"So…you haven't said anything about the guy we're after," Yaz noted as she watched the Doctor standing by the console.

"He's a time meddler; ever since the end of the Time War and the fall and the return of Gallifrey, there's been an influx of people changing events in history," the Doctor replied as she worked by the console.

Yaz looked at her sympathetically. The Doctor had given her a few talks about her past, and the Time War was one of the things she had learnt about how the Doctor had once believed that her people were long since dead, but had survived due to a last-minute save although the Time Lord's power was broken, and now they had to resort to subtler methods and techniques to ensure the safety of the timelines. At the same time, Yaz caught on to the implication her friend didn't like the Time Lords much, a bit of bad blood or something.

"What's he done?" Yaz asked at last. "Besides trying to give Napoleon that nuclear submarine to win the Battle of Trafalgar and later those machine guns?"

"He tried to destroy the Apollo spaceship and he also tried to make several intergalactic wars last longer; he tried to set up wars where they were never meant to happen, and he planted a nuclear bomb right underneath Rome at the height of the Roman Empire; speaking of Romans, he tried to prevent the New Roman Empire from being founded," the Doctor explained.

"The New Roman Empire?" Yaz repeated in disbelief. "That's…," she trailed off unable to stop her brain spinning.

The Doctor smirked at her. "I'll take you there, after," she promised before getting back to work. "But that's not the worst of it, Yaz. What do you know about the Salem Witch Trials?"

Yaz blinked at the sudden question. "Not a lot," she confessed. "I know hundreds of women were persecuted for being witches. What did he do?"

The Doctor's expression darkened. "He tried to make other countries perform their witch hunts, using holographic illusions and simple tricks to achieve the effects of magic. He also framed a few women and men by having them copied into holograms, chanting spells which were him using technology to burn down fields and kill people."

"He framed them? They wouldn't stand a chance!"

"I know, that's why he did it. But he did other things. He tried to spread the Black Death throughout Asia. He tried to undo three of the last Cyber Wars so the Cybermen would win. But the last time he meddled, he removed a galaxy integral to the growth of Earth's Third Great and Bountiful Human Empire, a thousand years of peace and prosperity mingled with times of conflict, which would shape the next few million years," the Doctor turned to her, her face dark. "Think about it, Yaz. The lives of millions are affected forever. I've managed to clean up the mess and undo the damage, but anyway, this time traveller…I've met him a few times before meeting you, and he always got away from me. But now I've got him," the Doctor grinned.

"Er, Doctor," Yaz began hesitantly.

Still grinning, the Doctor lifted her gaze. "Yes, Yaz?"

"You do know I hate it when you grin like that?"

Still grinning at nothing, the Doctor made it bigger. "Oooh, why's that?"

"Because it's scary," Yaz replied honestly.

"You just love digging that hole, eh?" The Doctor smirked at her before slamming her hands down on the console, and the TARDIS accelerated but thanks to her recent (almost) adjustment to the console to ensure the stabilisers were on as she wasn't like her idiotic predecessors; pinstripes and big chin might have loved the rocking of the TARDIS until others felt physically sick, but she was older, more refined and mature, she was not playing games like that.

"I didn't realise there was a hole, Doctor," Yaz said, hoping that the Doctor wasn't going to do anything drastic tonight. She loved the Doctor, she did, especially when they went out and gave races like the Sontarans, the Stenza, and the Daleks hell but the woman was scary when teased too far. "So, how are we going to deal with this guy?"

"Oh, easily enough. I've been tracking him down for a while and I've caught his biodata," the Doctor waved a hand airily.

"So, we're chasing him?" Yaz tried to understand.

"Almost," the Doctor's grin came back with a vengeance as she hit a control. Yaz jumped as a ball of light unfolded like a two-leaf doorway, ejecting a man wearing a shirt and pants topped by a shabbier coat. The man was bald with the general air of a favourite uncle with twinkling brown eyes, but a look of fear crept over his face when he saw who was standing over him.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor folded her arms. "Hello, Trantor. It's been a while."

"What is the meaning of this?" Trantor tried standing up, but he yelped suddenly and made Yaz jump in fright before she realised he had hit some kind of barrier that forced him back down. "Ow! What was that?"

"Just a force barrier. I'm not letting you go, not after going to this much trouble just to catch you," the Doctor replied coldly. "I know you've just tried to make the Salem Witch Trials nine times worse than they needed to be, and how you tried to undo the Third Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Trantor?"

Trantor didn't answer. He was too busy closing his eyes while wearing a face of concentration but the concentration looks became fearful.

"Oh, are you trying to leave?" The Doctor smirked down at him. "Sorry, it's not going to happen. You're trapped here."

"Please, Doctor," Trantor begged; he knew of the Doctor's reputation. She was one of the most experienced time travellers in the universe's history, and she was not to be trifled with.

"Trantor, you've tried my patience before, and I've had more than enough. Your chances are over."

"Doctor, should we give him to someone to make him stand trial?" Yaz interrupted. She had been watching with increasing worry as Trantor showed signs he was being tortured, and she didn't like it.

The Doctor turned to Yaz, annoyed she was interfering but she listened to her human companion. She had discovered she had a liking for women, and she had visited Vastra and Jenny for advice on how to woo Yaz. She had succeeded largely in part even if she knew she sometimes worried Yaz with her darker tendencies. And she was dark.

Sometimes she wondered if her actions were a precursor for the Valeyard, but the Doctor shrugged her shoulders dismissively whenever she thought of it. She was a long way past her idealistic sixth incarnation and her seventh incarnation had caused some damage here and there, while her eighth incarnation's days were a breath of fresh air before the Time War.

If she did become darker and more direct, so what?

But she was not happy with this interruption. She had planned to kill Trantor and use him as an example to those who meddled in history. It was high time the other time travellers throughout the universe understood there would be consequences.

At the same time, she had to admit Yaz could have a point.

That didn't mean she had to like it.

And then her expression brightened. "Okay, Yaz," she said as she thought through the pros and cons of what she was thinking. "We'll do it your way."

But Yaz was worried. "What are you planning?"

"Just thinking of the right way to get him thrown into Stormcage," the Doctor said before turning back to Trantor and giving him an evil smirk, "The Shadow Proclamation take time meddling very dimly."

Xxxx

Twenty years.

That was how long he had been locked in prison, for crimes against the Laws of Time. He didn't understand why, as he felt he was just improving history and having fun playing with 'What ifs.'

As he sat in his cell, he ignored the guard bringing his dinner until they gently rapped the cell door with their electro-baton.

"Didn't you hear me, I said dinner!"

"Oh, sorry," Trantor grunted as he got his food and started to eat. He didn't notice the guard leaving.

As he ate his food Trantor thought of the plans he had for when he would leave Stormcage. The prison staff had placed a neural restrictor in his head. The authorities had deemed him far too dangerous to be freed without some kind of precaution with all the time tech left out there; they were smart, he had to admit, to keep him away from time travel, so he wouldn't be tempted to meddle in time.

He drank from his drink.

Trantor yelped as he felt a terrible pain in his heart and his throes of agony he threw the tray away until it smashed to the ground, sending food everywhere, but he didn't care as he writhed all over the floor.

"That took a while," a familiar voice commented.

Trantor forced himself to look up and he panted in horror when he saw the Doctor standing over him. She was dressed in a prison guard uniform. "D-Doctor?" He wheezed as his vision began to swim.

"Hello, Trantor."

"What have you done to me?"

"I poisoned you."

"What?" Trantor panted.

"When I found you, I'd planned to just kill you as a warning to the next time meddler what would happen to them, but then I had the amusing idea when Yaz confronted me in the TARDIS; I decided to hand you into the authorities to make you stand trial while I took your time tech, but what Yaz and everyone else doesn't know is I poisoned you. It's an interesting poison, a binary poison. On their own, they're harmless. Brought together, they're devastating and lethal. Vicious. I gave you one-half of the poison in the TARDIS after researching them and I made sure Yaz was sedated before I gave it to you. I then jumped a few years into your sentence and I took a guard's uniform and used a perception filter to stop you noticing it was me, and a little manipulation of my throat changed my voice so you wouldn't recognise it. I mixed the second half of the poison in your drink," the Doctor smirked smugly down at him.

Trantor desperately tried to speak, but his throat felt like it was puffing up violently.

The Doctor knelt next to him. Her eyes glinted cruelly. "I warned you you would regret playing with time. Anyway, I have nothing to say to you, except nobody will ever know what happened to you. The poison I gave you was chosen carefully as it is inducing mini heart attacks while gearing for a massive one which will kill you. Bye, Trantor."

The Doctor stood up and walked away, leaving Trantor to slowly die before he felt an agonising pain in his chest as he felt as if his heart was being ripped apart….