CHAPTER FOUR
THE DOCTOR
Natasha Romanoff was pacing the small bedroom in her quarters quick and in a very agitated way. She had changed into Earth civilian clothing, but did not feel any more comfortable. Being launched out of her reality was very upsetting for her, and nothing was making her comfortable. She was just about to kick the bed in frustration when the doorbell chimed. She exhaled deeply and looked through the eyehole to see who it was. She relaxed as she saw it was Hawkeye. She pressed a button, and the door slid soundlessly open.
"Hi Nat," Clint Barton smiled. Nat smiled in return and pulled him into her room.
"Nice place," Clint remarked. "Better than mine, that's for sure."
"Something to drink?" Nat asked as she opened the liquor cabinet. Despite being a woman, Nat was Russian – when stressed, she really needed a drink.
"Scotch?" Clint asked. In just a few seconds, Nat handed Barton a glass. As she sat down, Nat asked, "Everything alright with you?"
"Funny," Clint replied as he sat down. "I was about to ask the same thing." Natasha sighed.
"It's just that…" Nat said in fragments. "An – an entire world – just wiped clean of war – in a split second, it's just…a lot to take in…"
"Nat, I've heard differently," Clint said. "I've heard that this kind of thing – both sides of wars on an entire planet – has happened to over a billion different planets from all over the place."
"Well, that's reassuring," Nat said, disappointed at the news. After a long pause, she said, "I'm worried about our team."
"What about the others?" Clint asked, setting his glass on the table. Natasha did the same and said, "We were barely able to take on ONE army. When we are all forced to obey orders or die, I mean…some people just can't deal with that."
"Look, it's not about the team." Natasha's jaw fell open. This was her friend. Did she just hear that?
"It's about everyone on this ship and every other one in this whole God-forsaken fleet," Clint continued. "I've been a drone before – that time when Loki played with mind like I was a puppet – so I can read faces like a sorcerer can read minds and I'm here to tell you that, although he's kind of freaky, Acreb is not going to screw up."
"How do you know that?" Nat asked sternly.
"Sorry, just trying to lighten the mood," Clint said, withdrawing and lowering his gaze. Nat realized that she had hurt him, so she corrected herself and said, "Sorry. You're right…"
"No, I'm not, now that I think about it," Clint replied, not looking at Nat. "I've got no idea what's going to happen from one minute to the next."
"Hey, you're a hyper-elite assassin. Not knowing is part of the fun, right?" Nat smiled. Finally, Clint looked up with a weak smile.
"I suppose," Clint said, raising his glass. Nat reached forward and clinked glasses. Just as the two assassins had taken a sip, there was a beep at the door. Nat hit a button the table and a small screen showed who was at the door.
"Come in, Torf," Nat said. The door slid open, accompanied by a deep voice that said, "It's Worf, for your information."
"Relax, it was a joke," Clint chuckled.
"You call my name a JOKE?!" Worf snapped. Clint jumped back and tried to grab a knife, but Nat was faster and locked Clint's wrist fast to the table.
"Don't try it," Natasha said through her teeth. Nat let go of Clint's wrist and said to Worf, "What's up?"
"Two of the guests," Worf said with the attitude of a hardened warrior. "Neo and Morpheus, have asked to see you."
"Can it wait?"
"I'm afraid not."
Natasha rolled her eyes and said, "Alright, let's go."
"No!" Worf said. "Only Clint Barton has been summoned."
"See you around," Clint said. Natasha's eyes narrowed, but widened when Clint gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Where to, solider?" Clint asked as he left the room. Accompanying Worf were two clone soldiers, weapons on their shoulders.
"It's Lieutenant," Worf growled. "Follow me."
As Worf and Clint walked down the hallways, Clint asked, "I forgot to ask earlier – what kind of creature are you?"
"I am a Klingon," Worf replied, looking straight ahead. "We are a warrior race, but in recent years have made our alliance with Starfleet after almost seventy years of hostilities."
After a few uncomfortable seconds, Clint asked, "How many died?"
"From whose perspective do you ask?" Worf replied as they boarded a high-speed elevator. The doors closed, and one of the clones hit a few buttons. The elevator shot up, and the occupants were unbalanced for a moment. When Clint got his feet back, he continued, "I don't know, really – yours?"
"We do not mourn deaths," Worf said. "We gain strength from them, and honor them justly. But…many on both sides perished in the conflict. As a Starfleet officer, I wish the bloodshed could have been less…"
"Soldier's bloodshed or innocent's?" Clint asked.
"Everyone's," Worf replied harshly. Just then the doors opened, and standing just in front of the door was Neo and Morpheus.
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Morpheus said.
"Sir," Worf replied after Barton stepped out of the elevator.
"Come with us, Clint Barton," Morpheus said, turning around and walking down the long corridor lined with lights and displays.
"How did you know who I was?" Clint asked as he, Neo and Morpheus walked down the corridor. Just then they happened to run into Admiral Acreb, who was murmuring to himself about some kind of security deployment.
"Hello, you three," Acreb said. "Since you're all here at the same time, I'd like to talk to you." Acreb walked down the hallway and said, "First order of business – Morpheus, Neo, what do you think you are in?"
"It's a computer generated illusion called the Matrix," Neo said, taking off his glasses as they passed by several nonhuman security officers who looked like bipedal antelopes with rhino skin.
"Good guess, but you're entirely wrong," Acreb said, stopping. "This is the real world."
"It is not," Morpheus replied. "This is the Matrix."
"Are you sure?" Acreb asked. "Check the back of your heads." Neo reached up to the back of his head, and his fingers hit cold metal. He gasped in shock.
"There are fewer plugs, but they're still there," Acreb continued as Morpheus checked the back of his head and found a plug there as well.
"What you thought was the Matrix is not so," Acreb stated as he resumed walking, the others keeping up with him with ease. "With the crunching of multiple parallels, alternate realities and dimensional mix ups, all the rules of even the basic laws of reality have been totally screwed up. You'll find that you can no longer perform feats that you could in the Matrix. However, with enough training, you might be able to do it here. We'll have to adjust your muscles and minds a little bit, but is not…"
Alarms suddenly blared, and everyone stopped where they were.
"Intruder alert!" Acreb yelled, sprinting so fast that he left the three warriors behind him far behind. Acreb burst into the hangar, which was very long, had multiple transporter pads, and supplies everywhere. One of the transporter pads were surrounded by many soldiers – not only Acreb's officers but clones, Starfleet soldiers, and many others. Acreb pushed his way through to see what had landed uninvited on the transporter pad.
It was a large dark blue box. It had a little light on the top and on the top were the words POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX. Acreb recognized the box instantly but could not believe his eyes, nor the man who came out of it. He had black hair combed back, a childlike face, large eyes, bony nose, stylish suit, and a bowtie.
"Hello there – WHOA!" he exclaimed, putting his hands up. "Don't shoot! Nobody shoot!"
"Stand down!" Acreb barked, and like magic everyone lowered their weapons. Acreb gasped silently. He could not believe who he was seeing – he should have been dead.
"Doctor?!" Acreb exclaimed.
"Captain Acreb?!" the Doctor exclaimed. He pulled out a screwdriver and activated. A high pitched whirring sounded, and after he turned it off, he took a quick look at it and said, "Oh my goodness…it is you! What happened on Riza?"
"Long story…" Acreb started say, but then there was a loud rumbling, and the whole hanger shook. There was the sound of TARDIS engines – but more of them. Like there were thirteen of them at the same time. The hangar had fifteen pads in total, and twelve of them started to pulse. The operators jumped back as, to Acreb's shock, twelve other TARDIS units appeared. The Doctor's jaw fell open as the doors opened and more incantations of the Doctor came out of them. Out of one of them was a nearly bald man in black pants and leather jackets, hard eyes, and a smaller sonic screwdriver. Another one was an older man in a black suit and had a cane, and yet another looked quite silly with a brightly colored scarf and other odd clothing. One had a light beige suit and looked quite proper, while another one, a much older Doctor, had a tuxedo, combed black hair, and had an irritated looking face.
"Who are all you?" Acreb exclaimed, and all eleven beings turned to Acreb at the same time.
"I'm the Doctor," all of the beings said at the same time. Acreb looked around, unable to process what he was seeing, but he noticed that three of the TARDISes were still shut. The elderly Doctor took out a sonic screwdriver and did a quick scan of the shut TARDISes.
"I don't, I don't understand…" the Doctor stammered, checking his screwdriver again.
"Well, I can't understand how all of us can be in one place at one time," the Doctor in the white suit said, looking around and his hands fidgeting in his pockets. He then brushed against all of his pockets, checking for his own sonic screwdriver.
"Actually, checking the TARDIS," the Doctor in the leather jacket said, rushing back into his TARDIS for a moment before coming out. "The TARDIS can't tell if we're even in time – like we've left time itself."
"What's going on here?!" Neo whispered harshly in Acreb's ear.
"A very rare occurrence," Acreb whispered back. "It's a situation in which all time zones of a being overlap at once – and it's not limited to Time Lords."
"Doctor!" Acreb called out. As a result, all of the Doctors turned around and said, "Yes?" Acreb walked forward and started moving Doctors around in a line, moving one here, squeezing another between others, and putting others at the end of the line, until he had a line of Doctors before him, starting with the elderly Doctor and ending with a Doctor with a brown trench coat, a devilishly handsome face, sandshoes on his feet, and short hair. Acreb then pulled the Doctor that had arrived first and put him on the right of the sandshoes Doctor. On the very left was the old Doctor, and at the end was the Doctor who had arrived first – the one with the bowtie.
"Alright, to make this easier to tell you apart," Acreb said. "Hold still and close your eyes. All of the Doctors closed their eyes, and Acreb's eyes glowed. All of a sudden twelve hundred years worth of memories flooded into him all at once – from the old Doctor's adventures in the Aztec times to the white suited Doctor's encounter with Davros to bowtie Doctor's pain as two of his companions died at the hands of demons. The Doctors staggered and several almost collapsed, caught by the other Doctors. Acreb swayed, but remained standing.
"My apologies, gentlemen," Acreb said. "I had to figure out which one of you appeared first. We will address you in the order of your personal timeline. First (Acreb pointed to the old Doctor) we will call you Doctor One." To the next one in the line, Acreb said, "You shall be Doctor Two, and you, Doctor Three…" He continued this until he finished with the bowtie Doctor, saying, "And finally, you are Doctor Eleven.
"Now, I must ask each one of you the one question you probably won't be able to answer…who's in the other three TARDISes?" No one was able to answer, until one TARDIS opened. It was all scuffed up, and dark, and dreary looking. The man who came out of it was wearing ragged clothes, dusty shoes, and a very, very sad face. He had small eyes, sad eyebrows, grey hair, and a sunken face in total. He was an older man, and walked with a limp.
"Excuse me," he said in an old, gritty voice. "I'm, looking for, the Doctor." All eleven of the other Doctors stepped back.
"I never forget a face," Doctor Six said, drawing his screwdriver.
"How is he here?" Doctor Ten added, and he drew his screwdriver. In seconds, all screwdrivers were out and pointed at the new Doctor.
"What's with all the pointing?!" the new Doctor exclaimed, reaching for his.
"Out of my way!" Acreb snapped, pushing Doctors Six and Eight of the way and grabbing the new Doctor's skull. Acreb gasped, and thousands more images flew into his head, but much darker, and more terrifying. Scenes of a Time War, of death, of Dalek fleets bombarding Gallifrey, of…this Doctor killing them all. Acreb pulled back, his jaw and eyes wide open, panting like a dog.
"You…" Acreb wheezed. "You…destroyed them!" Acreb fell to the floor and started retching and coughing at the same time, making the most unpleasant sounds. After a few seconds of violent choking, Acreb gasped, "What…did you…did…did you DO?" The new Doctor was silent, but lowered his head.
"It was the only choice I had," the old Doctor panted. "It was death for all…or death for Gallifrey. Everyone, the soldiers, women, the children – all of them – would have died anyway…"
"I don't think so," Acreb replied harshly. "There was another way. You just didn't take it; you didn't follow your promise…" Suddenly, alarms blared in the hangar.
"Sir!" one of Acreb's crewmen called out. "I have another wormhole incoming! Approaching lower left aft section, bearing three six five, mark one!"
"Red alert! All decks, maximum wormhole alert!" Acreb ordered. Just then, the panoramic window at the front of the hangar, which was showing the giant blazing energy of the wormhole, was swarmed with light. A huge starship flew out of the wormhole, but still remained tiny in comparison with the wormhole.
"What's that ship?" Doctor Ten demanded, rushing over to the console.
"I see a name – and a code!" the crewman said, brushing some of her hair aside and checking the readouts. "USS Enterprise, 1701."
"1701 A?" Acreb asked.
"No," the crewman replied. "1701 – that's it. Wait, Admiral! We're receiving a communication to the ship!"
"On screen," Acreb ordered. The panoramic window flashed, and a large display came up. It was an audio-visual transmission from the Enterprise. The display a brightly lit but heavily damage bridge, and in the chair was a young man in a yellow shirt and black pants. He had bright blue eyes, fair skin, and short blond hair. A stream of blood was running down the side of his head. The communication was far from perfect, and was difficult to hear it coherently.
"Unkown ve…Kirk, Captain of U…S Enterprise. We are currently under…by a massive w…provide assistance!"
"Captain Kirk!" Acreb responded. "If you can hear me, we cannot receive your entire transmission. Please amplify your transmission po…oh, whoa."
The wormhole flashed again, and another warship came through, but much, much bigger. It was long and thin and dark green. Thousands of spikes emanated along the length of the ship and came together at the front. Even if you had never seen it before, it was a sign of death.
"Getting readouts, sir!" the crewman at the station told Acreb. "Name: Narada. Contains faster-than-light travel capabilities, heavily, and I mean heavily armed!" The wormhole flashed again, but then collapsed on itself and disappeared in a flash of light. The huge ship was heading right for the Enterprise, but then stopped and slowly turned toward Acreb's fleet.
"Admiral! They're locking weapons on us!" the crewman tried to warn, but it was already too late. Hundreds of missiles flew out of the Narada and headed right for the ship that Acreb was on, the Archangel. Right above the hangar, there were bright flashes and loud pulses of sound. Streams of lasers flew out of the automatic turrets surrounding the hangar and made contact with the missiles.
"Shields up!" Acreb ordered.
"Too late! Missiles incoming too fast!" Doctor Ten called out. "Impact in five seconds!" Acreb closed his eyes, and then thrust his hand out towards the window. A massive pulse of fiery energy flew out of the window and turned into a giant shockwave of fire. Missiles collided with the fire wave and were promptly destroyed, but the shockwave kept on going, and within ten seconds the shockwave hit the Narada broadside, throwing the Narada about like it was a toy.
"Whoa!" Neo exclaimed. "Acreb – did you do that?!" Acreb turned and Neo jumped back in shock. Acreb's eyes had changed. Every color imaginable was crammed into his eyes, and bits of color were flying about left and right in his eyes. Acreb turned to the crewman and barked, "Set the tractor beam on that thing! Bring it into Hangar Four! Have proton cannons aimed at it the entire time! Alert the rest of the fleet of our current situation!"
"Aye, sir!" the crewman replied, keeping her eyes on the console. She had seen the admiral's eyes once before, and did not want to see them again. A deep whirring sounded, and the Narada jerked as it was pulled closer and closer to the Archangel.
"What about that other ship, the Enterprise?" Morpheus asked. "They sent out a clear distress call. We must assist!" Acreb closed his eyes, and there was a small flash of light. Acreb turned to the crewman, his eyes returning to normal.
"Contact the Resolute and order them to retrieve the Enterprise by tractor beam," Acreb ordered. "Get that crew food, water, medical supplies, power cells, anything they require."
"And quick!" Doctor Ten said, looking at the console. "The ship's integrity is jeopardized – I don't think it will hold much longer. As a matter of fact…oh, bugger. Acreb! The main engines have exploded, and the ship's due to fall apart in only minutes!"
"Belay that order, crewman!" Acreb ordered. "Activate transport units and beam off every last person on that ship – alive or dead! Am I clear?"
"Yes sir!" the woman responded, sending the order. "But why the dead as well?"
"Basic ethical training, don't you remember?" Acreb asked darkly. "We don't leave any man behind." The crewman lowered her head, as if embarrassed or shamed.
"Doctors! All of you come with me!" Acreb barked, walking fast out of the room. The twelve Doctors all followed, two of Acreb's guards assisting the elderly Doctor One. Neo, Morpheus, the crewman, and the soldiers were left behind as the doors of the hangar shut.
***So that's the first 4 chapters of The Unspeakable One! I hope you guys have liked what you have seen so far, and I am more than happy to accept comments and reviews. If you have never head of Acreb or his ship the Archangel, just to let you know that there will be more characters you've probably never have head of before. In this fanfic I am introducing at least a dozen original characters, including some from a massive Disney fanfic I am working on at this time. If I have good responses to this, I'll post that Disney fanfic called Believe for you guys. Please rate, follow, review, etc.! Thanks for all the feedback so far, you guys! :) :)