The Doctor follows the mysterious voice throughout time and space in order to stop the threat presented by her to the cosmos — but WHO really is she?
The TARDIS materialises in the middle of absolutely nowhere, in the Medusa Cascade. Opening the doors, the Doctor sees the space devoid of absolutely everything bar the beautiful light, and quickly deduces the facts.
"I can expect you can still hear me," the Doctor shouts, still at the opened doors of the TARDIS.
The female voice laughs hysterically. "Well done, Doctor. You've always been such a handsome genius."
The Doctor growls, and slams the doors shut. "Stop trying to flirt with me," the Doctor commands. "I see you want a wild goose chase?" He now walks towards the platform elevating the TARDIS console, pulling himself up by the railings.
"He's still so quick," the voice continues to flirt down the comm set. "You were always the smartest, but never seemed to take orders. You bad, bad boy."
The Doctor leans against the TARDIS console, with an acknowledging smirk for a second, before shaking it. "The rules on Gallifrey were catastrophic, you know that. Vying for independence was like asking to be shot in the kidneys."
"So you stole a Type 40 and never looked back," the voice chuckles. In annoyance, the TARDIS groans to signify its disagreement. "Sorry, she stole you."
"You're going off topic," the Doctor says. "In the middle of nowhere, right now. Where are you? And don't lead me on again."
"Anywhere in time and space, but where I am is your favourite place," the flirtatious voice giggles.
The Doctor groans. "Riddles? I hate riddles. They're so annoying. Suppose it's fitting for you."
"Bye, baby," and with that, the voice disconnects from the TARDIS comm set.
The Doctor's brow furrows, before realising exactly where the voice meant to be the "favourite place."
The brakes of the TARDIS cause it to wheeze as she materialises in an alleyway next to the Houses of Parliament and Elizabeth Tower, famous for containing Big Ben bell. This is of course, London, United Kingdom. The place that the voice deemed to be the Doctor's favourite place, and the Time Lord himself exits through the right sided TARDIS door.
"London. What a dump. Even if I do like it, I suppose," the Doctor admits. "Now... the Renegade. Where could she be?"
The Doctor begins scanning the local area with his eyesight to search for anomalies that may hint at where this 'Renegade' is.
DING! DING! The Doctor, facing the opposite way of the clock tower, grins profoundly, knowing where the Renegade is. She found herself at the apex of the landmark, the wonderfully historic bell of Big Ben. He sprints into the tower at full speed to pursue her.
DING! DING! It grows louder for the Doctor as he climbs the stairs within in order to get to the bell at the summit.
DING! DING! It continues to grow louder, as the Doctor eventually reaches the top of the clock tower. And at the summit, the shrouded and clouded feminine figure of the Renegade stands adjacent of the Doctor.
"Hello, handsome," the Renegade would flirt again.
The Doctor chuckles. "I know. What are you doing here, and what are you after?"
Tutting profusely, the Renegade scolds the Doctor for needing to ask. "You're meant to be a genius, and yet you haven't figured it out, Doctor. Feeling a little slow?"
Not exactly impressed, the Doctor contends her point. "You haven't exactly made your plan clear, dear. I can't exactly deduce anything without any hints or, well, anything."
The Renegade noticeably moves her head in order to signal 'No'. "You cross the void beyond the mind. The empty space that circles time." Of course, the Doctor recognises the words as the beginning to the poetic text that he lives his life by, his identity. What defines the Doctor. She begins to approach him. "Time Lady to Time Lord; those words must resonate with you. The words that inspire Gallifreyans still, billions of light years from this location."
The Renegade stands face to face with the Doctor, standing flirtatiously, as it is seemingly her trademark pose. She places her finger on the top of the Doctor's shirt collar, and gradually strokes it down the deep purple shirt he elected to wear to dinner with his best friends Diana and David. He notices on her wrist a vortex manipulator, clearly how she is travelling throughout time and space without a TARDIS like himself. Detail one mentally noted by the ingenious Time Lord.
"Oh, and one more thing," the Renegade giggles, as a man and woman scream alarmingly below. "You're going to be busy chasing me." She takes her finger from the angered Doctor's shirt, who races down the stairs in order to investigate what the Renegade has done. And in a flash, with the magic of the vortex manipulator, vanishes out of sight to another location and time.
The Doctor races out of Elizabeth Tower to see... nothing? Unironically, absolutely nothing. Bar the lame, day to day life of Londoners. Aroused yet skeptical, the Doctor begins to speak to himself in the absence of his two companions.
"You see Doctor? You said it would be nothing and you were right," he groans, arguing with his own self and personality. He marches back to the parked TARDIS in irritation and disbelief that he could make such a critical judgement error and hence lose where the Renegade is.
Upon entering the TARDIS, the Doctor sits down and rubs his face, assuming that to be it, for now, and will soon set the course of the time machine he loves to meet his friends in a month's time.
He was wrong about it being the last of the Renegade, though.
Whilst sitting down at the console, her voice speaks over the TARDIS comm set again. "You seek where others stumble blind, to seek a truth they never find."
Groaning, the Doctor stands up and heads over to the console's monitor. "Seriously, shut up going through that poem. It's just a bunch of words that 'apparently' encapsulate me. It sounds rather arrogant."
"It's rather arrogant, Doctor, that you find it just a bunch of words that so apparently and simply encapsulate you," the Renegade spits down the TARDIS comm set.
The Doctor chuckles slightly, in disregard for the statement. "I suppose you'll say I'm like you, won't you? I'm a renegade Time Lord, and you're such a renegade Time Lady that you literally called yourself the Renegade."
She giggles again. "You and I would've made quite, the couple, Doctor."
"I digress," he replies. "Now, I bet your plan is either one of three things. First, being something to do with attempting to steal the TARDIS - which is quite frankly ridiculous because you wouldn't even get through the doors and an idea I dismiss right away." The Doctor managed to say all of that at about a hundred miles per hour, as he usually does. "Moving on to the second option, then - are you bored?"
This statement offends the Renegade, with a gasp of shock and offence rippling down the comm set. "Oh come on, 'honey', a Time Lady stuck billions of years away from our home, feeling like she's alone? Knowing you, alone is something you'd explode if you were that for too long."
The Renegade falls silent and the Doctor acknowledges that.
"Am I right?" the Doctor questions. She does not answer. "Silence is the best answer." He begins to play around with the TARDIS controls slowly in order to leave the Renegade, preparing to shut down the comm set. But just as he is about to, the Renegade finally replies.
"You must feel the same though, Doctor," she angrily growls down the microphone. "Gallifrey is missing and our people can't find it. You're lucky, Doctor. You have a TARDIS, friends on Earth and responsibility. All I have is a magic wrist teleport. We are the same yet so different."
The Doctor acknowledges yet disregards the statement. He feels the same - he's desperate to return home and find Gallifrey. It's his people - his dwelling. His first thirteen selves spent the concluding day of the Last Great Time War saving everybody on the planet as it travelled through space and time. Yet he doesn't really care how she finds it - no matter how much she relied on Gallifrey before its disappearance, no one can be more desperate than he is. He continues to fiddle with the controls as the Renegade finally speaks again.
"It's clear you miss it too, and you're doing an awful job at hiding it if you are trying to."
The Doctor continues to stay silent. So, now the Renegade changes her tactics to get him to speak.
"Eternal wisdom is your guide. But are you, my Doctor?" she enquires, much to the chagrin of the Doctor. Although, it does slightly humour him. "Through the cosmic waste the TARDIS lies, to taste the secret source of life..." she continues.
"Amazingly, I'm somehow humoured and flattered by your babbling antics about me," the Doctor chuckles. "Even if it is slightly creepy that you admire me so much."
"It's not admiration, Doctor. It's punishment," she replies. "The secret about you is out - those words mean more than you think."
This does not please the Doctor at all. "I'm fully aware of what this 'secret' is. Some complex lie developed by your best friend intended to ruin me. That's what it is, Renegade. A lie - a great big stinking lie developed by insanity to drive someone to be like him."
The TARDIS bleeps in alert. It has located the next place where the Renegade finds herself - in 1977, Toronto in Ontario, Canada.
"I'll come talk to you in person, Rene. Never been a fan of the phone call, sorry," the Doctor admits, flipping the lever of the TARDIS to travel to follow her. "Bye!" He flips the switch to silence the comm set and jumps around the console to pilot it. Six people he needs to pilot this thing, good thing he's physically young, capable and able to jump around.
The TARDIS lands in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 23 November 1977, in the night.
"Why is the 23rd of November so special? How bizarre," the Doctor ponders, picking up his red velvet jacket to put back on, and tying his jet black shoelaces again. "Roughly 13 degrees, interesting choice Rene. Had enough run ins with the temperature lately." He's got to talk to himself without his best friends. And boy, when this is over, he's immediately going to pick them up.
And suddenly, the TARDIS police box phone... rings?
The Doctor curses the fact he still hasn't patched the telephone device through the console unit, and heads out to answer it. If someone rings it, it's usually important. Or a very lucky scam caller. Although, the Doctor, already in a rush, isn't too happy, and placing the phone to his ear, he makes that discontent known.
"I'm in a rush, whoever this is! What is it?" the Doctor bemoans.
"Is this the Doctor?" the voice of a familiar grandad asks. The Doctor immediately recognises the voice.
"Well well well, Graham O'Brien as I live and breathe! I'm a little busy right now. Can I call you back?," the Doctor enthuses, delighted to speak to a friend he hasn't seen since the very end of his thirteenth incarnation.
"Look Doc, it's not ideal to have to ring you. But it's something important, and you need to know," Graham adds.
This does panic the Doctor - he still cares for every single one of his past companions. Has something happened to Ryan?
"Ryan, is she okay?" he quickly rushes out to say.
Graham sighs. "It's not Ryan. It's Yaz." The Doctor already knew what he was going to say before he even formed the first word, but he needed to hear it before he could accept it. "The other night, there was an attack downtown in Sheffield, and some deranged lunatic went on a murder spree. Killed ten people. Yasmin was dispatched, being one of the best at her job. But that prick blew himself up when he was cornered. And took her with him. Doc, she's gone. I'm so sorry." Graham is struggling to hold back tears, and the Doctor is noticeably quiet, with his old adrenaline from before gone, vanished, in a flash.
The Doctor lowers the phone from his ear, placing it against his chest. Graham chatters on, with the Doctor not listening, feeling rather heartbroken. After a few seconds, he raises the phone back up to his ear.
"When is it? The funeral?" the Doctor asks. He cannot do funerals, usually. He even avoided the funeral of Sarah Jane, through fear it would break his hearts. But he knew he regretted that. And he had to attend the funeral of Yasmin.
"Next week, from when I'm calling. Will you be there?" Graham asks, almost begging for the emotional support for himself, Ryan and Dan.
The Doctor frowns, but of course you can't see that through a phone. "I would never miss it." He rubs his eyes, before saying, "the funeral. I'll be there." Hanging up the phone, the Doctor looks up at the sky, and the stars. And he thinks of Yasmin, as Yasmin thought of him every night for years. It had been two incarnations since they travelled together, but those feelings were still there, as they will always be for Rose as well.
Bowing his head, the Doctor hears whistling in the distance, knowing immediately who that is. He closes the TARDIS door, and furrows his eyebrow. The Renegade was near, and the Doctor leaves to hunt for her. He clasps his hand upon each step to count, and to estimate how long the Renegade had been in 1977.
The Doctor quickly licks his finger, and sticks it in the air. In a flash he determines the humidity and pressure of the air, temperature and time, roughly being 9:30pm.
"Come out, Rene. This is extremely boring," the Doctor groans. "Dancing with me throughout time and space. I usually like it, but with others, and not with you."
The Renegade giggles, but echoing throughout and around the Doctor. It would not fool the Oncoming Storm though, whose fantastic hearing could detect them. It must've been intentional, because it was so obvious.
The Doctor turns to face the direction of the giggling, hesitant in approach in case of stumbling upon the Renegade, who may ambush him. Again, he continues to clasp his hands, counting the steps. The giggling continues to grow louder as the Doctor approaches the source of it.
The hand clasping begins to speed up, as the Doctor continues to approach its source.
"Doctor..." she whispers, echoing throughout. "Your voyage dissects the course of time... 'Who knows?' you say... but are you right?"
The Doctor's song echoes out from the voice of the Renegade, written into the history of Gallifrey itself. It's a message almost as important as the question that must never be answered. And in 1977 Toronto, all of a sudden, it begins to snow, for no explainable reason. As the snow settles, the Doctor begins to question why it is snowing - he's been able to make it snow before using the TARDIS, however the Renegade does not have one of her own to do this with, leaving the Doctor with multiple questions he begins to answer in his head within seconds.
The Doctor's POV - Mind Palace
Okay, hello brain again. It's - snowing? Understandable, it always snows in Canada. It's the Snow Dominion after all. Lovely toboggan races, must participate more often. Maybe a bobsleigh team with Diana and David. How cool would that be?
Off track, why is it snowing? I mean, it wasn't when we landed... what's Rene done now? The Doctor kneels down to examine the snow with the sonic screwdriver. Definitely not snow. One day, it might snow for real. Though, I always say that. Snow but not snow. No TARDIS so no atmospheric disturbance, and no spaceship burning up into ash in the ozone. How is this possible?
He drags his hand through the snow again, properly examining it. This incarnation is very good at tasting his surroundings or using traditional methods such as licking his finger to determine wind speed and air quality. What can I say? I'm a sucker for nature. 3,000 years young. You get used to it. So the fact I can't get this... that's a problem. Logic is out of the window, so what is this?
The Doctor's intense period of concentration is shattered by the voice of the Renegade.
"Are you looking at the stars, Doctor? Like you promised?" she taunts.
This very sentence displeases the Doctor greatly - a good friend of a former life has recently died. And if there is one thing you don't do when you face the Doctor, other than try to trap him, is insult the people he cares about.
"You're going to tell me what this is, and what your plan is, Rene. Why you're so clearly desperate to talk to me, showing why you're a sad loner," the Doctor spitefully taunts back.
The Renegade soon appears behind the Doctor, easily detected by him. His brow, still furrowed, communicates all the emotion within him right now.
Still facing the Doctor's back, the Renegade begins talking.
"You, and me. The last of the known Time Lords, Doctor. The Master, the Rani, Rassilon. All of them, missing. It's just you, and me," she begins. "I want a friend. The only one who understands me as much as I do."
The Doctor continues to listen, but does not respond, or turn to face his former friend. The Renegade continues.
"I know about the secret. It was told by the Master before his disappearance. The secret of the Time Lords, how it's you. The child, the Division, your past. Everything. I know, Doctor. And I am sorry."
He still doesn't face the Renegade, but this time finally utters words. The death of Yasmin and now his entire past being a talking point is enough to bitter his mood into patronising rage.
"It's not me," the Doctor grunts, and interrupts the Renegade who attempts to object. And finally, he turns to face his adversary angrily. "I'm going to prove to all that think that, I am not just 'the child'. I might not be from Gallifrey, but I am FROM Gallifrey. I might predate the Time Lords, but I am one. I will always be one."
The Doctor finally raises his voice. "Do you hear me?"
After his passionate and enraged question, the unfazed Renegade stares directly into the Doctor's eyes. In fact, she takes a step directly to face him face to face. The rage in the Doctor's eyes does not faze.
"Then who are you then?" she grimly asks.
The Doctor smirks, directly staring into her eyes.
Even more grim than her remark, he simply adds in characteristically chilling fashion:
"Me? I'm the Doctor."
In the city of Toronto, an air raid siren sounds, alerting the Doctor, and seemingly the Renegade.
Within the city, the Mayor, David Crombie, is awakened from his sleep. It's a siren he didn't sound for, nor a siren the military sounded for. Quickly, fear is instilled within the Toronto City Council representatives, as everyone realises that nobody sounded the air raid alarm - is this a reflex alarm? Is a nuclear strike on its way to Toronto?
A man runs into Mr Crombie's room, greeting him in his nightwear.
"Your Worship, it's the sirens! The sirens only go off in the event of one thing... nuclear attack," the man, evidently well respected to be allowed to run into the Mayor's room whilst he slept, communes.
The statement shook Crombie to the core. It was the day no one expected - a nuclear attack, on Toronto? Why not the United States, or the United Kingdom first? Why did the 'Soviet Union' pick Toronto of all places?
"We must alert the Prime Minister and NATO! This is an act of war and the Soviets must be dealt with accordingly!" the man demands of the Mayor.
Crombie stands for a second, not knowing whether or not to signal the order.
"Double, triple check first. I am not giving an order based on a preposterous sounding attack at 9:30 in the evening!" he orders, with the man rushing out of the room in obligation.
The Doctor returns to staring the Renegade down directly into her eyes, enraged that she would attempt something like this.
"The fury of the Doctor, how attractive," she flirts. "Oh I promise - this one wasn't me."
It was a lie, obviously. She's a Time Lord, or Time Lady rather. Part of their ethos is lying. It's what they're good at. The Doctor sneers - as young and excited this incarnation can be, he carries the true rage of a Time Lord. And the Doctor, being a Time Lord like no other, embodies rage of a Time Lord like no other. It only makes sense.
"Oh alright, it's me honey," the Renegade admits, as if it wasn't obvious. She places her arms around the Doctor's shoulders and pulls him in close, to whisper into his ear. "Simple light refraction. They won't know any different." With that, she pulls away from his ear with a disturbing giggle. Whilst pulling away, she plants a gentle kiss on the Doctor's cheek, almost in a patronising manner, one the Doctor does not acknowledge, and keeps his eyes fixated in anger.
"Good luck, getting out of this one, Doctor," she chuckles again, winking as she sets the vortex manipulator to take her to another random point in spacetime, where the Doctor will find her eventually, with or without Toronto.
But being the Doctor, fixing the Toronto problem is high on his list. In fact, the highest. The second the Renegade teleports away, the Doctor sprints to the TARDIS, clicking his fingers whilst running to hastily open the doors as he gets to work to fix the existential threat to Toronto, and indeed humanity, cleverly engineered by his adversary.
Upon entering the interior, the Doctor continues to sprint across the neon blue flooring, clicking his fingers in order to close the doors as he reaches the platform upon which the TARDIS console unit is on top of within a second. Standing at his console unit, he ponders what to do next.
"Okay... it's a satellite detecting sunlight and incorrectly registering it to be a missile from the Soviets. So..." the Doctor begins, thinking out loud and pacing around the console. "Any ide-"
He quickly remembers he's on his own for this one when he looks up to ask his best friends, but with no time to be annoyed, he returns to the out-loud thinking.
"I already have a plan, I always do. I just like correcting other people's awful plans with my own, to show off," he giggles, with the TARDIS groaning in his slight showing of arrogance. She was very good at grounding him when needed.
The Doctor sets the TARDIS scanner to evaluate the Earth's atmosphere in order to determine the satellite incorrectly judging the Sun's refracted light to be a missile. It is, of course, one owned by the United States, placed right up above, scanning for the entirety of Southern Canada. Knowing that the alert would've already reached high command for NATO defences in Canada, the Doctor decides there is no time to waste: he has to directly eliminate the satellite, and fast, before NATO inevitably authorise a counter strike.
The TARDIS enters flight mode, rather than dematerialising, and using the scanners and the TARDIS's own brain, he pilots his ship directly for the satellite.
"This one's for you, Yasmin," the Doctor remembers. Now, he thinks, back to it.
"What's that one thing I always keep around, Doctor?" the eponymous man asks himself. "Well, Doctor, that might be the tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator!"
The answer was almost as energetically conveyed to himself as the question itself.
"Just a shame Doctor that there's only you to see it," he adds to himself.
"True, Doctor. Well at least you're saving the Earth. Again," the madman responds to himself, jumping around the TARDIS console.
His machine, still flying directly in the air, would be susceptible to large damage if she directly comes into naked and exposed contact with the satellite the Doctor is about to fly straight into. So, what's best to avoid that?
"Reversing the polarity of the neutron flow in the motherboard of the extrapolator's processing unit in order to connect her to the TARDIS console unit and..." the Doctor babbles on, whilst using the sonic screwdriver to do whatever he was saying.
"BAM! Shields!" the Doctor gleefully announces, to... well no one except himself. With that, he pulls down a lever to increase the speed of the TARDIS in flight, and the force field created by the tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator collided with the satellite before the TARDIS itself does, causing a critical failure within it, and disabling its anti-gravity ability.
The Doctor has successfully prevented the destruction of humanity from its own forces within.
To relax, he sits down at a seat on the platform which the console stands, puffing in delight, but again quickly realising that no one is there to enjoy the triumph with him, upsetting him. But as he gets comfortable for a few moments rest, he hastily jumps right back onto his feet in evident worry and heads straight for the monitor attached to the TARDIS time rotor and console unit.
"Where on earth is this satellite going to actually crash?" he asks, with the monitor showing him exactly where. "Oh, just the Atlantic. Well that's good, was worried it would be somewhere very important. I'll let UNIT know where it's fell or something, tell them it was me as it always is. No compensation, I saved their bacon."
"Might be a bit of a fishy problem," the Doctor jokes, before again quickly realising no one else is present to enjoy - or groan - at the Doctor's puns. "I seriously need those two back." He is, of course referring to his best friends Diana and David.
In fact, he was thinking to go and get them now - forget the Renegade, she's doing... something. Somewhere. He'd run into her later. But for now, he wants a trip to Asgard with his best friends for a picnic and hopefully to meet the real Odin, who he still hasn't managed to meet. Closest he came was that fake he met with Clara Oswald in Viking England.
But again, as he's fiddling with the TARDIS controls in a more composed and calm manner, presumably setting the destination for the home of his closest associates, the comm set reopens, and the Renegade continues to speak.
"With sword of truth you turn to fight, the satanic powers of the night. Is your faith before your mind? Know you. Are you, the Doctor?" the Renegade recites the final lines of the Doctor's song, a song so powerful that the words themselves could cause the end of time.
Or rather a song so powerful it can induce another face palm from the man it's about - which it does, as he face palms for about the 500th time since running into 'Rene'.
The Renegade tutts. "Bit of damage, Doctor."
This time, the cheered up Doctor plays along. "Killed a few fish. No biggie if it saves humanity from you moving a few things."
She does applaud. "A seventeenth face and you're still as foxy and smart as ever."
The Doctor smirks. "That kiss on the cheek - your lips are like plungers. You should get them checked out. Major downside to your last regeneration."
If there's one thing about the Renegade you don't insult, it's her appearance. The remark clearly irritated her.
"Avalon. Planet Avalon," the Renegade spits down the comm set, sending coordinates for her location to the TARDIS directly, through the monitor attached to the time rotor and console. "Hurry up honey, I'm waiting. Maybe these plunger lips can do more next time." The flirtatious joke irked the Doctor, who seemed quite irritated by it himself this time.
"Okay, I won't insult what you look like provided you never say anything like that ever again," a cringing Doctor pleads.
"No promises," is the only reply he got. The Doctor certainly thought the latest Renegade incarnation was physically attractive, and his plunger lips comment wasn't true - only an attempt to childishly irritate 'Rene' like she did with his ego earlier - but he didn't care. He had stopped better looking women in his lifetimes.
Still in orbit where the satellite used to be, the Doctor puts into the TARDIS the coordinates that the Renegade sent for her current location, and pulls the dematerialisation lever to head for the planet Avalon, in 2810.
Upon materialising, the Doctor pulls the TARDIS lever to enable safety when exiting the ship. Quickly using the scanner, as you never know with the Renegade and you can't simply just charge out, he determines that the outside environment the TARDIS has landed is indeed safe to walk out into. And he does so, to meet her.
The Doctor opens the right hand door of the TARDIS to exit the ship, pulling it to close as he leaves. He begins the hand clasping he did in London and Toronto again from the start, deducing quickly that the Renegade has been on Avalon for a few weeks by the time the Doctor arrived.
"Type 40," the Doctor groans, rolling his eyes. "Always just a little bit late. Hopefully she hasn't done anything stupid."
He begins to scan his surroundings.
"Then again, she is a Time Lord."
He uses the sonic screwdriver to scan the surroundings, and determines quite a few things from it.
"The nation of Xefron, atmospheric density is stable and..." the Doctor announces to himself, turning off the sonic screwdriver's blue light emitter. He turns around to see a large statue of the Renegade, which is easy to tell that it was erected recently. "For god sake, Rene."
A few moments of roaming later, the Doctor comes across some Cephlies, citizens of Xefron before the Renegade showed up. He runs up to them, frightening them significantly as it has been a long few weeks for them.
"Hey, hey! I'm here to help I promise," he calmly states to the Cephlies. "Trust me, I'm the Doctor."
The group of Cephlies open up to the Doctor, welcoming him and feeling safer with him present here to save them.
They ramble on in undetectable sound waves, so the Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver in order to change their frequency so that Time Lords can hear it.
"...the Queen," the deep voice communicates, pointing over to the palace of the Renegade. "She lives in there. A Time Lord. She conquered our home and has aggressively enslaved our species within Xefron."
The Doctor laughs. "If the Renegade scares you, I must petrify you. Yet, here I am to help. And here's what we're going to do, and what I need from you."
The Renegade sits on her throne in a palace that she conquered upon arrival in Avalon, whilst waiting for the Doctor. She giggles as she shuffles in her seat, waiting for her stereotypical snack of grapes that a Queen is fed by her subjects. She claps furiously, as the servant in charge is taking an awfully long time to bring her the snack.
After the furious clap, a man in a mysteriously recognisable red velvet jacket, with a blue collared shirt and jet black trousers and shoes enters the room, with a tray of grapes in hand and his head bowed.
"Hello, Rene," the man quirks. The Doctor reveals the face to be him and raises his head with a cheeky, yet smug smile, much to the chagrin and annoyance of the Renegade.
She sighs, rolling her eyes angrily as the Doctor has somehow managed to infiltrate her cosy palace with embarrassing ease.
"Grape?" is all he says, picking one off himself and delighting in eating it. His smugness suddenly fades upon swallowing the grape, and his face changes into one of discontent and anger. "This is a level seven galactic civilisation, one of the most advanced races in this galaxy. And you've rocked up and invaded a nation within it?"
The Doctor places the tray down onto the side table next to her throne.
"This is why I can't trust you. This is why we can't be the 'friends' you want to be. To get attention, you do childish things. Sometimes illegal things," he begins, and then angrily points directly at her. "And that is why you are just a renegade."
The Renegade's flirtatious smile fades into a growl of anger. "The Doctor. The man who thinks he is the most powerful being in the universe. The man who enforces galactic law wherever he finds himself, without authorisation. Grow up."
And for the first time, the Doctor is in control of not just the situation, but the mind of the Renegade. Her two words to end her tyrant of rage proved that the former had established total control over the situation, by relentlessly pursuing and taunting her. It's not what the Doctor likes to do, but it's something he's good at - manipulating to assert agency over someone.
The Renegade sees the sheer comedy in the Doctor's eyes, and attempts to teleport away from the area with her vortex manipulator. Noticing that, the Doctor whips out the sonic screwdriver and applies the setting to disable the device, trapping the Renegade on planet Avalon, nation Xefron.
"No, sorry. You're staying here," the Doctor again smugly states at the enraged Renegade, who has to resort to the final solution.
"How did you even sneak in?" the Renegade demands the answer to.
The Doctor walks away from the throne and paces around her throne room, to explain exactly how he managed to get into her palace.
"Let's just say the Cephlie owe me a favour now. Smuggled me in to stop you. An entire branch of humanity attempted to oppress them and they reacted so, so angrily. So I don't think they're going to be that happy when a Time Lord shows up," the Doctor chuckles. "Such a clever species, the Cephlies. Almost as clever as me, and so much more clever than you, Rene."
The Doctor turns to face the throne, seeing it empty, and with the Renegade gone.
"Oh you are kidding me!" the Doctor curses himself, for allowing himself to let the Renegade go. Though, suddenly, an alarm rings throughout the palace, and the Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to determine that just before her disappearing act, the Renegade enabled the self destruct protocol of the palace.
"You are double kidding me!" the Doctor complains. He rushes through the rooms of the palace, trying to collect as many Cephlies as he can to evacuate before the palace collapses in on itself. After spending as long as he can collecting as many Cephlies as humanly - well, Time Lordly - possible, the Doctor and the evacuees reach the entrance point of the palace, only to see more Cephlies trapped at the top of a staircase.
There isn't much time left, but that doesn't stop the Doctor attempting to rescue them. Quickly deducing that there is no logical way up the staircase, he attempts to construct a platform of some kind to reach them and bring them down. The Cephlies the Doctor has gathered begin to assist him. Moments into building this platform, he realises there isn't enough time to build it entirely, reach them, bring them down and still escape the palace entirely alive.
The Doctor stops as the Cephlies continue building the platform around him. The beleaguered Time Lord looks up to those trapped.
"I am so unbelievably, forever sorry," the Doctor emotionally apologises, instructing the Cephlie slaves within the palace that he has managed to save to come with him. "I am so, so sorry. But we have to leave."
Running towards the exit, the Doctor notices he is the only one moving - the Cephlies are still attempting to rescue their own kind, stuck. It isn't unintelligent - it's love for their own kind.
A love for their own kind that the Doctor hasn't experienced in a long, long time.
Just as the Doctor is about to run in to force the surviving Cephlies out, the palace's infrastructure and base suffers a substantial critical failure, and begins to collapse rapidly. Knowing he has to leave now, the Doctor runs out of the palace, as it falls in on itself.
The shockwave created when the palace collapses is so strong it knocks the Doctor off balance, and onto the floor. It takes him a second to regain his composure, but when he does, his first action is to mourn the Cephlie lost.
On his knees, the Doctor has his head in his hands.
"I am so sorry," he whispers to himself.
The Doctor takes a break from kneeling, to beat the floor aggressively, feeling the punishment he is inflicting on himself for not saving as many Cephiles as he could.
The Cephlies nearby gather where the Doctor kneels, knowing he attempted to rescue those enslaved and failing, but has rid Xefron of the Renegade.
"We do not blame you, Doctor," one says.
"We thank you," another quickly follows.
The Doctor doesn't take any notice.
"I'm still learning in this body. Still learning how to cope when you fail to save something," the Doctor admits to the Cephlies, rising to his feet and turning to face the crowds. "Your people died in there saving each other. And saving you. Never forget them."
As the crowds embrace, in celebration that they are free, the Doctor returns to the TARDIS in silence.
After taking a longer walk to tell the people of Xefron what the Cephlies did within the palace, and receiving many thanks that he found empty and refuses to accept, the Doctor arrives at his beloved TARDIS, just wanting to collapse and relax after such a long race against the Renegade. Walking up to the doors, he prepares to pull out his key, but they unlock for him. The TARDIS lets out a sympathetic noise to the Doctor, as he rests his head on the St. John's Ambulance sticker.
"Thank you," the Doctor solemnly communes to his time machine.
Entering the TARDIS and closing the doors behind him, the Doctor decides that this time, HE will call the Renegade. He has some words to say to her.
Strolling up angrily to the TARDIS console, he flicks the switch to enable the comm set, where he knows the Renegade is still present.
"I won't be long, I promise. For my sake - I can't bear to hear your voice right now, or ever," the Doctor furiously spits down the microphone. "Capturing, enslaving, torturing and killing a sentient genius race for weeks on end just to gain my attention?"
The Renegade attempts to begin speaking - the Doctor cuts her off.
"You gained my attention, alright. You've gained more than that. You've gained my fury. But do you know what else you've gained?" the Doctor shouts.
"You've gained my forgiveness."
The Renegade is taken aback by this sudden change of tone. "You could never resist a passionate speech, then forgiveness, could you?"
In one line, the Doctor communes exactly why. "Because I am so much more than you." He blasts the sonic screwdriver down the comm set to permanently disconnect the Renegade's voice from the TARDIS comm set.
After taking a second to compose himself, the Doctor needs to run an errand before he returns for his best friends a month into their future. You say errand - more of an honour, and a goodbye.
"Yasmin was a kind, wonderful, beautiful woman. I could never tell you what us three got up to," Dan begins, standing at the front of the church, and signalling to Ryan and Graham. Yaz chose to have it at nighttime, when the stars were out. Stargazing was a thing Yaz enjoyed more than anything, but a reminder to her and her friends about the adventures they shared with the Doctor. From the battles with Tzim Sha and the Daleks, to Mary Shelley and the Master, memories galore. And Yaz was the glue that held them together.
In the distance, at the back of the church, he spots a man wearing a black velvet jacket - the Doctor had changed into an all black three piece with a stand out red tie. A face he's never seen before, but a man he knows all too well, back when he was a she. He acknowledges immediately that it is the Doctor, just not the face, or gender, he knew.
"This might seem random, but bare with me. But her doctor was her shining light. In the dark days, her doctor shone through for him. And even though I can't say we always saw eye to eye, I thank him," he continues.
The Doctor, now holding back tears, is leaning against a pillar just inside the church interior, and has been at the funeral and unnoticed for the entire duration. He just wanted one more goodbye for Yasmin. And he granted himself that wish, no matter how much he knew it would hurt.
Following the conclusion of Dan's speech, he prepares to slip away to go back to the TARDIS and return to his best friends. But not before doing one more thing.
The Doctor spots Tegan and Ace sat together, consoling each other. He slowly and quietly approaches them, and taps them on the shoulders.
"Hello, you two," the Doctor whispers gently. Whilst not having seen him since the Master's Dalek Plan, and hence not having seen this face before, they recognise him immediately. Sitting in between the pair of them, they rest their heads on his shoulders.
"I loved that woman," Ace adds.
The Doctor silently acknowledges that, knowing he felt the same. Tegan, having lost Adric with him before, knew how much this loss would affect the Doctor, even though he hadn't been there like he was for Adric.
"You okay?" she quietly whispers. The Doctor looks into Tegan's eyes, and smiles as warmly as he can. When she looks away, that smile dissipates immediately.
After a few minutes of speeches, the Doctor elects not to watch the burial.
Pivoting on the spot, the Doctor silently heads for the church doors, and before exiting, turns back to face the coffin of Yasmin Khan as it is being carried out, complete with a nearby photo of her beaming smile.
He smiles briefly, remembering all of their adventures in a blaze of beauty.
The Doctor then heads for the TARDIS.
"You are an amazing cook. Do I ever tell you that enough?" David compliments his girlfriend as he puts the dishes from their last meal into the dishwasher, with a precious smile returning.
"Tell me it some more," she giggles, kissing him and holding his hand. He ruffles her auburn hair, and they head to their sofa to watch the rest of Love Actually.
Upon sitting down, they hear the wheezing noise. One, beautiful sound that they haven't heard in a month, their favourite sound. The sound that brought them back together properly.
The TARDIS materialises in exactly the same spot it always does in their home, bringing great excitement to the couple. A few seconds after materialisation, the right hand door with the St. John's sticker opens, and the Doctor exits in silence.
"Doctor! It's great to see you!" David cheers. The Doctor does not respond, looking down at the floor.
Diana was quick to notice his melancholy. "Are you okay? Why are you dressed in all black? Where have you been?"
The Doctor finally looks up at his two closest friends, and still silent, pulls them in for the greatest and tightest group hug this universe has ever seen.
"We missed you too," Diana adds, as the pair enjoy the hug. But clearly not as much as the near tearful Doctor.
After a few seconds, the Doctor pulls out of the hug, wiping his eyes of the faintest tears and opens his mouth.
"I swear to God, if you two ever die... I'll kill you," he seriously says, shocking his two friends. Finally, the serious face fades into one of sheer joy and delight, and he brings his companions in for another hug.
Something like ten seconds later, the trio pull out of the hug, and the Doctor enters the TARDIS.
"Right then, back to it?" he asks.
Diana and David stand hand in hand outside, grinning.
"Absolutely," Diana chimes, as the two enter the TARDIS, with the door closing behind them.