10.1 (Detective Ethan Redfield)

William Hartnell flicked the switch of the set piece in front of him. The camera crew would show up later. What would this new show, this...Doctor Who bring to the future of the world? His head lifted up, to see another, younger man who just stared at him with a surprised but pleased expression. Hartnell eyes widened as he saw saw in the youth's eyes a history boundless and endless, that stretched from the beginning of the stars to the very end of time itself. The youth's eyes went just as wide. For a moment, the actor wondered what the youth saw when he looked into his eyes.

Somehow, no words were said. Hartnell knew he should be asking who this man was. He clearly looked more like a college professor or a dandy perhaps, not one of the film crew. However, the man seemed right in place, as if he was exactly where he should be. An odd thought occurred, was this man the future of the show perhaps? There was talk of his character, the doctor, transforming into a new doctor, or "regenerating" as the term was being passed around, when he retired.

He gave a small, reassuring grin to the man, maybe his replacement in the near future. He seemed oddly out of place, just right for the character he was set to play.

The younger man gave a grin of his own, flipped a couple switches and twisted a dial in a similar method that Hartnell just did. Then, the man leaned against the "TARDIS" gauges. Hartnell looked down at his console when several of the noisy film crew stepped in, sharing a joke he missed. There was a brief hum a few minutes later, causing Hartnell to look back to the young man, who was gone, as if like a ghost.

Clara sat in a nearby diner, scooping a single bite. The Doctor arrived moments later and dug into his fish fingers, though the custard was nowhere to be seen since the restaurant didn't sell it. Clara asked, "So, did you see what you wanted to see?"

The Doctor's usual manic expression of glee seemed almost at peace for once, giving her the answer to her question.

10.2 (Drakohahn)

The Doctor was finding it very weird that he was being followed around by a few Daleks and they weren't trying to kill him or anything. Rose seemed to grow more paranoid of what they wanted as they silently trailed behind, just watching and never acting. After deciding that enough was enough, he turned to them and asked.

"Why are you following us?"

After a brief moment of silence as they looked at each other, they replied.

"GRA-VI-TATE!"

10.3 (masterofgames)

The Doctor watched as the Dalek gazed at the simple mousetrap, just lying on the floor in front of it with a mouse caught by the tail.

Several moments passed. The Doctor could swear the Dalek's eye stalk was starting to twitch.

"E-EX... EX-TER... E-EX-TER-MI..." the Dalek stuttered.

The Doctor merely watched in confusion.

"EX-TER-MIN... EX-TER..."

And then the Dalek snapped.

"NO! AB-SURD! IM-POSS-I-BLE! A MERE LATCH AND SPRING HAVE BES-TED A DA-LEK! THIS CAN NOT BE! E-MER-GEN-CY! E-MER-GEN-CY! EX-IS-TEN-TIAL CRI-SIS! I DO NOT KNOW WHO I AM! UP IS DOWN WITH-OUT THE AID OF ART-I-FIC-IAL GRAV-I-TY! BLACK IS WHITE WITH-OUT THE IN-VER-SION OF THE NEG-A-TIVE! WHAT AM I DO-ING WITH MY LIFE!?"

Rose merely smirked and elbowed The Doctor in the side as the Dalek shuffled into a corner and started sobbing. "Pay up."

The Doctor sighed, digging through his pockets and slapping five quid into her open hand. "Double or nothing on the Cybermen?"

"You're on."

10.4 (Alex Prior)

The Doctor Awoke and, from habit, immediately checked himself. 'Body of my final self in first regeneration cycle, check. Bowtie, cool. Snazzy greatcoat, curious... Vortex manipulator?'

He looked at it. Then he checked his Loop Memories. 'Doctor Jack Harkness? This is going to be a long Loop.'

He shrugged. At least he could have some fun making fun of himself-

The Doctor paused, then grinned. Maybe it wouldn't be a long Loop after all.

Rose wasn't sure what to make of the odd doctor. He kept insisting that bowties were cool, told her that the Doctor had extremely conspicuous ears and when she asked about Spock, whipped out a tricorder for some reason. And that was nothing compared to when he met the Doctor. He'd kissed his hand for god's sake!

The Doctor was having the time of his life. All right, perhaps the hand-kissing might have been going too damn far, but the look on his face had been more than worth it. It still cracked him up!

'Now what to do about Satellite Five...'

The Doctor had to admit, things could have gone better. His In-Loop self considered him a flirtatious clown (and now that he pondered about it, there was a truly creepy image to go with that phrase), he was what his Time Lord senses would have considered an abomination, and he was stuck in the nineteenth century with a malfunctioning Vortex Manipulator.

On the one hand, he could repair it in moments and be out of there in an instant. On the other, he could finally learn more about Jack's Torchwood life. Decisions, decisions...

10.5 (Dave ID)

"Doctor, what are you doing with those turntables?" Rory asked.

"I figured I would try and fit into the DJ niche. Why do you ask?" was the Doctor's response.

"Most don't play 'The Wheels on The Bus' on any DJ set."

"...Don't judge me, I'm new."

"Right."

10.6 (Scorntex, 9.12 cont.)

Beetleberg, the place the Mistress had Awoken in, was an interesting local. Ruled by a Tyrant, named Beetle, located somewhere in Romania, and guarded by deceptively lethal-looking robots (or, as everyone in the Loop called them, Clanks, a name the Mistress had to agree was suitably fitting). It was home to the world-famous Transylvania Polygnostic University (Motto: Know Enough To Be Afraid), and ruled with an iron-fist by this Beetle person, whom the Mistress had apparently been working for as an assistant. Apparently, lawbreakers were placed inside massive jars until dying of hunger, thirst or dehydration.

She'd barely been Awake five minutes, and already the Mistress liked the sound of this Loop more and more.

This lasted until she encountered one of the aforementioned "clanks", all of which deemed her late. It took several second, an eternity to a Time Lord, to realise they meant late for school.

Begrudgingly, she found herself being pointed in the direction of the university, each ro-... clank she met feeling the need to remind her she was late. It was their luck she didn't have a screwdriver on her, was all she could think. Well, she was beginning to think a lot of things possible to do with those stupid clanks. Apparently they, and the large thing guarding the university, were supposed to be state of the art. Her Loop Memories suggested otherwise.

Science would have to wait. Not even a Time Lord could fight against the horror of School Loops, not without a screwdriver.

On entering the university lab she usually worked in, a man her memories identified as Professor Hugo Glassvitch informed her she was late.

"I KNOW!" she bellowed. Something about the harmonics sounded off. However, the professor didn't seem at all annoyed by her yelling. Perhaps he just didn't have tenure.

"You're only a little late." He observed.

Now that she had a moment to look about, the Mistress noted that the lab was... well, it looked like there was a small, localised war between the scattered parts, the things in jars (some of which twitched, and looked suspiciously like cheese), and masses of paper.

"By the way," he noted, as she removed the large overcoat she'd been wearing since she'd woken up, "I found your latest machine."

She turned to look at him. Clanks, her memories informed her, could only be built by a Spark, which she most assuredly wasn't. But that didn't explain the wonderful sight she saw in the man's hand. It was a small, almost perfectly smooth sphere, slightly larger than his hand, of a polished gold-bronze colour.

"Does it work?" the man asked. She stared at it. A Toclafane? Here? With her own resources. That was... interesting. Interesting indeed. As to the man's question, she wasn't sure herself.

"I wanted to show it to you, before I showed it to the m-" She stopped, and had to reassure herself she wasn't speaking about herself. "To the master."

"Good idea," the man smiled warmly. "We wouldn't want to waste his time."

That didn't sound so threatening. From what her memories indicated, she was a complete incompetent, unsuited to anything but the most basic menial tasks. And if this Beetle was the sort of daring law-maker who shoved people into cute glass jars, he wasn't likely to keep someone ar-

She stopped dead when her memories showed her what Beetle looked like. Perhaps, however, he was. Since her memories politely informed her that Beetle looked astonishingly like The Doctor. Particularly that cold, manipulative one, the one who disguised the cold-blooded strategist beneath woolly jumpers and pratfalls.

She supposed that probably explained who the Anchor was, then.

"Let's see it," Glassvitch said. Cautiously, she looked for somewhere to activate her little Toclafane. There was a button on the top, which she pressed. There was a click, then several more clicks, a small hum... the sphere began to rise.

And then the shell flew apart, one chunk heading straight out the window.

"That's disappointing," the Mistress said. Glassvitch placed a hand on her shoulder. Instantly, unbidden thoughts loomed out of her mind, mostly along the lines of "how dare he!"

"At least this one actually moved before it blew up. That's an improvement, no?"

She stared at the fragments, not really paying attention. The poor little Toclafane, dead before it ever had the chance to maim, or burn, or even vaporise. Well, perhaps she would just build a better one, when she got five minutes alone, and a good set of welding equipment...

Then she noted the angry human entering the room, rubbing his head, and holding a fragment of her poor failed creation. He was Professor Silas Merlot, and he didn't like her. The venomous glare he shot her was proof enough of that. Apparently he was just generally contemptuous towards everyone, with her as a special case. She couldn't really blame him. UnAwake her had been as dumb as... well, a human.

"I don't know why you encourage her, Glassvitch," the man grumbled. "We have enough problems."

"Problems?" the other Professor repeated.

"Baron Zeitenbach is here." Glassvitch's cordial attitude vanished. From what the Mistress's memories were supplying, that wasn't unjustified. This "Baron" was a Spark, a powerful one, and worse than that, he was fanatical, ruthless and determined, having carved out an increasingly large portion of Europa and forced it to endure peace. Anyone who objected, and brought his ire down on them, woke up to find themselves facing an army on their front lawn.

He sounded intriguing. And dangerous. And maybe a little bit sexy.

Merlot waved a hand in her general direction. "Miss Clay, get this place cleaned up. You have half an hour."

She looked from the back of his head to the disaster area around her. "By myself?" she asked. He swivelled, shooting her a death glare, albeit not a very effective or impressive one.

"Don't get impertinent with me, Miss Clay," he snapped. "The Master may derive some amusement from your pathetic antics, but if this lab is anything but spotless, you'll see how patient Baron Werfenbach is with dealing with incompetents. Now, move!"

Slowly, she turned away from him. Spontaneous murder was sounding increasingly pleasant, though without any sort of particle weaponry it would make such a mess, and there'd be witnesses, and it'd soon turn into one of those plans where she'd have to kill everyone. She just settled for thinking about what sort of horrible revenge she would get on him when the time came, oh yes she would it would be exquisite and he'd pray for mercy as she showed him, and then everyone. She'd show them! SHOW T-

She stopped, and looked down at the goldfish she was carrying. The mad throb, and the urge to build some sort of death ray faded back into her normal insanity. No, murder would have to be shelved, along with science. She looked up at the giant thing attached to the ceiling. It didn't seem to serve any useful purpose, as near as she could determine. Was it the local equivalent of art?

Twenty-nine minutes, and some careful thinking later, she had everything reasonably tidied up, and had gotten to work examining the remains of her darling Toclafane. She wasn't entirely surprised to find no traces of organic material in it, and disappointed to see her unawake self hadn't even tried including a laser cannon, much less even a slightly jagged piece of metal. She did find two little extendable hands.

She heard Glassvitch and Merlot return, and their amazed gasps, as they admired the utterly clean laboratory.

At which point the doors to the lab burst open, and a... thing, a "Jaegermonster" apparently, walked in, demanding no-one move. This was backed up by the group of tall, and unfriendly looking brass clanks, each holding rifles. Unlike Beetle's works, these newcomers looked efficient. Frighteningly efficient.

Then she heard the voice. "Thank you, unit commander. You may stand at ease."

Between the robots were four men. One was a man with four arms, who practically radiated blandness. The other was the Doctor. Who was arguing with the Doctor. Behind them, looking about the laboratory was... the Doctor.

Wait, The Mistress thought. What?

She blinked. There were three of them. Three Doctors in one place. The slightly scary Seventh Doctor, replacing university professor / local tyrant "Professor Beetle", the unbelievably grim and dour warrior, replacing the local dictator, one Baron Zeitenbach, and the tall, skinny one her Simm-self had met. Her memories didn't have any knowledge about him, but from the similar style of dress to the Baron, she'd have guessed a son. Or possibly a clone of some kind.

Before she started formulating a place for escape, she realised something. None of them recognised her, none of them were looking at her, though it probably helped that two of them were arguing about something or other. The Mistress tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. This situation looked like it was going to be entertaining. Though likely confusing, given they were all the Doctor. Perhaps, an unusually sane and ration part of her mind suggested, it would've been an idea to go by

"You have had plenty of time, Beetle," the Doctor said, stopping mid-march to glance at the Mistress, and the two men standing nearby. His frown changed slightly. "Who are these people?"

The Mistress felt slightly less cautious. He didn't seem to recognise her, or if he did, he wasn't letting it show. She took the fact that none of the impressive looking rob- clanks flanking him were aiming their incredibly large guns at her as a good sign, though the Jaegermonster the Baron had brought with him was looking in her direction. She paid it no mind.

"And this is our lab assistant, Miss Clay," she heard Beetle say. Then he stopped, and whipped around to look at her. She desperately wished she had a weapon of some kind at hand.

"Miss Clay, where is your locket?!" he yelled. She hadn't been expecting him to say that. Slowly, her Loop memories reminded her she'd had an encounter with two particularly unpleasant looking humans while walking to the university. They'd made off with this locket Beetle seemed so concerned about, and almost immediately after she'd woken up, and paid it no mind.

"There was an electrical anomaly," she supplied. Her memories suggested more than that. Most electrical anomalies didn't come with giant blue rents in space and time. "I was accosted trying to get away."

For whatever reason, Beetle became increasingly panicked. "Accosted? Stolen? In my city?! This is terrible. Terrible!"

He immediately started pushing the Mistress towards the door. "I'm feeling fine," she tried to say, but he ignored her, his mind already racing away. If it lead to those thugs being put in one of those giant jars she'd seen, she was okay with it.

He shushed before she could finish her sentence. "No, you're obviously distraught, my dear." Her thoughts went to strange places again.

"I want you to go home. Yes, go home and have a nice lie down, and I'll have the watch find your locket as quickly as possible."

She opened her mouth to object. After all, three Doctors in one room who weren't trying to kill her, defeat her and break her stuff was a rare occasion, but it would have given her the perfect opportunity to practice some science, maybe build a TCE or two before getting down to some serious science. Her mouth snapped shut.

"Wait!" the Doctor... the Baron declared, the man looking at her with those eyes of his. "You actually saw the event?"

"Oh, yes," she said, casually. "I was right in the middle of it, actually."

One of his eyebrows moved. "Stay," he commanded. "I might have questions for you, later."

She heard Beetle whisper a no behind her. That struck her as curious. He was afraid. No, more than afraid in fact. And anything that had any Doctor terrified that wasn't her fault was... interesting. Then she saw the look change to anger.

"Klaus! This girl has had a terrible shock! You must let her go home!"

The Baron didn't even turn to look at Beetle. "I'm truly impressed by your concern for your people, but the young lady appears stable." She had to fight the urge to grin madly. That was the first time anyone had called that since... well, actually, since ever. Probably because it wasn't true at all.

"Let us get down to business." He marched towards Glassvitch and Merlot. The Mistress watched, noting the look of terror on the latter's face with no small amount of satisfaction. It wasn't quite the same as setting some large animals on him, but a Doctor was a good enough replacement for the moment.

Then she heard the name of the machine. A "dihoxulator". That gave her pause. It sounded like... she frowned. The machine itself was a piece of junk. Any idiot could see that.

"Gilgamesh?" she heard the Baron call out. The Doctor, the young and sexy one, looked up from whatever it was he'd been doing and marched over towards the machinery. The Mistress watched as the two of them talked about the machinery, Beetle glowering at them from the side. Whatever it was they were talking about, she didn't hear, on account of the two men gossiping next to her.

"We weren't expected to finish this," she heard Merlot grumble. "It's a test."

"Then we're failing," Glassvitch said.

"Not us, Glassvitch," Merlot growled. "His son. Gilgamesh Zeitenbach is the Baron's only heir."

The Mistress stopped listening. She was thinking about other things, like the locket that had Beetle so wound, and the Toclafane that hadn't worked. A dozen different thoughts crowded around an already crowded mind, and she found herself humming an odd tune to herself.

And suddenly a lot of thoughts starting straightening out, making more sense. She had an increasing desire to build something, anything. And then Merlot yelled at her.

"Miss Clay!" he barked, "Stop that infernal humming!"

The thoughts vanished into the aether. She turned to glare at Merlot with all the force she could muster. For an instant he looked momentarily terrified, always a gratifying sight to see, but then the self-focused anger returned.

Whatever he was about to say was forestalled by the noise from the young Doctor. He had been analysing the machine, and not having a great amount of success. He was shouting and raving, his hair suddenly dishevelled, and his voice taking on some strange, but not entirely unappealing, qualities.

"THIS IS ALL WRONG! I WOULD EXPECT A FIRST YEAR STUDENT TO DO BETTER THAN THIS!" He started tearing into the machinery, with little to no effort. "YOU HAVE FORCES CANCELLING OUT THE ENTIRE STRUCTURE! WHERE ARE YOUR PLANS?!"

Merlot yelled again, at her, distracting the Mistress from some very unusual thoughts involving the Doctor and wrenches. "Miss Clay! They were on the main board! Where did you put them?"

She looked back at the man. Exactly what reaction she was supposed to have, it probably wasn't meant to be anger. "You told me to clean everything up," she stated, "Not my fault if you didn't tell me you didn't want things cleaned up."

There was a satisfying look of fury on his face, one she really wished she could've removed. "They're probably in the cupboard," she noted, pointing towards the cupboard some thoughtful persona had labelled "storage".

"Not that it matters," she added, "That thing'll never work."

There was a moment of utter silence. The young Doctor looked from her, to the machine, then back to her, then back to the machine. His jaw shifted. He looked towards the Baron.

"Actually," he said, "I think she's right."

"What?" the Baron asked. There was something that could have been mistaken for a chuckle from the Jagermonster.

"Well... yes," the Doctor said. "What you want is possible, but your theoretical structure is flawed. There's no way this machine could ever work."

The Baron, without even moving, somehow managed to look like he was looming, and when he spoke, his voice was utterly cold. "Think carefully, boy," he growled.

"Are you saying I am wrong?!"

The Doctor paused, before nodding. "Yeah."

And almost immediately the man's snarl vanished replaced with something like... paternal pride. "You are quite correct, my son."

There were two incredibly loud "whats" from Merlot and Glassvitch. The Mistress just watched, from a safe distance, as the Doctor glared. All that work that the two men had been so invested in, three months if her memory served her correct, just for a test. It was impressive. And Merlot looked like he didn't like being the butt of the joke.

"Now I understand," he declared. Glassvitch turned to look at him.

"What? You're the one who's always going on about how little time we have for our own work."

"Oh, yes," the man said, "but now I understand why the great Doctor Beetle couldn't be bothered to work on this oh-so-important assignment. Unlike we mere mortals, he had real work to do."

Beetle jumped in. "Merlot, I don't like your attitude."

"Oh, really?" the man yelled, before striking the Doctor. That got the Mistress' attention. And the Jaeger's too, as it drew a weapon. However, the Baron ordered it down. From where she was sitting, the Mistress heard him mutter something to his... son about "employee relations".

Beetle, for his part, sputtered. "I'll-" he began, but Merlot, of whom the Mistress was thinking increasingly little, kept going. She tuned out the familiar rant, something about attention, serving faithfully, wouldn't put up with it, don't have to take this sort of thing. She removed some non-existent grit from under her nails.

Then she saw Merlot move over to a level, still ranting. But the Doctor was looking increasingly unnerved at what he was saying. "Perhaps he would like to see the important work that has been keeping our Dr. Beetle so busy!"

He pulled the level, even as the Doctor screamed at him to stop. There was a loud "clunk", followed by an ominous hum. A section of the wall began to slide backward, revealing something...

She looked, and saw the strange sphere, one half made of clear glass, the other of machinery, and dials. Inside the glass section, things slithered and moved and bubbled in unpleasant ways. She could just vaguely make out one eye looking out lazily from the depths.

The Baron was glowering. The Jaeger was snarling. The clanks were pointing their rifles at Beetle. And Merlot was still ranting. She was very tempted to throw the Toclafane at him, but given he was a human, it likely wouldn't have even dented his skull. That, and whatever was inside the sphere was truly fascinating, in the most hideous way.

"One rule," the Baron said, once Merlot had finished. "I made one rule when I left you this city. "Report all unusual discoveries. Devices of the Other-" That caught the Mistress' attention, as did the obvious capital letter in the last word. And there was a lot of emotion behind it. "-are to be turned over immediately. You agreed."

"A decision made under duress is worthless!" Beetle roared. "You threatened my city, my university. I'd have agreed to anything. You were in control then."

"And now?" The Baron asked. At which point the roof was torn open, the large thing that The Mistress had encountered on the way into the university looming over the room. It helpfully informed all present not to move.

"Now I am in charge!" Beetle laughed, triumphantly. "What do you think of that?"

The two other Doctors looked at one another with an incredibly casual air. Not that the Mistress could blame them. It was just a ro-... clank, and not even a very flashy looking one either. Though the steam hissing from its "cheeks" was a nice touch.

"Yes, Gil," the Baron said, in the same way someone talked about the weather. "What do you think of that?"

"What?" the younger-looking Doctor asked. "Is this another test?"

"Oh no," the Baron said. "He's quite serious. But I am interesting in your analysis."

The Beetle Doctor just looked confused, and annoyed. Fair enough, the Mistress thought to herself. If she was holding someone at robot-point, the polite thing to do would at least be to treat her like she was still in the room. Some people, she reflected, had no manners.

Like the small army of zeppelins she could just make out above the university. That was almost certainly cheating. Though she did wonder how Beetle didn't seem to notice them.

"If we attack him," Gil said, "the Clank kills us. But if he kills us, our clanks will kill him. An apparent standoff."

"Correct!" Beetle said, not noticing the zeppelins, or the noise of violence from outside. "Now-"

Gil just glared at him. It was, the Mistress had to admit, a most impressive one. "Now, being short, he's placing emphasis on appearance, and style."

"I'm not that short!"

The young man just continued. "Thus the use of one big but slow clank, instead of surrounding us with the squadron of smaller, but faster clanks surrounding the building. Probably because he thinks he's got us all kept up here."

"And I do!" Beetle yelled.

"And that'd work if we were alone," Gil finished. And then the giant robot's head exploded. Slowly, it collapsed, trailing smoke and pieces as it went. Several of those smaller clanks were making their way into the room at that very moment. Almost immediately thereafter, they were shredded by a hail of bullets.

"Dem," the Jaeger grumbled. "Dot vos easy."

"My clanks!" she heard Beetle yell. The Baron just nodded, grimly. But really, sending robots against any Doctor, even an UnAwake one, Beetle should've really seen it coming.

"By now the city is secure," she heard the Baron say. She did a double-take. He'd been present, what, barely ten minutes, his armies half an hour, and he'd managed to subdue a town ruled by a mad scientist in such a short time. That was... intriguing. Quietly, she slipped the Toclafane into her pocket.

"Blast it, Klaus!" Beetle said, "This is my city."

"No," the Baron retorted. "It became my city years ago. I merely let you administrate it."

The man could barely sputter out a why. For a brief instant, the Mistress felt a bout of... well, it probably could have been sympathy. She knew what it was likely when the Doctor swooped in and stole her things in a ridiculously short amount of time...

Fortunately, such moments passed quickly.

"But why?" Beetle sputtered.

"You mean withholding a Hive Engine isn't enough?"

The man looked surprised. "But that would mean..." he trailed off, "even before Merlot... you knew!"

"Of course I knew," the Baron said. "And I had hoped that I was wrong. But..."

He sighed, "Oh, well."

The man frowned for a moment, before he continued. "However, that said, I still have use for y-"

"NO!" Beetle roared. One of his hands moved to the clasps of his cloak (which the Mistress had noted looked like questions marks. It seemed some strange fashion choices just couldn't stay dead). He wrenched it off, and then, with a sudden snap, it unfolded into a small beetle-like object, little wings glinting in the light. "YOU WILL NOT GET ME! YOU WILL NOT GET ANY OF US!"

The strange device flitted through the air in her direction. Then she noticed the Doctor next to her, and holding a wrench. In a deft (and well-aimed, all things considered) throw, he hit the device, sending it flying...

Straight back at Beetle. She didn't see exactly what happened next, on account of the Doctor throwing himself around her (And wasn't that a dream come true), and the massive blast that threw them off their feet, as the other Doctor was the victim of a spectacular, if oddly-sized explosion.

It took a few seconds for her to realise, what with the spinning, and the ringing from the blast and the fact that her heart was going at a tremendous rate that she was holding on to the Doctor as much as he was holding on to her. There was a moment of mutual awkwardness as they let go and tried to look elsewhere.

Now this, more than one part of her mind spoke up, looked very promising.

"Gil?" she heard the Baron speak out.

"I'm fine," he said quickly, before turning back to her. "And you, Miss Clay?"

"Dizzy," she admitted, cautiously. Then she became all too aware of the smell of burning human. Glassvitch was standing over what was left of the Doctor.

"His head!" the Baron barked. "How's his head?"

She did briefly wonder about that. Did this Loop have some manner of revival methods? Methods that did not require human sacrifice or time lord intervention? What fun. If she ever got around to studying any science. However, Glassvitch's reply, and the Baron's colourful response to said replying, indicated it had drawbacks, like needing the brain. How disappointing, she thought. She'd come back from worse than that.

"I'm sorry." Gil said. She saw it in his eyes. He was shocked. Goodness, but he never looked so sorry when it was one of her plans he foiled.

"He did throw a bomb at..." she decided to go for a more neutral approach. "At us."

"A poor excuse," the Baron frowned. Gil just glowered right back.

"He threw a bomb at her!"

"Hey," the Jaeger spoke up, holding up part of Beetle's remains and grinning. "Hy won't say he vas scthupid, but I hain't finding a lot ov brains in here!"

The Mistress glared. The Doctor (A Doctor, part of her noted) was dead, and they were discussing everything like it was some manner of kitchen accident. They were joking. It was like none of them had ever murdered a local politician before. Did they have any idea what they were meant to do next? She though n-

And then suddenly everything was pain. Violent, stabbing pain. "My head," she groaned, "You people are so terrible at this. Think of the locals..."

The Baron apparently heard her comments. She could see it, through the haze. Gears were turning in his mind, plans within plans.

"Of course, how to handle the situation," the man ruminated.

"If I might, Herr Baron," Merlot spoke up. The entire room went a very specific type of quiet. Merlot himself actually seemed to realise how bad a move this had been, but decided to press his advantage anyway. "This need not be so difficult. Very few people... actually saw-"

Whatever he was about to say next was cut off as the Baron lifted the man upwards. The Mistress grinned. Finally! She thought, violence!

"I despise traitors," the Baron growled. "I consider Beetle's death your fault. Without your theatrics, I might have saved him. I am very annoyed."

Here it came, she thought to herself.

"So now, I'm going to put you in charge."

Missy's grin vanished, and she felt a profound sense of disappointment. How typical of the Doctor, leaving people who needed killed alive. She took solace in the confused and terrified look on Merlot's face.

"And the first time you make a mistake, I'm shipping you to Castle Heterodyne." Instantly all hope faded from Merlot's eyes, replaced with a deep, powerful look of panic and desperation. So, that was something, thought the Mistress.

"No!" he pleaded. "All I wanted-" The Baron raised a hand.

"What you wanted is irrelevant. Now, I want Dr. Beetle lying in state - for viewing, by midnight, with a hero's funeral to be held the day after tomorrow."

"But, my work," the man whimpered pitifully. "I just wanted to do something important..."

"He was trying to turn chalk into cheese," Glassvitch stated. The Jaeger laughed uproariously at that. Then, the sad, pathetic look on the man's face vanished, replaced entirely by seething anger, and he pointed a finger at the Mistress.

"Well, I can at least do ONE good thing today! Miss Clay - GET OUT! You're banned from this university forever!"

She blinked. She couldn't honestly believe what she'd heard. She stared at him. "Really?" she said. Merlot grinned in a passing imitation of madness.

"Of course! Didn't you hear the Baron?! I'm in charge!"

She considered this. No school. No having to go to lessons, no hanging around humans all day, learning and relearning things Gallifreyean children were taught in the nursery. The mad grin on her face was probably not at all what Merlot had been expecting.

"Thank you!" She grinned, hugging the pathetic man as she did. She was so happy she didn't even bother trying to disintegrate him. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

She turned to see the other two Doctors were still in the room. And staring at her in a funny way. She didn't care. She was free! Free to commit science on an unsuspecting Loop! And given what she'd seen so far, she figured she'd be running it within a year.

She ignored them as she happily walked out of the room, humming cheerfully to herself, in a strange tune that somehow cancelled out all ambient noise around her.

Which meant she didn't notice the Baron noticing that.

10.7 (Alex Prior)

The Doctor stared. Granted, Awakening as Dorothy Gale had thrown him for a Loop, metaphorically and literally. The scarf-instead-of-slippers had traumatized him, the Scarecrow had somehow turned out to be Jack Skellington (rather charming fellow, actually), and the Cyber-Tin-Man was almost to be expected, really. But this?

The big, shaking cat turned had his eyes at him and said, in the leafiest tone he'd ever heard from that voice, "I'm Roary."

"Master, I sense undue levels of stress on you. Do you require an alcoholic beverage?"

K-9 really could be a blessing sometimes.

10.8 (OathToOblivion)

"Kite, why exactly are we doing this?"

"Simple, Doctor. I run a Galaxy/Photon deck, and you're looking to run one yourself. Of course I want to see how we stack up," Kite Tenjo, Number Hunter extraordinaire, shrugged.

"Well, in this regeneration anyway. All my other selves are planning to run their own Decks," the Doctor, currently a 14-year-old version of his Warrior incarnation, stated. He had been interested in the card game that was known to its home as Duel Monsters, and everywhere else as Yu-Gi-Oh!, for a while now, ever since he was introduced to it by Yugi himself. Of course, like most things about him, the interests of each of his incarnations were vastly different, and they all were planning to run different decks. As for himself, he was looking to run a Galaxy/Photon deck.

So when he found himself in Heartland City, what else could he do? "That still doesn't explain why we need to duel. Can't I just run through my strategies with you?" the Doctor protested.

Kite shook his head. "It's easier to test strategies and devise counters to their counters when you're in an actual duel. A dry run, if you will," he explained. "Only," he realized as something struck him, "your Extra Deck has Numbers, right? Be careful with them," he advised.

"Not to worry, Yugi told me about that problem. All my cards came from the Hub," the Doctor reassured him.

Kite still wasn't convinced though. "Well, be careful anyway. Sometimes the in-Loop Numbers don't interact well with out-of-Loop ones, and I know for a fact that you have the Galaxy-Eyes Numbers in there," Kite warned him.

"I'll be careful, don't worry," the currently-not-a-Time-Lord Anchor stated, waving his hand to brush aside Kite's concern. Kite pursed his lips. Having heard the exact same thing from Yuma many times, he knew full well that sooner or later something would happen. What was it about Anchors disregarding their safety anyway?

"Alright then. Luckily, we're in the middle of nowhere, so we can get away with Solid Vision," Kite said, activating his Duel Disk. The Doctor did the same, using a Battle City model that looked like it had parts that had been repaired with hobbled together pieces of Duel Academy Disks, modern-styled Disks, and even Disks from Yuya's section of the Loop.

"8000 a piece?" the Doctor questioned. Kite thought it over for a sec, before nodding his agreement.

"Alright then," he said slowly as the two of them drew their hands.

"DUEL!"

10.9 (wildrook)

"They said my first Fused Loop would be unfamiliar," Jack muttered, groaning at the antics of the Animatronics as he listened to the Phone Guy. "Machines trying to kill me is familiar territory...especially when there are kids stuffed in them."

He then looked around for them to show up.

"Either way, what they've got planned for me will hurt either way. And I REALLY don't feel like getting stuffed in one of those suits..."

10.10 (Scorntex)

The being across from him frowned, his blazing red eyes dimming as he stared at the man opposite.

"So, you wish to join us out of... scientific intrigue?" he asked, treating the word the same way most people treated explosives.

"Partially," the Master admitted. He felt it best to leave out what else he'd wanted to do in his current behemoth of a body.

The mechanoid he was talking to looked sceptically at him, like he was mad. Which in fairness, he was, though at least in his current form it was much more restrained than usual. However, even in a forty foot tall body made of metals he didn't even know the names of, he was still undeniably The Master. Or, Overlord, as his present body was called.

"We don't often get visiting Loopers who want to join us. And definitely not because of curiosity. Can't say I blame them, either. We do include maniacs, cheaters and the odd terrorist among our number."

There was a pause before the smaller mechanoid added a disgusted sigh. "And Starscream."

"What, pray tell, is a Starscream?"

At that, the mechanoid looked at him with genuine surprise, as if he had asked why the sky was blue (actually, on the planet they were on at that moment, it was green).

"You'll know," came the dour response. "Trust me, you'll know. And if you want to kill him, you're perfectly welcome to try. Just know that it probably won't stick."

The Master considered the annoyed look that passed across the mechanical beings' face, and felt a momentary feeling of if not sympathy, then at least understanding. Then he held out a hand. "Anyway, welcome to the Decepticons, Overlord."

10.11 (Alex Prior)

The two men were leaning on a wall in the TARDIS corridor, snickering.

"Sometimes, you just have to relax and fall back to the good, old stuff," commented the red-headed one. "Am I right, Fred?"

The red-headed clone nodded. "Right you are, George. If one needs to unwind, the regular stuff would work best. Wouldn't you agree, Doctor?"

The aforementioned Time Lord was busy trying to glare a hole through the toilet door.

"I have no idea how you two managed to sneak U-No-Poo into my food, but you will regret this! The Fury of a Time Lord knows NO BOUNDS!"

The Twins merely high-fived.

10.12 (Hvulpes)

Clara had entered the TARDIS to see the Doctor working furiously with a blackboard, likely trying to find the monster under the bed again. Which had been her. But a closer look at it revealed that it was different. It was all about... the Daleks.

"What are you working on?" she asked as she was curious why he was focusing on the Daleks.

"Simple. You were right again." he told her, which confused her.

"I like being right, so what was I right about?"

"I have been treating the Daleks as pests, as monsters, as a sort of demonic cockroach which I keep on destroying only to have them show up again when the lights are off. However, due to the loops, it has given me... time to think. I think I finally realize now that the Daleks aren't pests, or monsters. They are victims. Victims of the monster that was Davros. He genetically engineered them, brainwashed them and cybernetically manipulated their armored bodies to keep them from being able to choose any path but pure hatred. Tainted by inhuman rage and the occasional fear.

"You were right. As victims, they don't need a warrior or a hero. What the Daleks need to regain their souls and even have a chance to live peacefully with the rest of the universe... is a Doctor.

"So as Doctor of the Daleks, I am working on their course of treatment. Between me and my other incarnations... one of us might be able to come up with a cure for...Dalekism, as it were. One the patient might survive," he said as he continued with his work.

Clara smiled at the showing of those traits which made her friend the Doctor. It was always a nice thing to see.

10.1: We're all different people, when you think about it. But that's okay, you gotta keep moving. Just so long as you don't forget all the people you used to be.

10.2: Apparently, their thrusters aren't powerful enough to achieve escape-Doctor velocity.

10.3: They wanted to see if the Daleks were a better mouse-trap.

10.4: Replacing folks around your own Loop generally happens more often than replacing those from outside it.

10.5: Trying a little too hard at being young, there, Doctor.

10.6: The continuing Miss-adventures of Mitzi, TIME LADY GENIUS!

10.7: Twelve and puns. Do not mix.

10.8: The Doctor wanted to brush up on playing card games to save the world.

10.9: Fortunately for Captain Jack, being killed isn't the end. Unfortunately for Captain Jack, dying hurts.

10.10: It's always good to observe evil factions in action.

10.11: The Weasley Twins. Never trust anything they give you. Or your food if they're in the same room.

10.12: Time to heal...