In Space. It is my spaceship, and time machine." He said. Stiles looked at him in shock.
"Spaceship? As in outer space? So does that mean Time Lords are aliens? Aliens actually exist?" Stiles asked, questions pouring from him in awe. He half expected the two to tell him he was asking too many questions at once, but they looked rather amused.
"Yes, yes, yes, and yes." The Doctor said, answering all of Stiles questions in order. Stiles blinked in surprise.
"I thought Time Lords were a type of shape shifter." He admitted. The Doctor cracked a smile at that.
"A bit." He said. And Stiles definitely had a number of questions about that statement. "So what do you say Stiles? Want to come?" he asked. This day couldn't get any weirder. Five minutes ago, Stiles never considered time travel or aliens as a real possibility, not since he learned about werewolves. Stiles could remember when his dad was asking about time travel after they found teenage Derek. He had seen if time travel was real they would have to drive him to Eichen House. Stiles really hoped he was past that stage since Eichen House was definitely not safe. He and Lydia were nearly killed by the serial killer who worked there and Lydia was almost destroyed by the holes they were trying to put in her head. Telling Dad was definitely off the table.
That didn't distract him from the fact that a stranger was telling Stiles that time and space travel were possible and inviting Stiles to come with him. Stiles didn't know anything about this man, didn't even know if he was telling the truth although this TARDIS was definitely earning him some points in the trustworthy column. Then again for all Stiles knew this man was a harmful alien who would experiment on him the moment Stiles agreed. If he was going to do that though, wouldn't he have just taken Stiles? Especially now that Stiles was foolishly standing in the middle of the mans' ship?!
Honestly Beacon Hills had been a hazzard to Stiles health for a long time. Ever since Scott got bit he was hunted by Peter as a berserk alpha and kidnapped by Peter where he got dragged into the center of a fight between werewolves and hunters. Then they had the kanima on the loose, which turned out to be Jackson and Stiles had watched a man get crushed to death and was captured by Matt the serial killer who he had been warning everyone about for months. Not to mention they had Derek's crazy new pack to deal with who couldn't decide if Stiles was useful or information or just easy to beat on with spare car parts. Then Garard got involved and kidnapped Stiles before Stiles got pulled in the center of that particular fight. And just when they thought that was all resolved, they had to deal with Erica and Boyd going missing and an alpha pack invading their home to kill the pack. Of course that meant Stiles was the only one to notice the sacrifices being made by Jennifer while busting his ass to keep all these idiot weres alive with no thanks for his efforts. Then his dad was kidnapped and Stiles felt like his entire life was over. It was great to have his dad in the know but then the stakes just seemed to get higher. Stiles got possessed by the notgitsune and killed a number of people before they managed to kill it. Then they had to rescue Derek, who had been turned into a teenager temporarily and had serial killers after them for a hit list while also dealing with Kate and her Berserkers. Not to mention Scott accidently created a new werewolf that Stiles and Derek were riding in the back of a truck with while he went berserk for a full moon. And all that blew over just in time for Theo and the Dread Doctors. Then the Beast of Guvant returned and possessed Mason, then the Ghost Riders rolled in and kidnapped Stiles while erasing his existence. They managed to stop them and return Stiles but honestly the whole train wreck could have been avoided if anyone took Stiles seriously when he was worried about the helium going missing. Turns out the phsyco teacher, the second serial killer that they had and third bat shit crazy teacher, was an escaped experiment of the Dread Doctors.
In all that time only two people had actually seemed to notice Stiles for his own personal uses. Peter and Theo. Peter used Stiles, offered him the bite, then left him behind deciding that Stiles drawbacks were bigger than his uses. Theo didn't really want Stiles in the end, he wanted the possessed Stiles. No one really wanted him for himself and part of that was the reason Stiles was actually considering this. Nothing against his friends, in fact most of the time Stiles would rather not to attract attention. However this man just bypassed all the supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills because he found Stiles more interesting! That had never happened before.
The serious look on the man's face was telling Stiles that there would be danger. This would just be smiles and wonder, but life threatening situations. Despite how easily the invitation came, the Doctor and Donna didn't look like this offer was normally given to people. That just begs the question of why he would give it Stiles, a kid he didn't even know! Donna meanwhile was giving Stiles an encouraging look, almost like she was trying to tell him it would be worth it to come. That the benefits far outweigh the risks he would face.
And the Doctor had a time machine, or so he claimed. It meant that Stiles didn't have to return to School on Monday for the last week. He didn't have to face the impending graduation where they would all go their separate ways in the world. It was something Stiles was dreading more than anything. He didn't really know what he wanted to do yet, despite the options that were being presented. Not only that but after being forgotten bout for three months, Stiles just needed to slam on a reset button. Besides, Stiles had been put through the wringer so much he doubted there was anything this man could throw at him that he couldn't handle. The only question was, could he actually trust this man?
"How do I know you're telling the truth? That you won't just kill me or dump me somewhere?" Stiles asked. The Doctor gave him a sympathetic look.
"You don't." he said. He knew there was nothing he could say or do that would just magically convince Stiles to trust him, and that was part of why Stiles was going to. Stiles was fairly good at judging people. From the moment he met Matt and Theo he knew there was something wrong with them. The day he met Jordan he knew he liked him, and it was the same with Scott and Lydia. The only one Stiles seemed to really get it wrong for was Derek, and to be honest it was better to not trust someone to later find out you could than to trust them and later find out you couldn't. Stiles instincts about people was usually right.
"So where to?" Stiles asked. The Doctor's serious look flitted away in a moment. He looked like an excited man, years younger than he looked moments ago. He turned to the consul, flipping a switch.
"Hold on." It was all the warning Stiles got.
This is just something I am working on, but not sure I will continue so I didn't want it to go to waste. The idea is that the Doctor and Donna are coming up against the Pantheon of Discord, the Trickster's group from the Sarah Jane Adventures, and one of their creatures to help create chaos are related to the nogitsune that came to Earth. The TARDIS, who can see future and past (The Wife of the Doctor she knew the Doctor's future thoughts and feelings) learns that the Doctor and Donna will be coming up on one of these creatures and sends him to get Stiles, a boy who has lived from a nogitsune possession. The Doctor and Donna go on a few adventures where they encounter beings that hint to the 'Void' or the absence of life and the bringer of chaos before they eventually end up in Beacon Hills to face this creature. Not sure what I'll do with it but I at least wanted part of it to get out there.
