Welcome to the multi verse of the Coexistenceverse! This is an idea I had after watching Avengers Endgame where deceased characters such as Loki and Gamora appeared with the former escaping with the Tesseract and it eventually gave me an idea of my own, but not with Marvel or MCU but with Doctor Who! A simple one shot. Also, don't kill me for this but this is an alternate ending to "Earthshock". In addition to that, it is a prequel/prelude to a mini series of stories involving the Fifth Doctor. I done something similar like this to Rose Tyler after writing the alternate ending to "Doomsday" last year so here is something different. Stick around for a special announcement! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Doctor Who and all characters and related properties belong to the BBC.
What Might've Been
Adric was still on the freighter as he was working on a way, trying to find the right code in attempt to steer the spaceship away from the Earth. The rest of the crew on the ship however escaped the freighter.
"Scott to TARDIS." a voice called on the communicator which Nyssa picked up, "Scott to TARDIS! Come in."
"This is the TARDIS." Nyssa announced, "We have Cyberman on board!"
Before she could say more, the Cyberman leader snatched the communicator from her hand.
"We managed to escape from the freighter," Scott told the Doctor, "but Adric's still on board."
The Doctor looked down at the star, it was Adric's badge he was holding in his hand. He then looked up, knowing this would possibly not end well.
Scott tried contacting the TARDIS only for the Cyberman leader to crush the communicator in the process.
"You failed leader." the Doctor told the lead Cyberman.
"But you will not enjoy the victory." the Cyberman leader replied as it got out its blaster, "I shall now kill you, Doctor."
Tegan stopped the cyberman leader from carrying out its plan, then the Doctor used Adric's star to crush the leader's chest. It didn't kill it but it allowed them enough time to evade the Cyberman Leader which started to fire at the three.
"Look out!" the Doctor shouted as he, Nyssa and Tegan went behind the TARDIS controls.
By the time the Doctor was able to get through, he took the blaster from the Cyberman Leader, which caused it a great deal of pain as it screamed. Then the Doctor rejoined the girls at the controls.
"Hurry Doctor," Nyssa pleaded, "We must get Adric off the freighter!"
"The console's damaged!" the Doctor exclaimed.
"We must save Adric," Nyssa insisted, "there's so little time!"
As for Adric, he was trying to figure out the last code to override the freighter.
"There's something missing." Adric stated to himself, "there's something I've forgotten."
Adric started typing as fast as he could, working on the last few calculations, "Of course. That's it!"
Adric leaped back as a Cyberman that was on board shot at the computer, destroying it in the process. He looked to see the same Cyberman fall down to the ground. Adric saw the console of the freighter, blasted, melted, and useless.
"Now I'll never know if I was right." Adric said, bracing himself for death. He held to his deceased brother Varsh's sash, bracing himself for impact.
Back at the TARDIS...
"Look out!" Tegan shouted as the Lead Cyberman was coming for the Doctor.
"I must save Adric!" the Doctor exclaimed.
Nyssa picked up the blaster and shot down the Lead Cyberman, killing it in the process. Tegan joined Nyssa and they both looked at the Freighter which was about to collide with the Earth and cause the extinction of the dinosaurs.
"Look!" Tegan exclaimed.
"Adric!" Nyssa shouted.
Before full impact could be made, the Doctor was alarmed as time had suddenly stopped before his eyes.
"What?" the Doctor looked around in surprise.
"Doctor." Nyssa announced, "It looked like time had stopped. Is that possible?"
The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan looked to see that the explosion of the freighter had stopped, literally frozen in place.
"But I think it was not enough time to save Adric." Nyssa added sadly.
"Do not be so sure, Nyssa of Traken."
The Doctor and the girls were startled as they turned around to see Madame Web appear before them.
"Oh," Tegan shuddered, "I do not think I can take much more of this."
"You look familiar." the Doctor told the mystic fortune teller, "Haven't we met before?"
"Indeed we have, Doctor," Madame Web stated, "Back at that time, your granddaughter Susan was with you and you have yet to regenerate. It was also before you even met Barbara or Ian and had your very first adventure."
"Tell us," Tegan insisted, "Who are you?"
"Tegan Jovanka," Madame Web explained, "Nyssa of Traken, my name is Madame Web. I am known as an agent of Twilight, the light side of the balance. Whether we have control over your universe or not, we are to watch all universes in existence and we only interfere in our main universe if necessary, and on occasion, we are allowed to interfere in our pocket universes, just as yours."
The mystic fortune teller then lifted a hand, and appearing before them was Adric, who was not conscious, but apparently alive. This surprised the Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan, leaving them speechless for a bit.
"You...you saved Adric." the Doctor finally spoke up after a mere minute. Tegan nearly fainted to the floor but grabbed on to the console before she could do so. Nyssa helped her friend up, "I don't understand."
"It was mainly all on the Doctor." Madame Web answered.
"How?" the Doctor asked, "I wasn't able to go into the freighter with the TARDIS because the console was damaged. Even so, isn't it wrong to cheat death?"
"You would be surprised to see the many outcomes in different universes," Madame Web replied, "Even one I cannot control where your friend here survives and ruled over a sentient race of scorpions, just for example."
"So how was it mainly all on me?"
"I told you before sometime before you met Barbara and Ian that you would go through a test," Madame Web explained, "and I would not tell you what test it was. Well, remember the time when you chose not to proceed with the genocide of the Daleks?"
The Doctor heard the words in his head from his previous incarnation, Do I have the right?
"Yes." the Doctor answered, "I chose not to because if I did, I would be no better than the Davros or the Daleks."
"Daleks?" Tegan was confused as she asked, "What are Daleks?"
"I will explain that another time." the Doctor answered. Then after he made that statement to Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan, his companions at the time, Gharman arrived and announced that Davros agreed to the ultimatum sent to him prior to his choice.
"Correct, Doctor." Madame Web told the Renegade Time Lord, "that was the test. By choosing not to wipe out one of your biggest enemies of all time, you passed the test and this is your reward, your friend, your companion, Adric being spared. He is very fortunate. Not many people get that opportunity you know, but don't think I am going to do this to every companion that comes close to death as I am aware this is not the first time you came across a situation like this and this will not be the last."
"I understand." the Doctor replied before sighing and nodding as he couldn't help but to think about Katarina as well as Sara Kingdom, two of his earlier companions who died, sacrificed themselves while he was in his first incarnation while they were battling the Daleks.
"The freighter will still crash into the Earth and the dinosaurs will still be wiped out." Madame Web assured everyone. Time was no longer frozen and the freighter collided with the Earth, causing the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Nyssa looked down at the floor, seeing Adric laying on the floor, barely holding the sash in his hand. She sighed with relief, knowing that her friend was okay. Tegan followed the same reaction as well.
"Thank you." it was all the Doctor could say.
"You will see me again, Doctor." Madame Web said before vanishing.
"What now?" Tegan asked.
"I will take Adric to his room to rest. He is going to be okay now." the Doctor told the girls, "the Balance is mysterious, even for Time Lords. I am sure there is a reason behind what just happened. We will figure it out eventually."
Nyssa smiled, "I know that we will."
The Doctor was alarmed to see Adric's star, his badge, restored. He picked it up in his hands before taking Adric to his room, "Madame Web and the Balance is full of surprises."
Nyssa and Tegan looked at each other, slightly dumb founded at what happened but glad that Adric was going to be okay.
Shortly after the Doctor took him to his room, Adric slowly started to come to. He was confused at what was happening. He was back at the TARDIS? How? He looked around in surprise before a hand gently touched his shoulder, "Easy, Adric. It's alright."
"Doctor?" Adric looked to see the Time Lord. He then remembered everything and it hit him hard, "Doctor. I'm so sorry. I tried to get the last code but I couldn't. A cyberman shot the controls. I failed you. I failed..."
"Stop right there." the Doctor assured him doing what he can to calm the boy down, "there was nothing you could have done. You did the best you could. The freighter was going to collide with the Earth regardless, even if you could get the last code. It is better this way. Trust me."
"How did I get back on the TARDIS?" Adric asked.
"That is a long story." the Doctor answered, "what's important is that you are okay and everything is going to be just fine."
"Where are Nyssa and Tegan? Are they..."
"They are okay," the Doctor stood up, "and they will join you come morning."
As the Doctor left his room, Adric could not help but to think that something was odd about his sudden return to the TARDIS. It would be impossible for him to escape and he should've escaped the freighter with the crew if he had known if exinction of the dinosaurs would be imminent. This would be a lesson that Adric would never forget.
At least a trilogy of stories will come to play for our heroes, maybe more depending on my creative muse and how these stories go. In addition to that, I am in the process of re uploading "The Doctor Takes New York" after deleting it for some stupid reason. Hopefully, that will never happen again. Also, that universe that was mentioned with the scorpions was from an audio "The Boy That Time Forgot", an Audio story that I was not aware of until making this story. Anyways, Until next time, cheers!