A Child Evermore

Episode One: The Missing

Featuring Ace

Patronius sat in the Panopticon Library and studied the Gallifreyan Law textbooks carefully. He had an exam tomorrow and his future depended on the outcome of that test. If he passed, he could become a Castellan or even a Cardinal. If he failed, things would be grim. He tried to look on the positive side of things and focused on passing the test. As well as that, the Gallifreyan Law textbooks were a thrilling read. Patronius had once heard Borusa describe the textbooks as 'thrilling'. Borusa hardly ever described anything as thrilling.

He had now finished with textbooks and had placed them on the right shelf, but found that a TARDIS was blocking his way out of the Law aisle. Curious to know whose TARDIS it was, Patronius knocked on the exterior rapidly and waited. The door opened and a masked man, wearing black robotic gauntlets, emerged. The stranger grabbed Patronius and dragged him into the TARDIS, before shutting the doors.
The TARDIS dematerialised, blocking out the sound of Patronius's screams.

Captain Pandorix had been summoned by Castellan Orvot because of another disappearance. Students at the Academy had been vanishing for weeks and a highly skilled student, known as Patronius, had only just vanished this afternoon.
"Ma'am, I don't understand where to begin. I need an expert on Gallifrey: should I find the Doctor?" Pandorix enquired.
"No. The Doctor's elsewhere. We need one of his former associates to help us with this case." Orvot replied, "And I think I know who can help."

Dorothy McShane gazed out of the top of the headquarters of A Charitable Earth, the charity she had set up a few years ago. Well, it was a charity of sorts. She just wanted to help people and make them better. He never did that. The Doctor (the Doctor she knew) was a manipulative, scheming individual who would make deals with monsters to save the universe. Her last encounter with him involved a Time Lord maniac and demons from another universe. Since then she had met another version of the Doctor but that one was nicer. Better.
Today Dorothy had been interviewed by BBC News reporter Chantelle Osbourne regarding A Charitable Earth's current financial crisis. The government had shut down UNIT and Torchwood a few years ago because of a lack of finance and now A Charitable Earth was about to get dismantled. Dorothy knew that an organisation called Redgrove had survived the harsh crisis because it had automatic finance coming in from the future. Whatever that meant.

Suddenly, her gazing was interrupted by the sound of a TARDIS materialising behind her and the door flying open. She noticed that a Time Lord, dressed in battle armour, was stood in the doorway with a grim look on his face.
"Dorothy McShane?" the Time Lord demanded.
"Ace to you. What does Gallifrey want with me now?" she asked, "More Time Lord maniacs to lock up, have we?"
"No. Students from the Academy have been vanishing and, as you've been to the Academy before, you may be able to help."
"Why couldn't you get him? Was he available?"
"If you are referring to the Doctor, I will happily tell you that the Doctor is elsewhere. You are better suited to this mission."
Ace sighed.
"Oh, go on then."

Pandorix materialised the TARDIS in Castellan Orvot's office and Pandorix and Ace emerged from the TARDIS. Orvot smiled at Ace's presence and stood up.
"Dorothy McShane?" Orvot asked her.
"Just Ace. Dorothy sounds like a fairytale character." she replied, "Now what's this about vanishing Academy students?"

Pandorix decided to leave just as Orvot began to explain to Ace what had been going on, as he had other things to attend to. Orvot had informed Ace of everything in a few moments and then gave her a teleport, that resembled a golden yo-yo but without the string.
"We detected that a TARDIS was at the scene of each kidnapping and the co-ordinates where that TARDIS went next have been programmed onto that teleport disc. All you need to do is go there and investigate. Understand?" Orvot explained.
"Yeah. I'll be doing what the Doctor does, but without a TARDIS or an umbrella or a companion." Ace replied, grabbing the teleport disc and pressing the button on it.
She vanished in a blue flash.

Ace reappeared in a cave, where a young man who she presumed to be Patronius was strapped to a table. Hoping that nobody else would turn up, she tried to remove Patronius's straps but nothing happened.
"You probably weren't expecting that." came a familiar voice, "And you probably won't be expecting what happens next."
She looked up to see Captain Pandorix, grinning at her.

"You scumbag!" she yelled, "What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Testing out a piece of technology I recovered from the Daleks." Pandorix explained, "I operate on the behalf of the Doomsday Faction and this technology may achieve greatness for us."
"This is wrong! It's insane!"
"It is progress."
"Progress is not killing people!"
This silenced Pandorix. He knew that Ace could get angry at times, even when travelling with the Doctor.
"Ace, a good friend changed my ways. I want to change the universe for the better. Perhaps I could show you what this machine does." Pandorix said, walking over to a control console and activating the contraption Patronius was wired up into. In a few minutes, golden regeneration energy flowed from Patronius's head into a glass sphere high above him. Patronius screamed in pain and writhed in agony as his regenerative abilities were taken away from him.

It was all over in seconds. Ace's face was an expression of pure disgust and horror simultaneously.
"You're sick." she said, "Taking regeneration energy from Time Lords? You're killing them."
"I am equalising the balance of the universe. Time Lords have the advantage of not being able to die and the Doomsday Faction sees that as unfair." Pandorix argued, "The Time Lords will be able to die, like the rest of the life in our universe."
Having heard this, Ace set about saving Patronius. She kicked Pandorix in the face and took out his staser, shooting Patronius's bonds.
"Here, take this." she said, handing him her teleport, "Get back to Orvot. I'll deal with Pandorix."
He took it and activated it, vanishing.

Ace now had to find a way of destroying the weapon. She shot the controls on the console and noticed the light that was flashing blood red. Obviously that meant something bad so she ran off, towards where Pandorix kept his TARDIS.

Ace entered Pandorix's TARDIS and began to pull levers, flick switches and push buttons. She had had her memories of how to fly a TARDIS purged so things were a lot harder.
"Ace, open up these doors!" Pandorix yelled, hammering on the doors.
"Sorry, must dash!" she yelled back, as the TARDIS dematerialised, leaving him stranded.

Pandorix knew that there was no way out of the cave. That was why he had materialised his TARDIS in such a convenient position. Ace had taken advantage of that. If only his scheme with the Black Guardian had gone to plan. He would never have been in this situation if the Doctor hadn't interfered with his friends.
The seconds ticked away and the machine exploded, killing Pandorix.

Inside Pandorix's TARDIS, Ace realised that she was gaining her old memories back and she was quite good at flying a TARDIS. She checked the destination co-ordinates and found that she was heading away from Gallifrey and away from Earth.
Yes, she was going to save planets.
Yes, she was going to explore the universe.
But, most importantly, she was going to be a better person than the Doctor.

THE END