Meanwhile, the third group, lead by the Seventh Doctor, slowly approached the weird blob-dome. The Doctor looked like he was struggling hard to remain conscious.
"You all right, Doctor?" Tegan asked. He managed a smile.
"Yes, I'm as right as rubber," he said, rolling the r in "rubber."
"So what's the plan?" Ben asked. "How are we going to get in there?" he pointed to the Valeyard's little "storm."
"He's really playing the villain, your 'other self,'" Amy commented.
"One question at a time!" ordered Seven. "Of course he's playing the villain, he's me. And as for your question, Ben, I daresay we just… walk through." He stood with his back to the dome, gave his companions a cheery smile and tipped his hat to them, and fell through.
"Professor!" Ace sighed. Jumping into stuff was her job. Without looking to see if the other companions were following, she followed her Doctor through.
The sensation of walking through the curtain of goo was… unpleasant. The goo seemed to weight Ace down, and it filled her nostrils and mouth. After a moment, she wasn't sure which way was up or down. She felt a hand grab her elbow, and instinctively pulled away. The hand grabbed her elbow again, much harder this time, and pulled.
Ace found herself inside the Valeyard's little bubble, and Seven relinquished his companion and reached back through the wall. Clara, Nyssa, and Barbara noticed him and began to help him pull Ace's teammates out of their confusion.
On the other side of the bubble, Susan and her group were chatting quietly, trying to find a solution for the Doctors. Polly brightened when she noticed Ben, and waved him over for help. Amy followed his over. Tegan and Nyssa shared a quick hug before exchanging stories. It was then that Jo noticed how quiet it was, and that the other Doctors and the Valeyard were standing still, with their eyes closed. It was an eerie sight. She stood a but closer to the still-conscious Seven and Ace.
"What's going on, Doctor?" she asked.
"I'm battling against the Valeyard," Seven answered. "I'm trying not to let him gain control of me."
"Gain control of you?" Ace was confused. "But there's more of you than there are of him!"
"Don't underestimate the Valeyard. He's everything evil in me, and so he's just as clever," Seven warned.
"What happens if you win?" Jo asked.
"I live."
"And if you don't?"
"I die. It's that simple," Seven looked around and sighed. "I'll never have been born. You two go help the others."
"And you, Professor?"
"I'm going to help myself." With that, Seven closed his eyes and began to help his other selves and buy time for his friends.
However, the disarming team was stumped. They were standing in a circle around the Eye, utterly silent as they tried to answer Sarah Jane's question.
"We need to turn this thing off," Adric mumbled to himself. "It's the only way we can win."
Silence again. Then:
"What's this?" It was Donna, pointing to a small box on the side of the Eye. The others rushed over.
"I don't know," said Two, but he looked very interested in it. "It's not part of the Valeyard's design, I'll tell you that."
"How can you tell?" Rose asked despite herself.
"It's obviously the turn-off switch," Two huffed.
"And how do you know that?" Peri repeated Rose. She and Rose shared an exasperated look. The Doctor was so bad at explaining things!
"Because it's stuck," Two said.
"So?" Fitz asked.
"Well, if the Valeyard would kidnap me, which he did, he'd probably know I'd get free, which I also did. He would also know that I'd find this place, and so if he had this suspicious looking box attached to this devilish device, I would make it unstuck so my enemies would open it and meet something bad. And if he is me and I would do that, so would he. But this is stuck, so-"
"This must be the TARDIS's work!" interrupted Adric. A giant grin split Two's face in half.
"Exactly!" he beamed. "Now, all we've got to is open it and push all buttons inside!"
"But how do we open it?" Fitz asked.
"Oh!" Rose exclaimed. "The Doctor-my Doctor- has a sonic screwdriver that he uses to open stuff."
"The sonic screwdriver, yes, I'd forgotten about that. Thank you, Rose," Two smiled at her. "I look forward to travelling with you."
Rose ducked her head shyly, and Two rummaged through his pockets for his screwdriver.
"No… no… wrong pocket… where are you…? Ah-ha!" the Doctor eventually emerged triumphant. Rose and Donna, used to the complicated wand that their Doctors used were slightly confused. This screwdriver was a just a plain silver rod. Before either could voice their confusion, Two pressed his screwdriver to the panel, and waved it around for a moment. He then grabbed the edges of the panel and pulled. The cover came cleanly off. Inside were many switches and buttons. Two sighed.
"Blast the TARDIS and her weird sense of humour," he said.
"What do you mean?" Fitz asked.
"This seems to be some kind of logic puzzle, but it's not configured in a way that I can solve."
Adric brightened at the words "logic" and "puzzle."
"Doctor," he said, stepping forward a little. "Could I try? I'm very good at these."
The Doctor stared at him for a second, but nodded and allowed the Alzarian space to work. As he got into position, Adric's expression perfectly matched Two's in terms of bewilderment.
"If this is a logic puzzle, why is this button next to this switch?" he challenged the TARDIS. She didn't respond.
"We've got to hurry!" Sarah Jane warned as the Cloister Bell echoed through the TARDIS again.
"I know!" Adric shouted back defensively.
"I've got an idea," Peri offered.
"Let's hear it, then," Rose said.
"What if that isn't a logic puzzle?" proposed Peri.
"I think I'm learning that!" Adric said in a frustrated voice. Peri ignored him.
"Maybe it's an illogic puzzle."
"What does that mean?" Donna inquired.
"Whatever's logical must be the completely wrong thing to do. Try doing the most illogical thing instead," Peri said simply.
Adric glanced up from the box and stared.
"Try it," Fitz prompted. "What's the most logical thing to do?"
"Switch these two switches. But I already did that and nothing happened," Adric protested.
"What's the worst thing to do?"
"Press this button."
"Do that."
Adric obeyed. After a moment: "Hey! That worked!"
Peri was swamped with congratulations.
"How'd you think of that?" Donna asked her.
"My Doctor's always going on about how illogically the TARDIS's circuits are arranged. He says it's part of why he's never fixed the chameleon circuit. I figured the TARDIS would be just as horrible with something like this."
"I look forward to my future ingenuity, if we get out of this," Two said. "How are we doing?"
"Better, I think," Fitz answered. "Adric's pressing all kinds of buttons, and seems to be pleased with the results."
"Quick, I need a color," Adric commanded.
"Blue," Rose offered.
"Why?"
"Because… it was the first color in my head."
"No. You're thinking too logically. Color!"
"Pink," Fitz said.
"No. Pink's the opposite of blue. You're thinking too logically. Stop it"
"Orange!" Donna shouted.
Adric accepted that. About five minutes later, he stood back. The Paradox machine was disarmed.
Yet another silence fell over the group.
"How did that work?" Adric asked to no one in particular.
"We're in the Matrix," Two answered. "And being even more specific, we're in a copy of the TARDIS. The rules of logic don't apply here."
Rose was deep in thought. Fitz poked her in the shoulder.
"What's bugging you?" he asked.
"I was thinking…" she murmured. Rose shook her head. "Nothing. Let's get back to the other Doctors." She turned to leave, but Fitz grabbed her shoulder.
"What were you thinking?" He was genuinely curious.
"If there's no logic, then the Valeyard could win," she said quietly, so as to not let the others in on her suspicions. "There are twelve Doctors, so they could easily defeat him. But since logic's all… weird, who knows?"
It was Fitz's turn to think deeply.
"You're right about anything happening," he said.
"What d'you mean?"
"Whatever the Valeyard is doing to our friends, anything could be happening. He could be winning, and at the very same time, he could be losing. especially now that the Paradox Machine has been stopped. So there's still some hope."
"Thank you, Fitz, for that uplifting speech. But I'd like to follow Miss Tyler's plan, as much as we can," Two said as he passed by them.
"And what's that?" Peri asked.
"Back to the Valeyard. It's time we stopped dragging this climax out."
Soon, everybody was gathered at the Valeyard's storm, which was surprisingly lessening. The team that had come from the Valeyard's TARDIS quickly explained what they had been up to, and they agreed that they had to do what had to be done. The Doctor's fight with the Valeyard seemed to be in stalemate. They were going to tip the scales.
Two found himself bombarded with questions as the twenty-some companions tried to smooth out their plan.
"So, they're in the Matrix, and we are too?" was Jamie's question.
"Lack of logic then dictates that we can get them out of the astral plane, without killing you?" Adric asked.
"So, they'll still be in their battle, it would just be here?" asked Nyssa.
"And we would have some influence?" Clara inquired.
Two wasn't pleased with this. He was all for doing as Seven did, so the many companions he has cared about, was caring about, and will care about would be safe. But as Ian pointed out, even Seven, who was the most strategic of them and knew the Valeyard the most after the Valeyard himself, hadn't been able to do much.
"Yes," he sighed. "To all questions."
"Okay, then," Sarah Jane said. "But why am I always the one asking this question?"
"Which question?" Donna asked her.
"How do we do that?"
"I can… I can get them out. Susan will be able to help me, too, if she wants," the Second Doctor said. He looked at his granddaughter. She looked scared, but nodded bravely.
"Of course I do, Grandfather," her voice rang throughout the valley clearly. Jack's finger jumped to his lips.
"There are things here other than the Valeyard," he cautioned. "Cybermen?"
"Illusions," Two dismissed.
"Aye, well, let's not find out," Jamie mumbled.
"Are you ready?" Two asked Susan. With that, the last two Time Lords joined the battle and all the humans and Adric could do was wait.
The first thing that clued them in that their plan was working was the Doctors' bickering.
"Reverse the polarity…" Three was suggesting.
"We've tried that," Five said. The Valeyard was chuckling softly at his real selves' inability to do anything.
"Shut up!" Seven snapped at him. "You've had enough time to laugh, Deeryard. Now that we- I'm- here, we should be laughing at you!"
"So why aren't you? What I'm seeing is you all bicker, not laugh, while you grow weaker and I stronger."
This statement was punctuated by Ten gasping slightly and falling. Jo and Tegan moved quickly and attempted to catch him. As they grabbed his arms, his eyes flickered open.
"Stronger?" Seven's characteristic rolling r's became pronounced. "You are not any stronger than the rest of me. In fact, I'd say that you're weaker than us.
"How?"
Seven paused, and a tense silence fell over the group. After a moment, the Valeyard opened his mouth as if to say something, but Barbara stepped toward him.
"You're too much like the Doctor Ian and I first met," she said. "To absorbed in yourself to take care of others." With that, she reached out and tapped him lightly on the arm. A collective sigh echoed throughout the valley as the Doctors, the Valeyard, and Susan came out of their "trance." Susan wobbled a little bit, but quickly regained her footing.
Taking advantage of the Doctors' disorientedness, the Valeyard made as if to run away. However, as he turned to run, he found himself staring down the barrel of Jack's gun.
"Yeah, run. Tough guy," Jack quipped. The Valeyard didn't bother to respond, only glare daggers at him. Other than the Tenth, the First Doctor recovered the fastest.
"Now then, young man," he said, stepping forward to address his evil self. "You were going to erase me, hmm-hmm? A bad idea. You'd have created a massive paradox! Enough to bring the universe to an untimely end!"
"I had a machine, old man!" the Valeyard snapped at him, trying to step aggressively forward but remembering Jack.
"Doctor, to you," One said.
"And we destroyed it," Clara said from behind the Valeyard. He turned slowly and looked at her. Ace was immediately beside her, brandishing her deodorant can of explosives.
"If you'd have gone ahead, you'd have erased even yourself," Clara continued. "You'd be the last person in the universe, and from I understand, your erasure would be one of the most painful. Being the cause of it all, I mean."
"Luckily for us, your TARDIS is our TARDIS," Ten took over. "Two's told me how she helped Adric disarm the machine. She's always been a good girl, unlike you."
"There was the one time…" Eleven muttered, looking at Eight.
"That was anti-time," Twelve reminded him. "It was hardly her fault she was homicidal."
"We were homicidal!" Eleven whispered back.
"You are homicidal right now! Shush!" Sarah Jane commanded. They both shushed, however grudgingly.
"You're doing it again, Doctor," the Valeyard was chuckling.
"Doing what?" Six asked tersely. The Valeyard disappeared from his place beside Jack, and reappeared away from the group.
"Talking!"
"Rabbits," Tegan muttered. "We forgot about that trick."
But as the Valeyard threw back his head and laughed at them, Clara looked around. What she saw was twelve Doctors, standing in a semicircle, ready to fight. She dashed up to her Doctor and grabbed his shoulder in a way that made him think that she was Jamie.
"Doctor," she whispered in his ear.
"Clara?" he asked.
"I've had a thought. The Keeper of the Matrix controls this place, right? And that's who he is, and he is you?"
Twelve froze as her words sank in. "I can't do that!"
"I've been talking to your other companions. Apparently you've trapped him in a burning building before."
The Doctor considered. He then stiffened slightly. He was attempting to contact his other selves mentally. On the other side of their ring, Five caught Twelve's eye and nodded slightly. Twelve took a step forward.
"What is this game?"
"What game, Doctor? Do you count going to your death a game?"
"No," Twelve paused. "But just as I talk, so you forget."
"Forget what?" All trace of twisted humor was gone from the Valeyard's face.
"I may be cold, manipulative, aloof, brash, and arrogant, but so are you. And just as you are the Keeper, so am I. And I am also Lord President of Gallifrey."
Twelve dimly registered Three looking at him sideways in shock. But he digressed.
"And with that power, all of me send you out of the Matrix. Out into the Time War. Out into Hell."
And with a single, powerful thought, the Doctors concentrated. Before them, the Valeyard squirmed with agony and screamed silently as he slowly faded from the landscape. Soon, there was only a memory to tell that he was ever there.
"No second chances," Ten whispered. Twelve couldn't agree more.