Earth 3056

A good while had passed in which he'd almost given up hope, when he noticed a small group of people creeping through the shadows. In their arms were a deadly array of atomic grenades and hand-launchers. One glance and he knew this was how the metre had gone up so rapidly.

"Wait! Stop!" he chased after them. "You can't launch those! Do that and the whole world gets destroyed!"

"Doctor?"

"Jamie, thank heavens!" said the Doctor in relief. "Help me stop them. There's a Shadow Agent arrived intent on destroying Earth and it's all due to these weapons! Get rid of them!" He made to tug the assortment from Jamie's arms, but his companion drew back haughtily.

"They need those. To fight the government. It's just like back home with the redcoats…I know what it's like for them and I can help."

"Launch those and there won't be a government anymore! What part of complete Earth destruction don't you understand?!"

"We're wasting time," said a woman with a significant glance at Jamie. "If he won't help, get him out of here."

"Jamie, help them understand!"

"Sorry, Doctor, but I'm with them. Meet you at the TARDIS later."

There was no changing his companion's mind he knew. His only hope lay now in stopping the Shadow Agent. "Surely they'll understand," he said to himself as he hurried along back to the shadow ship. "One little revolution and they need a big fuss? They're quite overreacting. If I just explain the situation, surely they'll see reason. They can't possibly destroy the world over a tiny revolution."

We will.

The Doctor spun around to see Gort striding towards him, from behind his ship though. "Can't you be reasonable? It's all just a mistake!"

We warned you this day would come. You cannot stop the enforcement of justice.

"But if you'll just listen…!"

In response, Gort's visor slowly slid up to reveal blackness beneath. A spark of light grew into a beam. Sensing what was coming, the Doctor made a bolt for the TARDIS. He'd just made it to the doors when a ray of pure energy struck him, penetrating him to his very being. "No…can't…let…!" he fumbled with the key to unlock the door then slumped to the floor senselessly. "Can't rest…"

Gort grabbed the Doctor by the collar of his shirt and hauled him upwards to dangle a foot from the ground. You are made of sterner mettle than I thought.

"A case in point that you might want to consider," said the Doctor hopefully. "Haven't you given a few thoughts on the legendary rage of a Time Lord? Very unpleasant to witness. You're forcing me to desperate measures."

You can do nothing against me. To prove his point, Gort tightened his metal grip on his prisoner.

"You'll want to think twice about killing me. The Time Lords…just think of all that trouble you'll have with them if you do. They won't like it. Not one…"

You are nothing more than a renegade, Doctor. Your fate matters little to them

Gort had a point, but still… the Doctor fought in vain as the huge robot carried him up the ramp into his spaceship to unceremoniously dump him in a corner. He looked lazily on his prisoner as one might look on a pest and gave a bark of laughter.

First I deal with Earth and then with you Wasting no further words, Gort waved his hand over the door controls to exit the ship.

"No! I won't let you!" the Doctor sprang up to seize the robot around its metal waist and drag him back but it had little effect.

Contemptuously, Gort flung the Doctor inside and sealed the door behind him.

Death and destruction lay in the Shadow Agent's path, the Doctor knew, but trapped here, there was nothing he could do about it. Gort was unstoppable. Earth's inhabitants had no chance against him.

3056, place unknown

Very little natural light came into the dull cell. Most of the light came in through thin shafts in the ceiling above him. The next thing he noticed was the metallic smell—everything gleamed silver from the walls, to the hard cot he'd been laid on. If there'd been a door, the Doctor would've counted his lucky stars since his sonic had somehow been tucked into his pocket and not confiscated, but the door appeared to have merged seamlessly into the wall.

Déjà vu. He'd been here before in a younger incarnation.

"Well this is no way to treat a guest." The Doctor hopped up and began meticulously examining the opposite wall. Since Rose wasn't with him, nor could he feel her nearby, he could only hope that the TARDIS had protected her. "Why Earth?! What has that meager little planet ever done to you anyway?"

Because it is your favorite. You have invested too much time into protecting a species doomed to fail from the beginning.

He paused, sonic pressed to the metal of the wall. Finger hovering over the button. It made sense he'd have been allowed to keep it if Gort was here keeping guard. "Well now that's a bit biased. I can think of a dozen other species that have caused far more trouble than a planetful of humans. Daleks? Slitheen? Sea Devils? Have none of those made their way onto your radar yet?"

Your companion is no longer human. Explain.

The Doctor held his tongue. Did Rose's lack of being human make her safe now? Until he could determine Gort's intentions, Earth and its inhabitants would be the only discussion topic he was going to use.

Explain

Calmly, the Doctor tucked his sonic away and eyed the wall. "Why don't you join me in here and we'll have a little chat. Better yet, we can switch places. I would be far more compliant if I was on that side of the door."

The TARDIS had landed half propped against a tree and it took Rose some effort to haul herself out. When she did, she noticed she'd landed in a cemetery—a sea of tombstones spread out before her. Not far off there was a man clad in a worn dark jacket chewing on a cigar and watching her with interest. He glanced at the police box, confirming it, then kept his attention on her. She brushed off her clothes, edging away from him when she saw him sniffing the air. Nearly catching her foot on a stone, Rose glanced down to see her own name etched in stone.

"When you said you regenerated, I figured you'd stick to one gender." He kept his distance, which Rose respected, but her head snapped up as soon as the casual mention dropped.

"No I'm—wait, you've met the Doctor."

He nodded. "You smell like him, but not quite. Same species? Time Lord?"

"Time Lady," she corrected in a murmur, still thinking this through. Had the TARDIS come here for a reason? Taking a chance, Rose blurted out, "If you know the Doctor, then he needs your help. I need your help to get him back." She came closer, noticing his battle-weary face. "If you know him, the ship singled you out and crashed here for a reason."

The man pulled out his cigar, rolling it between two fingers as he glanced at the ship again. "You're his wife, aren't you? You're Rose Tyler." He pointed at the grave marker she was standing over.

Rose huffed and moved to stand on top of the grave so she wouldn't have to look at it. "I don't know when you met him, but as you can see, I'm very much alive and I need your help."

He considered this. "Suppose I did…what comes after?"

"So the satisfaction of saving the world isn't enough for you?"

"Never said it wasn't." He glanced back over his shoulder although Rose could see nothing there, his voice dropping to a mutter. "Heaven knows I've saved it more than my fair share of times. But what's left here… empty memories of a life that's long over… yeah" his voice returned to a regular tone as he made his choice "Yeah, I'll go."

New York City, present

"How come it's always aliens? Why can't we have an invasion of vampires or something that at least requires a little more strategy than Stark yelling 'go right, go right, no, not your right, my right!'" Clint Barton tore his eyes from the road ahead just long enough to glance down at his phone in one hand that tracked how far he was from the alien readings. "What did New York ever do to them?"

"Manifest destiny," said Coulson decisively. "And stop monologuing over the comm."

Clint deliberately sped up to avoid a red light, narrowly missing an oncoming car that tried to turn left in front of him. Good thing SHIELD hadn't equipped his car with hidden cameras yet. "You need to pick an opinion and stick to it, Phil. Krakow? St. Petersburg? You kept begging me to keep monologuing."

"I needed you to stay focused on not dying."

"And then there was Tahiti." He couldn't resist a snicker at the sudden comm silence from his handler's end. "Your turn to do dinner tonight."

"All your least favorite foods."

"Cruel, cruel. If I'm the one chasing down all these ET sightings, the least you could do is splurge on a steak. Oh. I see it." Slowly the car, Clint idled in front of his target. "Uh, unless ET has a thing for antique blue boxes, I think we're dealing with something completely different."

"Describe it."

"Big blue box with police public call on it. Weren't these from the 60's or something?" Making a decision, Clint slipped from the car and drew a gun as he approached the box. "If this thing's from a collector, it needs to go see a restoration. Or five."

"Barton"

"I've got this." He couldn't resist a grin at that tone though. Worriment and concern. Keeping his gun raised, Clint pushed open the door and stepped inside. Before he could back out, swearing that what he was seeing had to be a joke, the door snapped shut behind him.

The blue box faded and disappeared.