'I thought it would have been obvious at this point Doctor: your life and actions post-Time War' the Hooded Man answered, this had Nine and Twelve looking at each other then back at the Hooded Man 'is that it?' Twelve questioned 'and here I thought it was for something big and bad' said Nine 'not that I've ever done anything big AND bad' said Twelve. Nine looked at him questioningly 'are you sure?' he said, Twelve looked at him with a "Really? YOU'RE asking me that?" look 'well I don't know, even though this is me we're talking about, I might be getting a bit senile in my old age' Nine said in response to Twelve's questioning look 'seriously can you drop it' Twelve responded.
The Hooded Man spoke again 'every action has a consequence Doctor' Twelve stepped closer to the Hooded Man 'so this is a trial' he said 'by whose authority and jurisdiction? The Shadow Proclamation?' Nine asked questioningly. 'Not the shadow proclamation no, they have no interest in you nor any reason to bother with you' the Hooded Man said.
Twelve made an expression and shrugged before looking at Nine 'no matter, I've just arrived' he said before looking to the alcove behind them, as did Nine, 'here I am' Twelve said as he gestured and as if on cue the platform they'd arrived on before arrived again with Ten and Eleven standing on it who then stepped forward and joined Nine and Twelve. Eleven took a moment to straighten his bowtie. 'Now to get down to business' Nine said with a hard look as they each then looked at the Hooded Man and each simultaneously brought out their sonic screwdrivers and soniced the Hooded Man's seat 'really Doctor? What do you think you're going to achie- ' the Hooded Man questioned before his seat made a brief low hum that lowered in pitch a bit as it was heard and a shimmer rippled through the air around it. Some sort of barrier that had been in place around the Hooded Man had lowered 'what? What is this? What are you do- ' the Hooded Man said, but was cut off as each Doctor, keeping his sonic screwdriver raised, soniced the seat again and some cables emerged from it that subdued and immobilised the Hooded Man 'what? No! Stop! Stop that! How dare you!'.
Each of the four Doctors put away their sonic screwdriver at the same time 'there, not so powerful and dominating now are you' said Nine, the Hooded Man tried to struggle against the bonds of his own throne but was too subdued to make even the slightest movement 'ugh, no…how did I let this happen, I waited for centuries and through half a dozen lives to take you down the way I had planned to Doctor, damn you!' he said.
All four Doctors suddenly became wide eye-eyed as their expressions changed to that of shocked surprise, looked at one another then back at the Hooded Man all in the space of a second 'eh?' said Eleven 'what did you just say?' said Ten 'Wha- ? Half a dozen lives?' said Nine while Twelve just looked at him squinty-eyed. 'You're a- ' he eventually said before the Hooded Man scoffed interrupting him 'really Doctor? There was no way I was going to let the war stop me' he said, all that the four Doctors could do in the present moment was stare at him speechless as they processed what he had just said and had said seconds before, or tried to 'who are you?' Twelve said with a hard look 'that's what we'd like to know' said Ten 'please, do tell' Nine said with an edge to his tone as well as a hard look. Twelve followed up with more questions 'do you know where Gallifrey is? Where is it? Tell me!' he said which had Nine, Ten and Eleven look at him suddenly and curiously, especially Nine who seemed shockingly surprised 'long story, I'll tell you later' Twelve said as he looked at them then back the Hooded Man who just laughed 'my silence on that is my one true victory against you in wake of the outcome of things here Doctor, all I'll say is this: have fun finding it'.
With the Hooded Man's last few words Twelve could just imagine a wicked grin on the Hooded Man's hidden face. Unnoticed by the four Doctors during the last couple of minutes the Hooded Man has been slowly, carefully and gradually inching one of his hands forward enough to press a button on his throne-like seat. It wasn't until the Hooded Man's fingers began to reach over the button to press it that Nine, who had been watching him like a hawk with his hard gaze, and possibly noticed for the first time the Hooded Man's hidden but obscured features and thought he saw a big grin, finally noticed the subtle hand and finger movements. But then by then it was a tad too late. Eh? Nine thought when the Hooded Man's sneaky hand and finger movements caught his eye, followed by 'hey, wha-?' he said quietly followed by '...no!' he said out loud and began to step forward to stop him, but it was in that moment that the Hooded Man's finger pushed on the button and he began to shimmer which stopped Nine mid-step.
Ten, Eleven and Twelve looked at their past self as Nine stepped forward to try to stop the Hooded Man before they too noticed why Nine was stepping forward within a second and took on expressions of surprise. The Hooded Man shimmered for a couple of seconds before just disappearing and outright vanishing from the spot completely. Each Doctor had a different and varied response: Nine just abruptly turned on the spot after staring at the spot for a couple of seconds where the Hooded Man had just been, turning his back to his future selves and stepped away before stopping a few steps from where he had been standing and looked around the place in frustration, Ten groaned through his teeth and also turned on the spot away from the window looking out into space, Eleven just stared at the spot where the Hooded Man had been with a slightly contorted face of annoyance and anger while Twelve just simmered and growled silently. Their moment of minor defeat was broken when a hologram screen of the Hooded Man appeared in the space immediately above the over bulky chair 'hello Doctor, did you REALLY think you were going to garner that much of a victory from me? Finding your way up to me from the confines of the hunting ground in which you found yourself after you were taken out of time, gaining the upper hand over me, which was due to an underestimation on my part which won't happen again, AND getting information from me of that which you so wish to find after aimlessly shifting it?' he said. All four Doctors put their hands into their suit and jacket pockets to bring out their sonic screwdrivers, however they stopped short with the Hoooded Man's next words 'oh and don't bother trying to trace the origin of this feed Doctor, this is a pre-recorded video message set to play to you in the event that you should somehow, for some reason happen to overpower and subdue me' Nine, Ten and Eleven soniced the hologram display before them while Twelve just held his sonic screwdriver in his hand already knowing it was no use in this case. His past selves took on expressions of calm disappointment as they confirmed and realised the validity of the Hooded Man's words 'like I said Doctor, don't bother' said the hologram display of the Hooded Man like he'd known they would try 'and if you're wondering where I am now, simply, I have placed myself into cryogenic stasis from which I will be released as soon as your bio-signatures are no longer detected anywhere on this vessel'. Each Doctor raised a brow 'well didn't he slip through the cracks' said Ten 'talk about the easy way out' Nine said in a slightly annoyed tone 'we still need to find a way off this vessel and get back to our own TARDIS's and time streams' said Eleven.
Twelve turned his gaze away from his other selves and looked in the direction of the alcove from which they'd reached the control centre. 'I don't think we need to' he said as multiple instances of the TARDIS and the engine sound it made as it materialised began to echo throughout the roomy and spacious area of the control centre. Four transparent blue police boxes began to appear and become less transparent and more solid with each passing second as they materialised in a row in a sort of one-after-the-other fashion, a split second apart before making the hollow *thud* upon being fully materialised.