The Collector's Treasure

Tanleer Tivian, better known by his moniker 'the Collector', was unhappy. His incompetent attendant had been feeding one of his more prized exhibits, a large carnivorous creature called a Drashig, when she had become momentarily distracted. The result had been that the Drashig had an unexpected snack and then proceeded to rampage through his collection. Many of his relics had been broken and the Drashig was now suffering a bad case of indigestion.

Tanleer was picking up pieces of a broken vase when he heard the sound of glass cracking underfoot behind him. Tanleer continued to pick up the pieces of pottery. "If you are looking for a job, you're in luck" he said, "a vacancy in my staff has just opened". "Not exactly the career I had in mind for myself" a smooth voice quipped in reply.

If Tanleer was surprised by Loki's presence, he didn't show it. He stood up smoothly, turned around and gave Loki a wry smile "no. Servitude has never been a goal of yours, has it your Highness? You aspire to something grander".

Loki gave the Collector a stern frown. He had never trusted Tanleer enough to share his plans (the man's integrity was only worth the highest bid), yet the Collector seemed to have caught a glimpse of what lurked beneath Loki's smooth, polished surface.

Wise enough not to linger on the subject, Tanleer placed the broken pottery in a box that sat on a nearby table and looked evenly at Loki. "So is the Prince of Asgard buying or selling wares today?"

"I need information" Loki said plainly as he approached Tanleer. "Information is expensive my friend" Tanleer responded, "more so when one needs it".

"I am aware of that" Loki said. He moved his hands in a circular motion and between them a large metal gauntlet appeared.

Tanleer gazed at the gauntlet hungrily. "So many times I have asked for this and so many times you have denied me" he murmured, "you must truly be desperate for the information you seek".

Loki moved his hands and the gauntlet vanished. Tanleer looked sharply at Loki. "Tell me what I need to know and you will receive your payment" Loki told him.

Tanleer nodded "what information do you require?"

"Time Lords" Loki responded curtly, "I need to know everything possible about Time Lords".

Tanleer raised an eyebrow "why?"

Loki shook his head "that wasn't part of the deal".

Tanleer mused on this for a moment and then seemed to reach a decision. He nodded and gestured for Loki to follow him.

"Time Lords" Tanleer said as he walked through his collection, "a powerful and wise race from the planet Gallifrey. They were the custodians of time. Before the Daleks ended them".

"But could the Daleks really wipe them out?" Loki asked, "I've heard the stories. Could they not cheat death?"

"Oh yes" Tanleer told him, "regeneration. They would receive a new healthy body when their old one died. But Time Lords aren't born with that ability. It must be bestowed upon them".

"Besides" Tanleer continued as they came to an imposing door, "regeneration is a process fraught with dangers. It can go wrong so easily and end up killing the Time Lord. Or the process can get interrupted and regeneration is prevented".

"I see" Loki smiled to himself; he would remember that when dealing with Missy. He looked at the imposing door "and what is in here?"

Tanleer pressed his hands to a scanner at the side of the door. It beeped and the door swung open. "Something very special" he told Loki.

Loki stepped into the room and looked at its contents, unimpressed "a big, blue box?"

"You should know my friend, that things are not always as they appear" Tanleer said as he placed a hand on the blue box with 'POLICE' written on it.

"This is a TARDIS, a Time Machine created on Galifrey. I procured from a salvager who had no idea of it's worth. Its owner was a Time Lord I knew well, but he has been dead for centuries". Tanleer stroked the box absently "and his machine has remained closed tight ever since. She will not open her door. Not for me, not for anyone but her Doctor".

Tanleer turned back to Loki "all the secrets of the Time Lords could be locked away in here but-" he stopped and stared at the Asgardian. "My friend! Why do you weep?"

Loki continued to look at the TARDIS with tears streaming down his cheeks. "I don't know... I - I am sad" he said in a puzzled voice, "I am so very sad, and I don't know why".

The Asgardian took a few steps towards the TARDIS and Tanleer backed away, looking at Loki with great interest "my friend?" But Loki seemed to have fallen into some sort of trance. His eyes were locked on the TARDIS and he seemed to neither hear nor see Tanleer.

Mechanically he approached the Tardis; mechanically he raised a hand and placed it on the TARDIS door. Tanleer was surprised to hear the click of a lock unbolting within the TARDIS. He watched in amazement as the door swung open. As if in a dream, Loki walked slowly inside. Tanleer started to follow him but the door slammed shut behind the Prince.

Tanleer gave a sigh "it figures". Reproachfully he looked at the blue box "I hope you know what you're doing".

Then he turned and left the room to continue tidying up his collection. "I didn't even get paid".

Inside the TARDIS Loki looked around the enormous interior full of dust and cobwebs. Strangely it didn't surprise him that the inside was bigger than the outside. Loki frowned; it seemed so familiar, yet also wrong. The grand staircase, that shouldn't be there for a start. The room should look different; it should have a more... 'coral' look to it.

Loki approached the centre of the room where the console - yes that was right, the console - stood. He looked up at the pillar in the centre of the console. That was the TARDIS core. How did he know that?

"What is this place?" Loki asked out loud.

"Executing security program 4.5..."

Loki turned with a start to look at the flickering hologram that had appeared but a few feet away from him. It was a man with soft brown curls, a waistcoat and laced boots.

"Hello" the hologram said cheerily to nobody in particular, "if you are watching this recording, then I am almost certainly dead. That is most inconvenient".

Loki raised an eyebrow quizzically. What an odd creature this was.

"As such" the hologram continued, "you are most likely trespassing. I would be rather annoyed if I weren't dead, but seeing as I am, I can't really do much about you being in here. All I can ask is that you please leave and lock the door behind you. Let my poor old girl gather dust and be forgotten. I would rather that than to let her fall into the wrong hands".

Loki looked down at his hands and smiled "it may be a little late for that".

"If you are the wrong hands" the hologram warned, "allow me to save you some trouble. The old girl won't behave for you. She has her favourites and you are unlikely to be among them".

Loki gave a little amused snort; this stranger admonishing him seemed strangely comforting.

Suddenly the hologram turned its head. Its blue eyes bored into Loki's blue green ones. Loki looked curiously at the hologram. Those eyes... Young yet so old, kind yet vengeful, and full of haunting memories. Loki knew those eyes, he was sure of it.

The hologram gave him a charming smile "oh I forgot to mention, I'm the Doctor".

And then it hit Loki. The memories hit him like a rogue wave. It was an explosion of pain, joy, anger, bitterness and regret. He could remember everything. Odin, Frigga and Thor as they should have been. His true lineage... oh Gods no! Why must he remember that?! The attack on New York, seizing the throne of Asgard, being exposed by the Doctor. The Doctor... Oh yes he remembered him now. The sweet memories of the travels in his younger years, the bitterness at his abandonment, the rage when the Doctor turned him into a human. Being human, being 'Alex'... But there was something else wasn't there? Something so very important. It was right on the fringes of his memories. It was... Oh! He couldn't remember it. He needed the Doctor.

But the Doctor was dead.

Loki collapsed to his knees and clutched his head with a mournful howl. "Why?!" He yelled at the hologram of the Doctor with bitter, hot tears springing from his eyes. "Why make me remember all that I have lost?!"

The hologram Doctor looked impassively at Loki. "Recording complete. If you would like to hear this message again, please select-".

"Argh!" Loki leapt up in frustration and slammed his palm down on a console button. The hologram disappeared.

Loki looked at the console and ran his console and ran his fingers in through his hair, unsure of what to do next.

Suddenly an alarm began to sound. It was a low booming noise like a bell. Loki felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. He knew this sound. It was a warning of danger that lay outside.

He looked at the console screen showing the exterior of the TARDIS and gave a sharp gasp. The Collector was gone and Weeping Angels had surrounded the TARDIS.

Loki tore his gaze away from the screen and began to program in a destination to take him far away from the creatures.

"We trust you have not forgotten your promise to us, Prince of Asgard?" a paper dry voice cackled through the speakers as Loki pulled the lever.

Loki froze. The TARDIS core pulsed gently as he stood rooted to the spot. The Sands of Time, of course! How could he have forgotten about the Infinity Stone that Missy-

Missy!

The Sands of Time must still have been in Missy's possession. How else could she have remembered him?

Loki clenched his fists. That woman had been toying with him, oh how he would make her pay. But first he needed to find her, and he knew how.

Loki put a hand to his face and groaned. "Heimdall" he murmured, "I need Heimdall's help".

With a sigh he reprogrammed the destination to Asgard.

"Well at least he can't remember that time I froze him".