Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ryan moved slowly, careful not to make any noise. Graham and he were on the tail of this dodgy businessman for a while now. He claimed to have found a new revolutionary type of engine that needed no energy and released no greenhouse gas. The only problem being this technology looked a lot like it was alien. When they’d run analysis on one of the engines, the results showed that the used materials were not known on Earth. Hence the tail. While Graham was trying to find out what was the material, Ryan was following the man, in hope that he would lead him to where he hid the alien technology he was clearly copying. The man took a left turn into a dark alley, next to a big skyscraper. They were right in the middle of the City and yet, he’d managed to lead Ryan in the most suspect street he’d ever seen. Ryan was following him from a distance when he suddenly stumbled on a can left on the ground. He managed to quickly hide behind a bin, his heart racing. The other man looked suspiciously around. He eventually resumed his walk and Ryan slowly exhaled. That had been close. Suddenly, he heard the man shout.

“Ah! I knew I was being followed. Not the best hiding job, if you ask me.”

Ryan froze, certain that the man was talking to him. But a woman’s voice answered.

“Yeah, well if you ask me, you’re not the best either! Where do you hide the Silurian technology you’ve been using? And don’t lie to me, I have a UNIT warrant that permits me to do whatever I want with you if I found that alien technology is involved.”

Ryan carefully looked at who was answering. It was a Black woman in her forties with locks and a black wool beanie. She was dressed in what appeared to be an all-black military suit. And she had a gun on her side. Ryan figured she must be army, but he’d never heard of UNIT before. Was that a special task force or something? He quickly sent a text to Graham, to ask him to look it up. He then went back to the conversation. The man was laughing.

“UNIT! You think I’m scared? I know you’ve been defunded. You can’t do anything to stop me. I’m gonna sell this engine and I’ll be rich.”

“You don’t even know how this technology really work! Besides, you can’t use Silurian technology: there are treaties and you’re violating each and every one of them.”

“So what? What are you gonna do about it? Shoot me?”

“If I have to, yes.”

“You’d never dare. I know who you are, Martha Smith,” he said with a smirk.

“Try me, Gideon White,” Martha said with a dangerous edge to her voice. She slowly made to grab her gun.

At this point, the man started to run, in the direction of Ryan. Martha shouted “Mickey, now!” while Ryan emerged from behind the bin and tripped him. Another black man arrived, pushed him aside and handcuffed the man. They both stand over him, silently staring at each other, catching their breath. Martha arrived and pointed her finger at Ryan.

“You! Who are you? What are you doing here?”

Ryan stared back at her, taken aback by her tone. He’d just helped them to capture a bad guy and she was on the brink of pointing her gun at him. The other man, (Mickey, Ryan guessed) put his hand on her arm, the other still holding firmly the businessman, as to calm her down.

“I’m Ryan. Ryan Sinclair. I was investigating this man, same as you I supposed. I knew something was dodgy with this engine. But you’re welcome, it’s a pleasure to help you.” he finished in a sarcastic tone.

“Thanks mate! Sorry about her, we’re a bit on edge. We’ve been on this particular case for a while now. I’m Mickey, Mickey Smith.” he extended his hand and Ryan shook it.

“Don’t apologize for me as if I’m a child, you. I’m perfectly able to do so myself.” Martha whispered between her teeth as she slightly elbowed Mickey.

She then slightly relaxed and smiled.

“I’m sorry. We’re never too careful in this line of work. I’m Martha, his wife.” She said, pointing at Mickey.

“Nice to meet you both. What are you gonna do with him?” Ryan asked, looking disgustingly at the white man who was laying on the ground, seemingly trying to figure out a way to escape.

“Bring him back to our quarter first. Then, we’ll interrogate him, trying to find out where he hides all this technology he’s been using.”

“Oh, yeah, I meant to ask: what is Silurian? My gramps and I knew the technology wasn’t human, but we didn’t figure out what it was.”

Mickey and Martha exchanged a look.

“We can’t really say. It’s classified.” Mickey answered. “Sorry, mate.” He added, spotting the disappointed look on Ryan’s face.

“What’s UNIT then?”

“Sorry, same thing.” Martha smiled sheepishly.

“Right. Well, I’m gonna leave you to it then, you seem more qualified than me to handle this.” Ryan said.

“Wait! You seem to know a lot for someone not qualified. How did you know it wasn’t human? And why don’t any of this surprise you?” Martha asked.

“Sorry, I can’t tell.” chuckled Ryan.

“Oh.” Martha smiled, amused, “Guess we’re even then.”

“I guess so,” Ryan shrugged, “It was nice to meet you both anyway. Have a good one!”

“You, too!” Martha and Mickey answered.

Ryan started to make his way back. He got his phone out and made a vocal text for Graham: “Hey gramps! You can drop the analysis; I sort of figured out what this is all about. But you can still look UNIT up, though. I’ll tell you more when I get back home. Could you try and get a hold of The Doctor or Yaz, as well? It’d be cool if we facetime tonight. I have a couple of questions for them. See you!”

Martha and Mickey both turned their head when they heard what Ryan was saying to his phone. Did they hear what they thought?

“Wait! Ryan, wait!” Martha exclaimed.

Ryan turned around and saw the woman jogging to catch up with him.

“Did you say the Doctor? You know him?”

“I… You know the Doctor?” Ryan asked, stunned.

“Of course! I travelled with him a while back!”

“Oh my god! You’re Martha Jones, the Martha Jones that saved the Earth?”

“Yep, I am! Then I married this dork and I had to take his name, unfortunately.” She joked while looking at Mickey who was battling with the businessman to stand him up. “Mickey! Come here! He knows the Doctor! Ryan knows him! He talks about me then.” She stated proudly.

“Yeah, a bit.” Ryan smiled, “How long has it been since you last travelled in the Tardis?” Ryan asked, amused by the use of he/him pronouns.

“Oh, at least ten years! How is he? How old is he now?” Martha asked.

“Well, she’s a woman now, for starters. And I don’t know, she never really said how old she was. But last time I saw her, she wasn’t even sure herself. A lot has happened I guess, since you last saw her.”

“She’s a woman? Gosh, I wish I’d seen that.” Mickey laughed.

“I can’t believe this! You must come with us. It changes everything if you travelled with the Doctor. You need to meet a lot of people! Oh, they’re not gonna believe it!” Martha cheered, stars in her eyes.

They all three started to make their way for Martha and Mickey’s van, while Ryan quickly texted Graham.

 “Kate! We’re back! And we’ve got some news!” shouted Martha through the almost empty storage facility.

Behind her, Mickey was escorting Gideon, not without difficulty as the man was being very uncooperative. Ryan was slowly walking, taking all this in. There were all sorts of machines in this, half of them seemingly not from Earth. He couldn’t believe it. All this time, he thought he was the only ordinary person, with Yaz and Graham, to know about aliens. Obviously, he completely thought wrong. And the Doctor clearly had kept a lot of things from them. He was starting to wonder how many humans exactly had travelled with the Doctor.

A middle-aged white, blond woman emerged from a corridor and made her way toward them.

“Finally! I was starting to wonder if I’d have to send a rescue team.” she joked before spotting Ryan and stopping entirely in her track, “Who’s he? Why is he here and not handcuffed? Weren’t you supposed to bring me whoever was messing up with the Silurians?”

“We did! We caught this dirtbag.” Mickey said as he shoved Gideon in front of Kate.

“This is Ryan Sinclair. He used to travel with the Doctor not so long ago.” Martha explained.

“Oh! Nice to meet you! I’m Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.” Kate said as she extended her hand and Ryan shook it, “How is he?”

“She, actually.” Ryan said with a smile, “And I don’t know, I left the Tardis a while ago now. But last time I saw her, she wasn’t in the best place, to be honest.” he shrugged.

Kate looked at him with a look of utter disbelief. It took her a few seconds to process the information but then, she just shook her head and smile. Her favourite alien was always full of surprises.

“What do you mean?” Martha asked, concerned about what Ryan had just said.

“I don’t know all the details, she left us for a bit, and when she came back, 10 months later, she said she’d been in prison. We don’t know for how long, she never said but… She also said that she discovered something about herself and that she wasn’t who she thought she was and…” his voice trailed off.

“And?” Kate prodded when she saw that Ryan had wandered off in his thoughts.

“And she seemed lost. I mean, we saw some unexpected side of her during the whole mess with the Master, but this was new… And it scared me…”

“The Master? I thought she died?” Martha looked over to Kate for confirmation.

“That’s what we thought too.” Kate shrugged in return.

“She? The Master’s a man, guys.” Ryan said matter-of-factly.

“Yes, he was. We dealt with him and then he regenerated into Missy; You must’ve seen one of his previous regeneration.” Mickey explained.

“I don’t know. He seemed to know a lot about the Doctor, not like someone who hasn’t seen them in a long while.”

“Anyway, we don’t have the time to discuss the whereabouts of the Master. We’ve got some news.” Kate interrupted, “Clara sent a message, she’s coming over with Vastra and Jenny. Someone introduced Sontaran’s technology in the Victorian era.”

“What?” asked Martha, Mickey and Ryan in unison.

“I know. I don’t know what’s happening, but it seems someone’s really inclined in making themselves remarked.”

Kate started making her way further into the building while Mickey took Gideon to the interrogation room. Martha took Ryan apart and they walked a bit behind Kate.

“Just so you know, you can’t tell people about this place. No one’s supposed to know about UNIT.”

“What’s UNIT?”

“It’s a special force of the UK’s military specialized in alien menace. Well, it was. We’ve been defunded. Budget cut. The government thought alien’s menace wasn’t a thing anymore.” She said ironically.

“Oh yeah! I’ve heard something about it last time they called the Doctor in. And she tried to call them at some point but couldn’t get through!”

“They called the Doctor in? Well, good thing Kate didn’t know. She would have barged right in the middle of Downing Street to demand UNIT back.”

“She’s the one in charge?”

“Yeah. UNIT was founded by her dad. She fought tooth and nail to keep it living but they wouldn’t listen to her. So, she went unofficial. That’s what you can’t talk about it, it’s too dangerous. And she gathered all the Doctor’s old companion she could find to help her.”

“With what?”

“Alien things. She couldn’t very well recruit ordinary people, given the circumstances. She needed people who knew.”

“That’s how you got involved?”

“No. Well sort of. I was already in UNIT before, but then I went freelance with Mickey. But she convinced her to come back, which suited me just fine. I didn’t really like the whole “wandering off and fighting aliens on the way” thing. Did that with the Doctor and left so yeah… I just followed her here.” Martha smiled.

They entered in some sort of desk/control room. A lot of computers were buzzing around, and pictures of different man were hanging on the wall. They always wore an outfit that could only be described as “disputable fashion sense”. Some were accompanied by young women, others were alone.

“Who are all these men?” asked Ryan.

“It’s the Doctor. Their different regenerations. See, that’s me here, with him and Rose.” Mickey pointed, already back from the interrogation room.

“Who’s Rose?”

“Uh… It’s complicated.” Mickey said, looking sideways at Martha, seemingly ill-at-ease.

“She’s his ex. And the Doctor’s,” answered Martha, quite coldly.

“Oh.” Ryan breathed out, sensing some complicated history there.

“That reminds me, we need to know what the Doctor looks like now!” Kate exclaimed, “Do you have photos?”

“I don’t. But my gramps might.”

“Perfect. We’ll just wait for Clara and him then. How do you want to proceed with Mr; White over there?” Kate turned over to Mickey and Martha.

“Classic interrogation I guess.” Mickey said, “It’s been a while since I had a chance to worm some confession out of a bad guy.” he joked.

“I’ll pass,” Martha said, wrinkling her nose.

“I’ll pass as well,” Ryan said.

“Okay, perfect. Let’s go, Mickey, I don’t wanna go in there alone.” Kate called out.

Martha approached Ryan who was now studying the pictures on the wall.

“I can’t believe this is the Doctor. She changed so much,” he whispered.

“I can’t believe she’s a woman now. Who could’ve guessed?” Martha marvelled.

“Yeah… So, who’s who? I now know we were only the last in a long line of companion, so who were the others?”

Martha started to walk him through the pictures, lingering on the ones she knew more about.

Chapter Text

Graham looked once again to his phone before looking at the big building in front of him. Google maps insisted to say this was the address Ryan gave him, but he couldn’t figure out why his grandson would be in an abandoned old factory. He said he had some news about their investigation but how this building was connected to it all escaped him. He pushed open (or rather battled with) the hangar’s massive doors. He spotted his grandson on the other end of the room, looking over some photos with a black woman in her forties. He called for Ryan.

“Gramps! Come over here!”

“What’s happening here? Where are we and who are these people?”

“We’re in UNIT,” he said with a distracted wave of his hand before showing a picture to him, “Look, this is the Doctor! Can you believe it?”

“Come one, that’s not the Doctor! I know she always said she was a man but there’s no way she changed gender AND got younger as well.”

“And yet she did.” Martha said as she extended her hand to Graham, “I’m Martha, former companion of the Doctor. I’m very pleased to meet you.”

“Graham, I’m Ryan granddad. You used to travel with the Doctor?”

“I did! There’s quite a lot of us actually.”

“Yeah, look around Gramps. All those pictures are the Doctor with their companions. She hid a lot from us.” Ryan said with a sigh.

“Yeah, she does that, doesn’t she?” Martha chuckled sarcastically.

Graham looked around him, quite surprised. He suspected that they weren’t the first humans to travel with the Doctor, she’d mentioned it once or twice, but he didn’t expect she travelled with that much humans. His first thought went to Yaz, and how hurt she would be if she knew. They always thought they were special to the Doc, her more than anything.

 “Don’t worry, the existential crisis will pass. We all went through it, one way or another.” Martha said with a sad smile.

“Who are those people? I thought UNIT didn’t recruit anymore?” a voice with a north accent exclaimed.

Graham and Ryan turned around to see a white brunette young woman, looking at them with her hands on her hips. Close behind her was Mickey.

“Ah, Clara! It’s good to see you. Let me introduce you to Ryan and Graham. They used to travel with the Doctor not long ago. Guys this is Clara, she also travelled with the Doctor.”

“Oh, I see,” Clara said with a smile of understanding on her face, “Welcome aboard then!” she cheered.

“You’ll never believe the news they brought us! Maybe you can show us a picture Graham?” Martha smiled, turning to him.

“Picture of what?”

“The Doctor of course,” Ryan huffed, not quite believing how Graham couldn’t have understood this.

“Oh! Right! Hang on a minute, I need to find one.”

“What’s so special about the Doctor? Did he regenerate in a teenager straight after being an old grandpa?” Clara joked.

“More surprising even,” Martha answered with a knowing smirk.

“Here! This goes back to a while ago when we were all in the 1700s. We wanted to keep a memory of the costumes,” Graham explained, “This is Yaz, another friend of ours -she’s still travelling with the doctor by the way- and this is the Doctor.”

“No way!” exclaimed Clara.

“Oh my god! She looks like Rose! I can’t believe her, she did that,” Martha shook her head, “Doesn’t she look like Rose, honey?” She turned to her husband.

“She does! This is unbelievable. I can’t believe this is the Doctor.”

“Did he regenerate again?” another voice asked.

Behind the group, Kate was arriving with two women in Victorian clothes. Or rather, with a white brunette woman and with what looked like a lizard woman. Ryan and Graham exchanged a look. This was becoming weirder and weirder by the minute. Did the Doctor travel with every living creature in this universe?

“Hi Jenny, hi Vastra! You better look for yourself.” Mickey smiled.

Jenny and Vastra got closer to look at the phone. They then looked at Graham.

“Is this you, Doctor? Is this really you?”

“What? No, of course not! The Doctor’s here.” He quickly answered while pointing to the Doctor in the picture.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Is the Doctor a woman now?” Jenny asked, looking at everyone in the room.

“Yep! And I must say, I really enjoy her new look.” Clara said with a knowing smile.

“Oh, she went blond! I knew she had taste.” Kate joked.

“I’m sorry, I know this is a lot to take in and everything, and I don’t want to be rude, but is this make-up?” Graham asked, gesturing to Vastra’s face.

“Gramps!” Ryan huffed, eager not to offend the woman.

“It’s okay,” Vastra reassured the younger man with a soft smile, “Everyone’s a bit surprised at first. No, it’s not make-up,” she said looking at Graham, “I’m a Silurian, another Earth species. My people go back all the way through the dinosaurs. We were here before you lot were actually, but you’re slowly pushing us away.”

“Oh, I’m… I’m sorry, Ma’am, I didn’t know.” Graham said confused.

An embarrassed silence fell on the room, all the humans looking at their feet when Martha finally cleared her throat.

“About that Vastra, any ideas if there are Silurians’ communities around here? We caught some entrepreneur using your technology.”

“I don’t know. It’s been a while since I lived in this period, but to my knowledge, mine was the last Londoner one and well, you all know where it’s gone.” she shrugged.

“That’s weird… Where did he get it?” Martha wondered aloud.

“According to what he told us, it just appeared on its desk one day with some instructions on how to use it, but somewhat, I have a hard time believing him,” Mickey explained with a dry chuckle.

“Yeah, it’s the same with the policeman we interrogated!” Clara chipped in, “He swears the Sontaran guns just appeared in their armoury at the station with instructions notes! We left with Ashildr and she seemed eager to interrogate him a bit more, but I don’t think he knows much, to be honest.”

Ryan suddenly jumped and cried loudly when he felt water splash on his face. In front of him, two women had just appeared, one black, one white, and they were now standing in a puddle, completely drenched.

“Hi, guys! Sorry to intrude like that, but we have news!” the black woman exclaimed.

“Oh my god, Bill, Heather, you’ve got to stop doing that! I swear, I’m gonna die of a heart attack one of these times.” Mickey said, a hand on his heart, as to physically slow it.

“Sorry,” Bill answered with a sheepish smile, “but we were hanging in Camden when we saw a really dodgy couple leave some alien technology all around. They weren’t even trying to be discreet, but we failed to follow them.”

“I took a picture, though,” Heather said, extending her phone.

“Hang on! I know this woman!” Clara exclaimed.

Chapter Text

“Who is she?” asked Ryan.

“Oh god, this is River. What is she up to now?” Kate sighed.

“Wait! Heather, give me that phone for a second.” Martha said hastily before zooming on the photo.

She extended the phone to Mickey who just chuckled.

“What?” Vastra asked.

“Well, she’s with Jack. And if I believe what you told me about River, these two are clearly up for no good.”

“Jack! We know him!” Graham exclaimed, proud to know at least one thing some of the others didn’t.

“Great! So, the two cheekiest persons we know are scattering alien technology all over earth and time on purpose, but what for?” Kate asked.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t sound like something River would do. At least, not if I am to believe the Doctor that his wife is the most perfect living creature in this universe.” Bill joked.

“Oh yeah, Bill, Heather, heads up: the Doctor’s a woman now!” Jenny smiled.

“What?” they both exclaimed in unison.

Graham silently showed them the photo. Bill smiled broadly.

“I dig this so much!”

“Right? It’s a treat for the eyes, isn’t it?” Clara chimed in.

“Totally! I know we had this grand-father/grand-daughter thing but I wouldn’t mind changing the nature of our relationship now. Ouch!” she hissed while Heather elbowed her with a murderous glare, “Sorry babe!” Bill said sheepishly while rubbing her side.

“To get back to the point here,” Mickey interrupted, “This is totally something Jack would do, but with good reasons, though.”

“I think we might be able to find them,” Martha said, reading a text on her phone, “Wilf just told me he spotted some weird shadow in the sky over the Tower. I’ll go there and find out what this is all about.”

“Can I go with you? I wanna see Jack again, it’s been a while.” Ryan asked.

“Sure! Anyone else?”

“Yep, I wanna see his stupid face, it’s been too long!” Mickey smiled fondly.

“Perfect! You do that while I try to contact River,” Kate directed, “We meet back here tomorrow if we have news alright?”

Martha, Mickey and Ryan arrived in front of the Noble’s house half an hour later. They’d taken advantage of the sunny weather to walk there, and Ryan had updated them on everything that he knew had happened since they last saw the Doctor. In return, Martha and Mickey had told him a bit about their time with him.

When Martha made to knock on the door, she caught a glimpse of red hair through the kitchen window.

“Ah shoot! Donna’s here! I thought she took the kids to the swimming pool today?” she asked Mickey.

“That’s what she told me this morning when I dropped Lila to hers. Maybe there’s been a change of plan? I don’t know.”

“It complicates everything!” complained Martha.

“Why? Who is she?” Ryan asked.

“Okay, Ryan, it’s fundamental that you do not mention the Doctor in front of Donna, or anything related to her whatsoever. It’s a matter of death and life, literally. Do you get me?” Martha said with a tone deathly serious.

“Who is she? An enemy of the Doctor? Are you guys hanging with an enemy of the Doctor?” Ryan tried to joke, ill-at-ease with Martha sudden seriousness.

“What? No! Why would we do that?” Martha shook her head before continuing, “No, she’s one of the Doctor’s best friends but things got complicated, and she doesn’t remember anything about them or related to them. It could kill her if she did. So not a word, okay?” she pointed her finger at him.

“Okay, okay.” Ryan raised his hand defensively.

“How are we gonna explain we’re not at work though?” Mickey asked.

“I don’t know… And we can’t ask Wilf anything about what he saw now, it’s too dangerous…”

They were still debating what story they could say when a high-pitched voice came from behind the kitchen window. Soon, a little black girl with two puffs opened the front door and ran into Martha’s arms.

“Mommy!”

“Hi, sweetheart!” Martha said as she returned the hug and kissed the top of her head.

“Hi, you!” Mickey said in a soft voice, kneeling to be at his daughter’s height, his demeanour changing completely.

“What are you doing here? Auntie Donna said you wouldn’t be here before dinner.” She asked.

“We had a change of plans.” Martha simply stated.

“Lila, sweetie! Where are you? It’s your turn to shape a cookie!” a voice shouted from the inside of the house, “Oi! Who let the front door open? It’s freezing cold out there! Who do you think pays the heat bills?” A red-headed woman said angrily while arriving in the corridor.

“Auntie Donna! Mum and Dad are here!” Lila said excitedly, jumping up and down around her parents.

“What? Are you sure sweetheart? They told me they wouldn’t be…” she stopped when she saw Martha and Mickey, “What are you two doing here?” she squinted her eyes suspiciously.

“Early departure.” Martha shrugged with a slight smile, hoping this would avoid any further questions.

“Both of you?”

“Yeah! The ER was slow today and I had already been on shift for 24h…”

“… And Saturdays are always slow at the garage too, so John offered me to leave.” Mickey finished.

“Well, lucky for you! I wish my boss were as cool on weekdays as yours on weekend. And who’s this very ill-at-ease young man over there?” she asked with a smile, gesturing at Ryan.

“That’s Ryan, he’s…” Martha started, unable to come up with a convincing lie.

“He’s my cousin’s son. He’s come to London to do an internship in a consultant firm.” Mickey quickly added, hoping not to sound suspicious.

“Oh, I see, he’s a brain then!” Donna laughed, “Pleased to meet you! I’m Donna!”

“Hi!” Ryan said timidly.

This woman was so extroverted, and yet so warm, he could see why she was the Doctor’s best friend.

“Well come on in! We were making Christmas cookies.”

They all followed her to the kitchen where two children with brown skin and straight black hair, a boy, and a girl, were very focused on shaping cookies in pine tree and stars.

“Keith, Erin, look who’s here,” Donna said with a smile.

The two kids raised their head and the broadest of smiles bloomed on their cute and round face. They hopped off their chairs and ran in Martha and Mickey’s arms.

“Hi, you two! How are you?”

“We’re making cookies Auntie Martha! And Mum said that Lila could take some home so it’s for you too!” Keith happily exclaimed.

“But Lila hasn’t made any cookie yet, because you arrived!” Erin chimed in.

“Yes, but I’m gonna make a lot of them, don’t worry Mummy,” Lila said, suddenly worried that her parents would think she didn’t want to make cookies for them.

“I know sweetheart.” Martha smiled. “And I’m sure they’ll be delicious.”

“Who are you?” Erin suddenly said, looking at Ryan.

“Hi! My name’s Ryan and I’m very pleased to meet you.” Ryan said while lowering himself to Erin heights, extending his hand.

The little girl, delighted to be treated as an adult, shook his hand while stating “I’m Erin.”

“Okay, kids, enough putting flour all over the guests’ clothes! Those cookies aren’t gonna make themselves on their own.” Donna chuckled, motioning them to the table.

She started to help them shape the cookie while resuming her conversation with the other adults. Ryan, not knowing what to do, sat next to Keith and started shaping a cookie himself.

“So, why did you come here and bring your cousin along?” Donna asked.

“Why, we just wanted to see you!” Martha laughed.

“No, but seriously? You know I had Lila until dinner so why?”

“We wanted to check something with Wilf actually,” Mickey said.

“Again? Are you my friends or my gramps’?” Donna joked.

“Both! And I’d say you’re more family at this point.” Martha said absent-mindedly while smiling fondly at the kids who were now in the middle of a flour battle – Ryan included.

“Aww! You’re too nice Martha. He’s in the attic I think.” Donna gestured vaguely.

“Okay, great! Ryan, you wanna come? Or are you too busy falling back into childhood?” Mickey teased.

“No, no, I’m coming!” Ryan answered, quickly wiping the flour he had all over the face.

“Martha?”

“I’m staying, obviously,” Martha said, pointing at Lila who was busy giving dough to her mum so she could shape a cookie.

Mickey and Ryan made their way to the attic. Ryan asked a couple more questions and Mickey filled him in. Ryan learnt that the Doctor saw Donna again sometimes, but only since they regenerated, and always undercover. It was always a bit bittersweet, and Donna was always more morose the following days as if some parts of her remembered. But being who she is, she always moved on. Once they saw the attic was, in fact, empty, they made their way to the backyard. Surely enough, Wilf was there, looking at the appearing stars while the sun was setting.

“Hey, Wilf,” Mickey said softly, so as not to startle the elderly man.

“Mickey boy! What a nice surprise! I didn’t expect you would come today.”

“Yeah, we got a bit of news at UNIT, so when Martha got your text, we thought we would pass by. Let me introduce you to Ryan, former companion of the Doctor.”

“How do you do?” Ryan extended his hand.

“Pleased to meet you too! How’s the old alien?”

“She’s fine!”

“She?”

“Yes, she! She regenerated.” Ryan explained with a smile.

“My, my! The Doctor’s a woman… Who would’ve thought?” Wilf shook his head before turning his attention to Mickey, “So, you’ve come to check on the shadow I talked to Martha about?”

“Yeah! We might know who’s behind all this, but we need to check.”

“Help yourself!” Wilf said, slowly standing up.

Ryan made to help him while Mickey took his place, carefully looking into the telescope.

“So, how is he? She, sorry.”

“She seemed fine last time I saw her.”

“Really?”

“What do you mean, really?”

“I know the Doctor. She’s never as fine as she lets appear.”

“Well, to be honest, last time, we had a conversation that got me worried. She’d just spent some time in prison, right after she discovered something about herself, and I think something happened with the Master as well and… I don’t know all the details, but she seemed lost. And angry. Angrier than I ever saw her. It was a bit scary.”

“Ah, well, if the Master’s as crazy as I last saw him, it’s no wonder.”

“About that, the others said that the Master had regenerated into a woman and that now she’s dead. But my Master seemed to know an awful lot about her, not like someone that hasn’t see her in a long time, so I was wondering, what does your Master look like? Just to check he’s the same.”

“Oh, well, he’s a crazy bloke. Black hoodie, blond hair and…”

“I knew it! My Master’s not blond, not at all. And black hoodies don’t seem to be his thing. He’s more of a purple suit guy.”

“So, the Master regenerated again? I wonder if he’ll ever die…” Wilf sighed.

Mickey suddenly let out a cry of joy.

“Ah-ah! I knew it! It’s Jack ship! Jack’s here.” He said with the biggest smile.

Ryan smiled. It would be nice to see him again. And they finally had a serious lead that Kate needed to know about.

Chapter Text

As Kate was setting up what she needed to try and contact River and Jack, Clara made her way back to her TARDIS.

“You’re leaving? Don’t you wanna meet the woman who successfully pinned the Doctor down?” Bill teased.

“Yeah, no… Met River once, don’t fancy doing it again.” Clara frowned.

“Oooh, jealousy much?”

“Not jealous but embarrassed rather. When I met her, long ago, it was before I met Danny and Ashildr. The Doctor was this dashing young man, and I was still the new bewildered companion and well… Let’s just say that it was a “girlfriend meet the wife” type of thing, or so I thought, and River read right through me. So yeah, the less I’m around her, the better I am really.”

“I was there when this happened and I can tell their next encounter - if it ever happens - will be embarrassing for Clara.” Vastra joked.

Bill smiled.

“What’s your excuse then?”

“Just gonna free the poor lad from Ashildr and come back here.” Clara shrugged.

“Oi! I need help over here if you don’t mind!” Kate shouted.

“Coming!” Heather replied.

She made her way back to the desk, closely followed by Jenny while Bill stayed back and listened to the gloriously embarrassing story of River and Clara’s first meeting, as told by Vastra.

“What do you need us to do?”

“Please press that button there at the exact moment I plug this is in,” Kate instructed as she pulled a red cable from a box, “Jenny, I need you to click yes when the dialogue box appears on the computer, please.”

They did as they were instructed, and the computer started to beep and screech. Kate frowned at it and they all jumped when sparks started to fly. Kate quickly unplugged it and sighed.

“I knew I shouldn’t have thrown the instructions. I never remember how to make it work.”

“What’s it supposed to do?” Heather asked.

“It’s supposed to be a vortex manipulator tracker, but Osgood had modified it so you could also contact the manipulator’s carrier. Problem is, she’s on vacation right now so I can’t ask her.”

“Basically, it’s an intergalactic phone, isn’t it? But with only one contact?” Bill asked.

“It’s a way to explain it, yeah…”

“Is there a chance that you could transform the link to the manipulator into a phone number?”

“I don’t know… Why would I do that?”

“I think - but I might be wrong - that the Doctor sonicked my mobile so that it could phone anywhere and anywhen. Maybe I could phone River, or Jack if I had their manipulator’s coordinate as a phone number.” Bill shrugged.

“I guess we could try…” Kate said pensively, “But we’ll have to wait for Mickey. He’s the genius with computer and as we saw, I’m really not.” She chuckled.

Graham - who had disappeared when Ryan and the others had left to go make himself a sandwich- came back and suggested to call Ryan and tell them to hurry up. But as he was preparing to do so, the depot’s doors opened, and Mickey and Ryan appeared.

“Ah! We were about to call you. What is the news? And where’s Martha?”

“She’s stayed at the Nobles’ with Lila. And they’re parked over Big Ben.” Mickey said as he unwrapped his scarf.

“Yep! I’m glad that we’ll be able to see Jack again. I’ve missed him!” Ryan exclaimed.

“I didn’t…” Graham muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Graham turned a bright shade of red, not unlike the one he used to turn into every time Jack flirted with him.

“I can’t wait to see River again. I’ve missed her cheeky remarks.” Jenny smiled.

“We’ll need you for that Mickey. Bill can explain her idea and you tell us if it’s feasible.”

After being given the heads up, Mickey got to work, trying to assess their odds. One hour passed, then another. As Mickey was still typing codes’ lines, the other decided to order takeout. They then organized an informal “former companions of the Doctor anonymous” type of meeting. Everyone shared their personal history with the timelord, but the conversation turned quickly to discussing the Doctor’s many funny mannerisms and habits. During the evening, and as Mickey was still struggling to find a solution, they were joined by Clara and Ashildr. Ryan and Graham were thoroughly enjoying the night, but they were also feeling a bit weird: compared to the other companions, it seemed they had managed well during their adventure with the Doctor. And they didn’t know how to feel about that: relieved, guilty, worried about Yaz? The more they learnt about the Doctor, the more complex they revealed to be and the more ambiguous their feelings toward the Timelord become. It seemed they weren’t the only ones in this situation. The reunion was slowly drifting to speaking about the different aliens they encountered when Mickey let out a victorious cry.

“What?” Kate said as she hastily made her way toward the desk.

“I think I did it. Bill hand me your phone!” he said, waving his hand energetically.

Bill threw her smartphone to him. He dialled the number and they all waited as the phone rang. Mickey put the call on face time mode. They were all about to abandon as the tenth connecting sound was heard when a white middle-aged woman with enormous blond curls appeared on the screen.

“Hello? Who is this? How are you calling me on my vortex manipulator?”

“Hi, River! This is Kate Stewart. Can’t you see me?”

“Kate, hi!” River exclaimed with a tone of both understanding and surprise, “I can’t see you, no. How are you calling me anyway?”

“It’s a bit of a collective effort, hang on.” She turned to Mickey, “Can you work something out so she can see us?”

“Hang on a second.” He said before taping quickly while a dozen windows opened on his computer screen.

“So, while your assistant or whoever fix this, why are you calling me, and yet again, how?” River asked.

“Well, we can call you thanks to Bill’s brilliant idea and Mickey’s amazing technical skills.”

Mickey pressed a final button and some beeping sounds were heard.

“Ah! I can see you! Oh my god, how many of you are there?” River exclaimed.

Everyone waved at River, while Ryan and Graham looked attentively to this woman who was apparently the Doctor’s wife.

“Well, we’re all investigating the same case and well, I don’t know where you’re at in your timeline, but UNIT’s in a bit of trouble right now so this is the only place we can all work in. It’s a bit crowded but it’s fun.” Kate shrugged.

“I’m after Darillium, just so you know.” River smiled. “And why do you all need to call me? I’m flattered but I don’t think I’m that essential to UNIT, to be honest!” She joked.

“Well, we noticed that people all over time and Earth were using technology they shouldn’t…” Jenny started.

“… And then, we happened to witness a very dodgy couple leaving Judoon’s guns over at Camden…” Bill continued.

“… Ring any bell?” Heather asked, extending her phone to the camera so that River could see the photo.

“Oh! I see… That’s a bit embarrassing…” She smiled.

“Yeah! And annoying frankly. You can’t go around leaving alien technologies to humans River! God knows what they will do with it. And, we already have enough work for you to let us alien tech to retrieve and memories to erase.” Kate complained.

“I’m sorry. There’s a very good reason behind all that, I swear! But I can’t talk to you about it.”

“Is Jack with you?” Mickey and Ryan interjected at the same time. They smiled at each other.

“Huh…” River looked embarrassed as she glanced at something, or someone, behind her vortex.

“Jack, come one, if you here, show yourself.” Mickey said.

“Alright, alright! I’m here, happy?” Jack appeared on the computer screen.

“Long-time no see, old pal!” Mickey exclaimed with the broadest of smiles.

“Yeah, sorry, bit busy.”

“Gosh, this is my worst nightmare,” Kate sighed, “Two of the most unlawful Doctor’s companions working together. What are you up to?”

“Nothing!” Jack answered defensively.

“Come one Jack, you can talk to us.” Graham intervened.

“Silver fox! How are you? Not looking for the Doctor?”

“Why would I look for the Doctor?”

“Well, you know, prison and all that. She kind of abandoned you on Earth in case you missed it.” Jack said, half-joking, half-pitying.

“No, she didn’t, we le… Oh! I see!” he answered.

“What?” Everyone asked.

“Well, I think we are from your future, Jack. The Doctor’s still in prison for you, isn’t she?”

“She? This is something I need to see.” River smirked.

“Why was she in prison?” Bill asked.

“Really long story, we don’t have time for that.” Ryan cut, “Why are you leaving alien technologies behind you?”

“To go to prison of course!” Jack smiled.

“I do it because it’s fun personally.” River laughed.

Kate sighed.

“I don’t get it. You’re looking to be arrested?”

“Yes!”

Suddenly, Ryan understood. He elbowed his gramps.

“That’s how Jack saved the Doctor!” he whispered.

“What? Oh.”

Ryan and Graham opened their mouth to start and explain things as spoiler-free as they could, but River and Jack had already started flirting with the companions they didn’t know, which were Bill and Heather, as soon as the presentation were out of the way.

“So, is either of you single?” Jack winked.

“Yeah, I’d really like to go on an adventure with you, either one. Or both, come to think of it.” River said with a mischievous smirk.

“Could you not… Could you stop doing that please?” Bill asked, “It’s like my grandma’s flirting with me and I don’t like it. Also, we’re together. As in a romantic relationship.” She pointed out as she hugged Heather closer.

“Grandma? How old do you think I am?” River huffed.

“No, sorry! You look amazing, really. It’s just that the Doctor’s like my space grandad - or grandma – and you’re their wife so yeah… It’s just weird, sorry…”

“Anyway, stop flirting altogether! We don’t have time for that! Could you please, please, try to get arrested anywhere else than Earth?” Kate asked.

“But what’s the fun in that?” River smirked.

“Oh, come on!” Kate whined.

A noise resonated suddenly in the building. Mickey looked at the pop-up window and sighed.

“Guys, it’s really not fair to take advantage that we’re speaking to leave yet another alien weapon somewhere.”

“That’s not us!” River and Jack both exclaimed defensively. “We’re both here, how could we do that?”

“Who is it then?” Vastra frowned.

Chapter Text

“Wait a minute…” Mickey said, “It’s not a weapon this time…”

He opened a few more tabs while Kate asked River and Jack to come over here.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought…”

“What is it?” Ryan asked.

“Someone introduced the telephone in the 15^th century.” Mickey explained.

“What?” Kate exclaimed.

“Same person who scatters weapons all over time and space?” Ashildr asked, intending to get fully updated on the situation.

Clara and she had just arrived.

“Nope, that was us!” Jack smiled as he and River appeared in the room with a blast of energy.

“Always a pleasure.” River winked.

“Oh, hi River.” Clara said, the more neutrally she could.

“Hi Clara. Long-time no see! Still living off your last second?”

“Yep! Quite enjoying this. You should join some time!” Clara tried to joke, to ease the awkwardness she was feeling.

“Will do! I wouldn’t want to miss all the fun with you and your pretty friend.” River smiled. “Ashildr, I assume?”

“That’s me. Nice to meet you.”

“The pleasure’s all mine.”

While every companion that didn’t know each other introduced themselves, Mickey, Kate and Vastra were trying to make sense of the alarms they were getting.

“I don’t get it. Who would change history that way? It’s not really harmful, just wrong. It’s not even wrong, just… It shouldn’t happen…” Vastra wondered.

“What worries me is that we have no idea who’s doing it. We can’t stop them.” Kate sighed.

“We should split up. One team stays here, the other one takes the vortex manipulators, and we guide them through time and space, to everywhere and everywhen things are changed. We’re quite enough to do that I think.” Mickey gestured to the large group of former Doctor’s companions chatting behind them.

Kate considered it a minute.

“Do we even have enough vortex manipulators to do that?”

“If we make teams, yes.”

“How would we stay in touch?” Vastra asked.

“I can try and make the Subway Network work again.” Mickey said while typing some code lines.

“Is this thing still existing? It’s been a while since we’ve used it.” Jack chimed in, having listened to the last few seconds of the exchange.

“Well, if I can make it work again, then yes, it still exists!” Mickey teased.

“Okay, let’s do it then.” Kate said quietly, before starting shouting, “Ok, guys! It’s time to act so everyone, come here. You’re all going on a mission!”

They all gathered around her.

“We need to get to the bottom of this so here’s the plan. Mickey’s restarting the Subway Network, for those who know what it is. For the other, it’s a sort of secret Skype. Here’s what we’re gonna do: I’m staying behind to tell where and when time’s being altered. You will form teams of two, take a vortex manipulator and investigate there and then what is happening. We will stay in touch at all times through the Network. If you can do so without putting yourself in danger, try and stop who or whatever is at work. I insist on the “without putting yourself in danger”. If you can’t, then come back here and now, we’ll try to come up with a solution. I’m trusting you not to do any stupid moves.” Saying so, she sternly glared at the companions most likely to do so.

River, Jack and Bill smiled sheepishly.

“I’ll call Martha as soon as I can. We’ll be the second one.” Mickey added.

“Perfect. Who wants to go with who between all of you?” Kate asked.

They all looked at each other, not sure who should talk first.

“Look at you all, so shy!” River chuckled, “I’ll go with the cutest of course.”

“Really?” Bill asked.

“Someone thinks highly of themselves! I meant Jack, but I’m flattered you want to come with me. On second thoughts, maybe I can’t refuse such a nice proposition…” She winked at Bill.

“No, I just… Well, since earlier you were flirting…” Bill started to stammer, her cheeks as red as tomatoes.

“She’ll go with me and you go with Jack.” Heather came to her rescue, slightly amused at her girlfriend deep embarrassment.

“What a pity…” River joked.

“Oi!” Jack feigned to be offended.

“Don’t worry! You may not be the cutest but you sure are the handsomest…” She grinned.

Kate sighed.

“Ok, enough with the flirting already. I assume you’ll be together, Vastra, Jenny?”

“Yes, obviously.”

“And we’ll take my TARDIS.” Clara said, taking Ashildr’s hand in hers.

“We’re the last then. Excited to travel with me Gramps?” Ryan smiled.

“Only because I have to.” Graham pretended to be annoyed.

“Thanks, I appreciate. He’s always like this, you know?” He told the others.

“No, I’m not, you’re making this up! You know I’m joking right, son?” Graham worried.

“I know, I’m just messing with you.” Ryan laughed.

As the two of them started to playfully banter, Kate sighed. If she could achieve anything with this lot, it would be a miracle. She pinched her nose bridge and cleared her throat.

“Ok! A little less playing, a little more focusing, please!”

She clapped twice when no one listened to her.

They all stopped.

“I will give each team one vortex manipulator, that’s all we have. River, you’ll have to use yours. Clara, Ashildr, you take your TARDIS. Bill and Heather, I’ll let you do your thing with the water, “she gestured towards them awkwardly, “For the others: obviously, don’t split because one of you’ll end up stuck in the past if you can’t find each other again. They’re old and not functioning that well, we might not be able to come back and get you on time. Also, for those of you who never travelled with one of these before, you might feel sick. Wait a few minutes once you’ve landed, it’ll pass. All good?”

They all nodded.

“Perfect. Go see Mickey so he can connect any communicating device you have to the network and I’ll hand you the vortexes.”

They all did as instruct.

“Ok. Missions’ orders: Bill, Heather, I have an alert in London, 2 of September of 1666. Ryan, Graham, I have eyes on Slitheen technology in Medellín. Vastra, Jenny, there’s something happening in Marseilles in 1720. Clara, Ashildr, I have alerts in Paris in 1793. Mickey, once you’ve picked up Martha, something’s happening in Rouen, in 1431. And finally, River, Jack, go to 1969 on the date of the moon expedition departure, something’s changing. Let’s go people!”

Bill and Heather appeared on the docks of the Thames. Behind them, everything was chaos. Flames were raging and everyone was running around, buckets of water in hands, trying to put the fire out.

“Right! I knew the date was ringing some bells. Welcome to the great fire of London, babe.” Heather said.

“Good thing we’re made of water, right?”

Heather smiled. Suddenly, they were accosted by a white, petite woman.

“Oi! You two! Don’t stay standing here, doing nothing! The city’s burning, in case you’ve missed it.”

“Sorry ma’am.”

“Here. And you two.” She palmed a bucket off each of them.

They looked at her, not knowing what to do. After all, when they come from, firefighters usually did all the work. Suddenly, a fire fighter alarm went off. They all jumped. Bill and Heather looked at each other, dropped the bucket and started running in the direction of the noise.

When they arrived, the most bizarre sight awaited them. Two fire trucks were currently spraying the burning Saint-Paul cathedral with fire hose. They couldn’t believe it. That’s when Bill saw her. The woman in a purple dress.

“Missy!” She shouted.

But the Time Lady didn’t hear her over the sound of the fire, the trucks and the shouts. Before Bill could get to her, she disappeared in a flash of blue.

Bill unlocked her cell and quickly texted.

Guys, it’s Missy. She just introduced fire trucks in 1666 and disappeared. She must have a vortex manipulator or something.

She turned to Heather.

“What do we do now?”

“I guess we wait and see. The others will bump into her. And we watch medieval people put out the “not-so-great-now” fire of London with fire trucks in the meantime. Wouldn’t be the weirdest thing we saw…” Heather answered absent-mindedly, as they both watched the scene in front of them, filled with worry.

Chapter Text

“Guys, it’s Missy. She just introduced fire trucks in 1666 and disappeared. She must have a vortex manipulator or something.”

Clara looked up from her phone.

“Who is it?” Ashildr asked as she entered the coordinates to 1793 Paris on the Tardis.

“Bill. Apparently, it’s Missy…”

“Missy? What did she do?”

“She introduced fire trucks in 1666 London.”

“Oh… Well, that’s weird and wrong but not exactly criminal, is it?” Ashildr chuckled.

Clara chew on her lips. She pulled some levers, pushed some button, and soon, the Tardis was flying through the vortex. She leaned on the console.

“What’s wrong?” Ashildr asked.

“It’s weird. It’s not like Missy to travel through time and space to save people and do good deeds. That the Doctor’s job and she’s usually the one they try to stop…”

“Maybe she changed?”

Clara scoffed.

“Yeah, right. Last time I saw her, she put me inside a dead Dalek and tried to make the Doctor kill me.”

“Well, I don’t know…”

“I know, it’s weird… It’s in those moments that I miss the Doctor… He – well she – would know what Missy’s up to… She’s her best friend, or enemy, I don’t know…”

“About the Doctor… How do you feel about the whole gender change thing?” Ashildr said as she moved closer to her friend.

“I don’t know. It’s kinda weird but I saw them go from a young cheerful guy to an old angry scot, so it doesn’t make much difference anymore…”

“Yeah, and as we know, male or female, you don’t care, right?”

“Right!” Clara smiled.

But her smile didn’t quit reach her eyes, and Ashildr noticed.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, not knowing what Missy’s up to…”

“No, but really? We’re used to deal with crazy Time Lords. You travelled with one for quite a time, and they stayed trapped for 4,5 billion years just for you” Ashildr joked, and Clara elbowed her, “You’re usually all excited about adventures like this. There is something else…”

“Well, what if the Doctor remembers me now? She’s regenerated, so, maybe…” Clara’s voice trailed off.

“Maybe she does. Maybe she doesn’t. Either way, does it really matter? You travel on your own now, with your own dashing and brilliant companion.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Clara smiled, “But it kinda matters that my best friend remembers me…”

“I know… Try not to get your hopes up, though… You’ll only end up hurt…” Ashildr said quietly.

Clara smiled sadly. She then looked at the Tardis screen.

“We’ve landed. Ready to face the weirdest “sort of” friend I have?”

“I look forward to!”

They both stepped off the Tardis. They were in a busy street in the centre of Paris and loads of people were running around shouting and chatting around them. Some of the men wore Phrygian cap and almost everyone wore cockades in the colours of the French flag. At first, the whole chaos seemed to be, well, chaos, but soon, Clara and Ashildr noticed that the majority of people were all going in the same direction. They decided to follow.

Soon, they arrived on the Place de la République where a stage was built in the centre. A guillotine was standing on it, the executioner next to it, and a long queue of people were seemingly waiting to be beheaded, thoroughly guarded by revolutionary guards.

“Isn’t the French revolution nice at times? Public executions, you love to see them!” Clara ironized.

“Yeah, about that,” Ashildr whispered, “We need to be careful because past Me might be around… I kinda liked those. Also, this is Olympe de Gouges’ execution and I wanted to assist to such an important historical event.”

“Sometimes I forget how harsh you were…” Clara cringed.

Ashildr shrugged.

On the stage, a tall blond, white woman moved forward. The executioner grabbed her, forced her to kneel and put her head in the machine. They were about to release the blade when an authoritative voice shouted “Stop!” from somewhere in the crowd. Then, a tall white man appeared on the stage. A loud gasp could be heard from the crowd. A tinier gasp could be heard from Clara when she saw the woman who accompanied the man.

“Okay, I know for a fact that last time I witnessed this, Robespierre didn’t interrupt it. In fact, he wasn’t even in this part of the city.” Ashildr stated.

“Well, it might be related to the fact our favourite Time Lady is with him.”

“Oh, she’s the middle-aged Mary Poppins?”

“Yep.”

On the stage, Robespierre was setting Olympe free, much to the incomprehension and anger of the crowd. Soon, the French revolutionary and the former convicted got down and left and another convicted took Olympe’s place, distracting the crowd from their brief discontentment. Clara took Ashildr’s hand and dragged her through the crowd, trying to get closer to Robespierre, Olympe and Missy. They exited the square and followed the group. Once they were close enough, disregarding any sense of safety she might have, Clara shouted.

“Missy!”

Ashildr rolled her eyes. It was a good thing they were both immortal for the time being because Clara would definitely have gotten them killed otherwise. When Missy didn’t even flinch, Clara shouted even louder. She finally turned around, as well as the guard that accompanied the little herd.

“Clara!” Missy exclaimed in a surprised but really amused tone.

“You know these women?” A guard asked, his riffle pointed on Clara and Ashildr.

“Yes, yes. No need to be such a show-off!” She said in a mocking yet annoyed voice, “What are you doing here, my favourite Doctor’s pet? And who’s this charming young lady here?”

“First of all, I am not the Doctor’s pet.” Clara bit back.

“And I’m Me.” Ashildr said, waving to Missy.

“Maîtresse, do you know those two citizens? We don’t have much time so if you know them, they might as well come with us.” Robespierre interrupted.

“Yes, I do know them but go on first, I’ll catch up.” Missy gestured, not even looking at him.

While they all left, Clara moved closer to Missy and crossed her arms.

“What are you doing this?”

“Doing what?” Missy asked innocently.

“Changing history by saving people?”

“Well, I thought you’d be happy! Isn’t the Doctor always saving people? You admire him for that, don’t you?”

“I do. But I also know he can’t save some people because their death is fixed. And I’m pretty sure the death of the author of the Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne is one of them.”

“Well, I’m sure we can make exceptions from time to time, can’t we? It’s just us left; he won’t mind.”

Clara suppressed an annoyed sigh. Missy had a way of getting on her nerves like no one else.

“I get the intention, and it’s really sweet Missy, but you know it doesn’t work like that…”

“And who said so?”

“Your own people!” Clara cried out, not able to contain her annoyance anymore.

“Besides, there are rules for immortals like us, and if I have to abide by them, you do too.” Ashildr added.

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Oh, come on! What’s in it for you? Why do you have to introduce fire trucks to 1666 London or save Olympe de Gouges?” Clara asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Missy said with a smirk, “But thanks for the idea though, I hadn’t though of preventing the Great Fire of London yet. I guess I’ll get to it then!”

She disappeared in a flash of blue electricity.

Clara closed her eyes and pinched the bridged of her nose. How dumb could she be?

“Well played team.” Ashildr said in a false cheerful tone.

“I know. I should have guessed we would meet her in the wrong order.” Clara admitted, defeated, “So stupid…” she muttered to herself.

“Well, no need to dwell on it, it’s done. Text the others and we’ll get back to the QG.”

Ashildr took Clara’s hand. They slowly made their way back to the Tardis, brooding over the last few minutes.

Chapter Text

Ryan And Graham were sitting in one of the cabins of Medellín’s metrocable. They were enjoying the city’s view as well as trying to cool off.

“How’s your Spanish, son?” Graham asked.

“Rusty at best, inexistent at worst. Besides, I have no idea how to say “Sontaran” in Spanish.”

“Yeah, that might be tricky… I don’t even know where to look first. This city’s so big…”

Ryan scratched is head, trying to think of some plan but nothing came to mind. They finally arrived at the next station, and they disembarked.

“Okay, what do we do now?” Ryan sighed.

“I don’t know… It’s been three neighbourhoods that we visit, and we still haven’t noticed anything unusual… Maybe Kate misread the alerts back in Sheffield?”

Ryan’s phone chimed. He read the text he’d just received.

“Clara and Ashildr saw Missy in France. She tried and succeeded at saving some French woman who should’ve been guillotined. Apparently, she went straight to when Bill and Heather saw her, so she could be anywhere now…”

“This is the business district, maybe we’ll have more luck here. If I was trying to sell alien technology, I would start with greedy traders and whatnot.”

“It’s worth a shot.” Ryan shrugged, starting to make his way into the busy streets.

They wandered aimlessly, attentive to any signs that something wasn’t right for about an hour.

“How do you feel about meeting Missy?” Ryan asked.

“Well, I’m not particularly thrilled, given our previous encounters with her future self…” Graham sighed.

“Yeah, me too. And you know, I kept wondering, but the Doctor seemed so hurt the first time she understood O was the Master and she didn’t say much afterwards but I could see she was not doing well… I wonder what happened with Missy that made our Master so vengeful, and the Doctor so hurt to see them again…”

“I don’t know… I can’t even wrap my head around these two being childhood friends so I’m not even gonna bother trying to understand how their relationship works.” Graham laughed semi-heartedly.

“Yeah. I talked a bit with Clara and Bill before we left off and they said it was the most challenging, when they travelled with the Doctor, to try and keep up with whatever was going on between him and Missy. And Martha, Mickey and Wilf really didn’t seem happy that they were back.”

“Yeah, they seemed way angrier at him than Clara and Bill, how so?” Graham asked.

“From what I understood, they met the previous regeneration, before Missy, and he was a psychopath, a proper one, much like the regeneration we met. I don’t know all the details, but it was pretty messed up. Jack said so too.”

“Ah, Jack… He’s in on all the secrets, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Ryan laughed, “Why are you so bothered by him? He kissed you once, and it meant nothing, you can get over it now!”

“He’s still flirting though… And I don’t like it, that’s all.”

“You should be flattered in a way…”

“It’s too early, Ryan.”

“To early?” Ryan started to ask before realizing what, or rather who, his grandfather was talking about, “Sorry…”

“It’s okay… It’s good that you’re moving on, don’t feel bad.”

“I still miss her, you know. It never really goes away. And I’ll always feel guilty about forgetting her.”

“You can’t go your whole life thinking all the time about your late grandma, it’s only natural. And it’s good that you’re moving on with your life, you deserve it. It’s just a bit harder for me. But I’ll get there, don’t worry.” Graham smiled softly.

Ryan looked at his grandfather before stopping abruptly.

“What?” Graham asked.

“Look at those policemen. Do their guns look human to you?”

“I don’t know if a gun could ever be human, especially in the hand of a policeman…” Graham said.

“No, that I know. I meant do they look like human technology?”

“I guess? I don’t know.” Graham shrugged.

They tried to move closer while still looking like innocent tourists. Once closer, it was clear the guns weren’t human technology. They were about to approach the policemen and show their UNIT permit when a voice sounded behind them.

“Are you all spying on me?”

They turned to see a middle-aged white woman in a purple suit nonchalantly leaned on the wall behind them.

“You must be Missy.” Ryan responded.

“Here to help, darling. I’ve never met you, but I can spot the Doctor’s companions in the middle of any crowd. You’re the third group I encounter in less than a day, so you must be spying on me.”

None of them responded, trying not to make Clara’s mistake twice.

“Oh, you’re really wary… What has the Doctor told you about me? That I’m his best enemy? That I’m the worst villain on Earth? That he’s trying to redeem me but I’m not a really good pupil?”

Graham exchanged a look with his grandson. They had no idea what she was talking about, but it was clear the Doctor had failed at redeeming the Master.

“She didn’t say much, that’s why we’re investigating you.” Ryan finally answered, figuring there was no use hiding what was going on. They needed to make progress.

“She?” Missy laughed almost maniacally, “Oh, this is perfect! They regenerated. How marvellous. And she made the change! I knew she would follow my example; I’ve always be the one she looks up to.”

Ryan and Graham rolled their eyes. They didn’t know which regeneration they preferred: the narcissistic one or the mad one.

“I guess you’re from my future then! Did my plan worked?” Missy asked, almost eagerly.

“I don’t know. What’s your plan?” Graham asked.

“You all travelled with the Doctor and still haven’t figured it out? I really don’t know why the Doctor always put up with all of you tiny humans, you’re so slow.”

“Well, explain it to us then, since we’re so slow.” Ryan huffed, starting to lose his patience.

“It’s obvious really. Since you all are so slow, I’m making a few tweaks here and there in history, just to speed up a bit your progress.”

“You’re what?” Graham exclaimed.

“Oh dear, you two are even slower than the others. I’m changing history so that your little ape species can be an advanced civilisation a little bit quicker.” She said really slowly, detaching all of her words, “I’m helping you really, you should be thanking me.”

“But you can’t change history just like that! There are rules!” Ryan exclaimed.

“Yes, yes, Clara said so already. But, once again, it’s only the Doctor and me now, so if I want to change history, I can. I’m sure she won’t mind.”

“Did you even bother asking us, before you started helping?” Graham said with air quotes around helping.

“Why should I? You’ll thank me once it’s done.”

“Maybe we don’t want to be help?” Ryan interjected, “Has it occurred to you that we don’t need the help of some so called “superior” species to progress? We’re fine on our own, thank you very much. And we would REALLY appreciate if aliens stopped meddling in our business. Do we go and meddle in yours?”

“Not yet but with all I’m doing, it won’t be long now.”

“I can’t believe you. No wonder the Doctor is so pissed at you.”

“The Doctor doesn’t understand what I’m trying to do,” Missy spat back, suddenly dead-serious and really angry, “He thinks his version of good is absolute and that there’s no other way of doing good than his. Well, I’m trying to prove him wrong. I’m literally advancing a species’ progress by decades, centuries even, and yet, everyone is still complaining. I’m not killing anyone, I’m not robbing anyone, I’m helping people! What does a girl have to do to finally earn some congratulations?”

“You have no idea what changing history could do! The consequences of your action could be killing people as we speak, and we wouldn’t even know because they just disappear from history.” Graham tried to reason.

“What you’re doing is wrong Missy. I agree, your intention is good, but you can’t help people who never asked for it, and you can’t just make people disappear from history. How long before we disappear because of your changes?” Ryan asked.

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take. You two are such kill-joys.”

“Would you stop doing it, please?” Graham asked.

“No way. You can have all the arguments on Earth, I know what I’m doing is good. And I won’t hear any more reasoning from two tiny humans like you.”

She disappeared in a blue flash.

“At least, we tried to stop her.” Ryan sighed.

“And we know what she’s doing and why. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Graham asked.

“Yes. Yes, it is.” Ryan nodded.

“We should go back and tell everyone. Colombia’s heat is not agreeing with me anyway.” Graham complained.

Ryan laughed and they too disappeared in a blue flash.

Chapter Text

Bill and Heather emerged at the surface of the Titanic’s swimming pool in the middle of the night. Around them, everything was silent, and moonbeams fell on the water through the glass walls, sending soft reflections all over the room. They carefully checked no one else was there before getting out.

“So, what do we do now?” Heather whispered.

“I don’t know… You’re the pilot since longer than me, what do you do usually?” Bill whispered back.

“I freak people out and I get whatever I was looking for, but I don’t think we should do that, given where we are and who we’re looking for.”

“Right, yeah… We’re on the night when the Titanic sank, and we know Missy is going to or already interfered with the events. Given that, I say we try for the captain’s room or the rudder’s one. If I were her, that’s where I’d go to change the fix point.”

“Or we could try to wait until she goes to bed and steal her vortex manipulator. Get her stuck here with us and then get her back to the Vault.”

“I don’t think that’d work…” Bill scrunched her nose.

“Why not?” Heather crossed her arm defiantly.

“First of all, she’s a TimeLady and if she’s anything like the Doctor, she hardly ever sleeps.” Bill raised a finger as she enunciated, “And second, we’re talking about Missy. She’s a criminal mastermind, we’ll never be able to trick her or fool her in order to steal her vortex manipulator. It’s too dangerous babe.”

“Don’t you want to try? You’re dismissing my idea before we even tried it.”

“I’m not dismissing you; I’m being realistic. You never had to deal with Missy, I did. And I got shot in the process. I’m telling you, it’s too dangerous.”

As their argument became more overheated, neither of them noticed the shadow that entered the swimming pool.

“Now, now! No need to argue over my level of threat. I can assure you both that I’m innocent and still very dangerous.”

“Missy!” Bill cried out as they both turned around.

“Are you here to try and stop me? Again? I already had this conversation with four of you, it’s beginning to get tiring.”

“Missy, listen. I know you don’t want to get back to the Vault…” Bill started in a soft voice.

“Yeah, you bet I don’t! The Vault is just a golden version of Stormcage.”

“But I also know you don’t want to disappoint the Doctor. I know you’re doing this to prove him wrong, or at least to prove him that you’re not in the wrong. There are other ways to do it than changing an entire species history.”

Missy stared at her, as if she was waiting for Bill to actually get to the point.

“Listen, I know the Doctor’s not being the best example, but I think I speak for the entire human race when I say we’d like you TimeLords to stay out of our business. We’re not here to serve you as moral arguments. And that’s actually not even the point here,” she shook her head, “You seem so desperate to prove to the Doctor you can actually do good even if he can’t see it, but have you even tried his version?”

“How do you know if I tried or not?” Missy spat back.

“Because I know your future. I was there. And I don’t think you’ve lived that already.”

“So what? Do I become another version of the Doctor with a more troubled past? Because I don’t want that. I don’t want to be a lesser version of him. That’s what I’ll always be if I try his version of things. No! I want to prove him, and everyone else, that there are other versions of good. Actually, no! I want to prove that there is no good or bad. No black or white. The world’s more complicated. I’m more complicated. Infinitely more complicated, just like him. Hell, even your pathetic lot are more complicated. He knows this. I know he know this. I can read him like a book: he doesn’t think he’s good himself!” she threw her arm around passionately, “Why keeping on this pretence, this vain quest when there is just immoral on one side and less immoral on the other, light grey and dark grey?”

“Because the quest is what makes you good, Missy. This was never about an end-goal. It was always about the journey, the thousand choices you make each second, the constant effort to do good.” Bill pleaded.

As they both argued, they completely missed Heather slowly bypassing Missy.

“And I’m not making choices here? How me doing what I do is not me making choices to do good?”

“Because, and you know this, your choices are actually doing more harm than good. Because you’re choosing for others instead of choosing for yourself. You are actively trying to change others’ lives for what you think is the better instead of deciding to change your life for the better and letting the others their freedom to do the same. You think you’re helping but there was never a call for help!”

Missy opened her mouth and closed it right away, staring at Bill. She was about to say something when Heather threw herself onwards, aiming for Missy’s wrist. But the TimeLady dodged her and pushed her in the pool with the same motion. She looked at Bill, deeply hurt.

“I see. This nice little speech was just a way to distract me.”

“No, it wasn’t! I meant it.”

“Don’t bother. You’re all the same. Makes it even more satisfying to save you against your will.”

She smiled sadly and disappeared in a blue flash.

Bill looked at Heather who was making her way out of the pool. She crossed her arms, expecting excuses but Heather just looked at her miserably. She knew she'd done something stupid and she was feeling really sorry.

“Maybe next time you’ll trust me? This can’t always be one-sided. I need you to trust me just as much as I trust you.” Bill said.

Heather nodded. Bill extended her hand and they went on the upper deck, watching the now infamous iceberg pass them by without a scratch on the boat. Missy had once again managed to change history.

Chapter Text

Jenny and Vastra were slowly walking into the busy streets of Marseille, hands in hands. They made a turn and found themselves on the port. The sun was shining high, the air was hot, and fishermen were crying out to sell their fishes, fresh from the sea. Most of the people had a smile on their faces and children were running around the adults, laughing. Suddenly, Vastra stopped, staring at a boat coming in.

“Oh no…” she breathed.

“What is it Ma’am?” Jenny asked.

“I remember this boat. I knew the date and the location rang a bell when Kate sent us here, but I couldn’t remember why!”

“What is it?” Jenny insisted, both concerned and annoyed at her wife’s lack of clarity.

“It’s the start of the bubonic plague in the city. This is the boat that most people think brought it.” She pointed at the boat whose name read the Grand Saint Antoine, “The scientific analyses diverge on that but it’s not the point. The point is, the bubonic plague is about to spread like fire through the whole city and the Provence, provoking the death of thousands of people.”

“How reassuring to be here at this exact moment!”

“We won’t catch it, probably. I’m immune since I’m not human and we won’t be here long enough for you to be seriously exposed. We just need to find Missy and prevent her to do whatever she plans to do now.”

“I guess she’ll try to heal people, given what she did before…”

“I guess. It’s so strange to actually try to stop someone from saving people. I kind of understand her, in a way…” Vastra sighed.

“I know you do, my love, I know. But you also know it’s wrong. Would you want someone to interfere with your past, even if it was to save your loved ones or to save you from some terrible accident?”

“I mean, why not?” Vastra shrugged.

“Because it’d kill you in a way. It’d kill who you are now because of this past.”

“I guess so…”

“Well, it’s exactly what Missy is doing but with an entire race. And it’s affecting my life, and then yours, and the ones of billion others. Also, who’s to say it’s for the better? I don’t want to seem pessimistic, but it’s as us humans always find a way to mess things up.”

“Quite.” Vastra chuckled.

They wandered aimlessly through the fisher’s market, attentive to any signs that would give them clues about Missy’s whereabouts. Jenny was also way quieter that usual. She couldn’t help but think that a lot of this people would be dead within the year. She knew she couldn’t do anything about it, but it didn’t make it easier. By dint of observing people, Vastra suddenly noticed something odd. People seemed to always be washing their hands with some sort of lotion every time they were entering or exiting buildings, concluding transactions or shaking someone’s hand. She pointed that out to Jenny who nodded. The maid approached some bystander as her wife quickly put her veil on more carefully.

“Excuse me, Miss?” Jenny called.

The young white woman turned around.

“Yes Ma’am?”

“What is this kind of lotion this whole city seems to be using? See, my mistress and I are here on vacation, and we want to try out every local tradition.” She lied with a smile.

“Oh, it’s not a tradition! We only started doing it a month or so ago. Some foreigner started selling it, explaining it was a magical potion that killed every illness if used properly. At first of course, people were sceptical, especially since it appeared to only be some kind of exotic alcohol. But soon, people who’d tried it seemed to never be ill and little by little, everyone got around! It’s been month since anyone got a cold, stomach flu or worst. We’re all very happy and this lady is now really rich.” The woman chuckled.

“I see… Do you happen to know where we could buy some? If there’s a way to never have a cold anymore, I’ll buy a hundred bottles.” Vastra laughed.

“It’s easy. Mrs Poppins’ shop is down this street, then on the right and then on the big avenue. You can’t miss it, there’s always people queuing to get in and get their refill.”

“Perfect! Thank you kindly for your time Miss.” Jenny said.

“No problem! Bienvenue à Marseille!”

“Merci.”

Vastra and Jenny quickly set off. Vastra was fuming.

“Mrs Poppins? Really?”

“I don’t know who that is, but I guess it’s not just a regular name.”

“She only named herself after one of the most famous fictional nannies from the 20^th century. Two centuries too early!”

“Oh, so you can excuse introducing fire trucks in the 17^th century, but God forbids a fictional character’s name is used at the wrong time!” Jenny gently mocked.

“Everyone has their own limits.” Vastra said smugly.

Jenny chuckled. They arrived on the big avenue previously indicated and found that Missy’s shop was indeed hard to miss. The sidewalk was filled with people waiting to enter and the shop seemed to be quite overcrowded. Vastra and Jenny step into the line and waited. Thankfully, the queue was advancing quite quickly, and they didn’t have to wait too long. They entered the shop who was designed to look like an era-appropriated drugstore. They staggered through the crowd, looking for a familiar purple dress. They were about to give up, the shop’s owner seemingly absent when Jenny gasped and started pulling Vastra through the crowd. They arrived at a table and saw that Missy was there, giving away what seemed to be 21st century antibiotics. Plague antibiotics.

“Oi! Missy! Stop that! Now!” Jenny called out.

Missy looked up and sighed.

“Not again!” she whined.

“Yes! Did you really think we would stop looking for you?” Vastra asked.

“I thought you might tire out after a while. Have you come to take me away?”

“No necessarily. You can just reasonably stop your endeavour and go back to your appropriate time and place.” Jenny softly smiled.

“I’m afraid that’s not gonna happen dear. I have no interest in stopping this. The people of Marseille have no interest in me doing that either.”

“Please!” Jenny breathed.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to take you by force, if you won’t cooperate.” Vastra menaced.

“Will you?”

“It doesn’t have to come to that Missy. You can still stop this madness and try to fight the good fight with the Doctor and us.” Jenny pleaded.

“How tempting as that may sound, I’ll pass. I’m not in the mood today.” Missy smirked.

“Then we’ll make you come with us, whether you like it or not.” Vastra said as she stepped forward in a threatening manner.

“How scary! Mind if I collect my belongings first? I’ll need them when I save Jeanne d’Arc.” Missy said as she leaned away to reach a duffle bag on the floor.

“No!” Jenny cried out as she realized what was happening.

But it was too late, and Missy had already turned on her vortex manipulator. She winked at them as she disappeared.

Jenny cursed and Vastra sighed. Around them, people were starting to panic, wondering what had happened to Mrs Poppins and who were the two strange ladies who were threatening her. They quickly exited the shop to avoid getting mobbed, not without trying to take as much hand sanitizer and antibiotics as they could. Anything to reduce the altering of time, even if by a margin.

They got out in the streets and quickly hid away.

“Well, that was an epic failure, wasn’t it?”

“I didn’t even have the time to take my swords out!” Jenny complained.

“Not the point, my dear, not the point.” Vastra shook her head, slightly amused.

“I know… I guess we can only get back to the HQ and hope the next team will catch her.”

“I hope they do… She altered so many fixed points, the consequences are probably getting worse every second.” Vastra said gloomily.

“Don’t lose hope Ma’am! If I recall correctly, she’ll meet Martha and Mickey next. If anyone can catch her, it’s them. Martha did it once, she can do it again!”

Chapter Text

Martha and Mickey appeared in a flash of blue light in front of the Rouen cathedral. Thankfully, the square was full of people, so no one noticed.

“What’s happening?” Martha whispered.

“I don’t know but I don’t like it. Too many people.”

“Yeah, I don’t like it either. Do you want to leave?”

“Only if you feel safer that way, honey. But I think if we keep our heads low, we should be able to investigate.”

“Alright.” Martha said as she took Mickey’s hand in hers.

“What’s happening anyway? Why are all this people gathered here?” Mickey asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe we should try and get closer to the centre.”

They carefully made their way to the front row, stopping right before it, so as not to be too exposed. They still didn’t know where Missy was, and they didn’t really want to blow their cover that fast.

Martha was breathing more and more heavily as the minutes passed. At first, Mickey tried to act like it was nothing, knowing his wife didn’t like to ask for help. But when she started to shake lightly, he had to ask.

“Are you okay babe? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Martha shook her head, “It’ll pass.”

“Come here,” Mickey said as he pulled her in a tight hug,” We can go back if you don’t feel safe. We really can, you know?”

“Don’t be silly. It’s not that. It’s the idea of seeing the Master again. But I’ll get over it.”

“Hey, baby, you don’t have to be strong for me. You were there when I was triggered by the Daleks being back on New Year’s Eve. You helped me. Let me do the same for you.”

Martha smiled.

“There’s not much you can do. I mean it. Besides, I can handle myself, I swear. I faced him off once, I can do it again.”

“But you don’t have to.”

“But I want to.” Martha said in a firm tone.

“Okay.”

Suddenly the crowd started cheering loudly around them. Mickey started a bit and Martha ran a soothing hand on his arm. A white man in religious clothes appeared in the centre of the square, right in front of what appeared to be a pile of wood for a stake. Behind him followed two guards restraining a young White woman who looked like she’d known better days.

“Dearly beloved! We are gathered here today to burn at the stake the female known as Johan of Arc. She is sentenced to death for being heretic, schismatic, apostate, a liar, a sooth Sayer, and a blasphemer of God and the Saints.” Loud cheers and booing cries erupted.

“Blimey!” Mickey said as the clerk continued announcing the official death decree, “That’s a lot for one person.”

“Yeah. If you want my humble guess, she’s just condemned for being a woman who beat the shit out of too many men.” Martha half-chuckled, half-sighed.

Mickey just smiled. The clerk was about to give the order to bring Johan on the stake when a nun appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and whispered something in his ear. The clerk cleared his throat.

“Erm, my dearly beloved, I have the regret to announce that by order of our beloved King Henry the 6th, the execution is cancelled.” A concert of grunt and disappointed cries erupted from the crowd, “The woman know as Johan of Arc is hereby pardoned by our King and is free to go.”

He gestured to the soldiers who confusedly let go of the young woman. She blinked twice, looking around for a few seconds before running away as fast as she could. Martha and Mickey watched all of that dumbfounded.

“I’m not an expert of history, but that’s not supposed to happen, right?” Mickey turned to his wife, “I’m sorry for Johan but she’s supposed to die here, right?”

“Oh, yes! To hell with discretion. Follow me.” She ordered before diving straight into the crowd.

She took one of the little streets that were spreading out from the square, looking for something. Or someone.

“Oi! You! Get back here.” She shouted after the nun that had talked to the clerk and was quickly walking away.

The nun just sped up. Martha started to jog to catch her up, while Mickey was trying to figure out a way of fixing this whole mess.

Martha caught the nun’s arm, forcing her to turn around.

“Ah, shoot! Let go of me! You can never leave well enough, can you, Martha Jones?” Missy sighed.

“I knew it! You can never mind your own business, can you, Master?” Martha said in a voice that reeked of hate.

“It’s Missy now. In case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Shut up. I don’t want to listen to you. Everything that comes out of your mouth is just another way to manipulate us. You caused enough harm as it is.”

“Oof! I see we are still angry about what happened last time, aren’t we? Didn’t you get the memo? I’m trying to do better now. I’m trying to change.”

“Yeah? It’s not really working. And what do I care if you’re trying to change anyway? You hurt me and my family and the rest of the Earth for an entire year! I’m not letting you do that again, you monster.” Martha spat.

“Monster? That hurts.” Missy mocked.

Martha shot a deadly glare at her. Behind them, Mickey was preparing the handcuff.

“Oh, I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. Maybe next time you think about meddling in Earth business, you’ll think about our feelings, and you’ll just, I don’t know, not do that maybe?” Martha answered in the same tone.

“What is it with you humans? Don’t you understand that I’m trying to save you?”

“We didn’t ask, and we’re perfectly capable ourselves, thank you very much.” Mickey said.

“And even if we needed help, you’d be the very last person we’d call. In fact, I don’t think we’d call you ever.” Martha stated.

“What? Because I almost destroyed the Earth during a year that never happened? There was no harm done in the end, was it?”

“It happened for some of us.” Martha said through gritted teeth.

“You’re coming with us now. If you don’t resist and we manage to fix the mess you’ve already made, maybe we’ll consider the fact you’re trying to change.” Mickey said as he moved forward.

Martha rolled her eyes and shook her head. As far as she was concerned, Missy wasn’t capable of change, and even if she was, she still tortured her family for a year.

“See, I don’t really want to come. Besides, I just avoided around 20 years of war between France and the UK. I think a “thank you” would be nice.” Missy smirked.

“That’s 20 year of human history you changed, it’s not a good thing!” Mickey sighed.

“20 years is not that long, is it?” Missy asked innocently.

Martha grunted, exasperated.

“For God’s sake Mickey, just lock her up, will you? I don’t have the handcuffs, but I’ll gladly restrain her myself if you let her speak one second more!”

“Geez, someone’s still pretty angry over there. You know what, I think I’ll just let you resolve whatever grudge you’re still holding, and I’ll just go better your history a bit more. Bye!” Missy waved cheerfully and she, once again, disappeared as Mickey was launching forward to stop her, only managing to reap a piece of her nun’s veil.

Martha screamed in frustration before she muffled a sob. Missy always seemed to escape, no matter the hurt she caused. Mickey threw the handcuffs in exasperation and punched a wall, letting his anger out.

One of their vortex manipulators crackled.

“Martha? Did you manage to catch her?” River’s voice could be heard.

“I...” Martha let out another sob before she pulled herself together, “No, we failed.”

“Oh, okay.” River sighed, “Are you okay?”

“As okay as I can be, considering I faced for the first time the time lady that tortured my entire family for a year, and I didn’t even manage to stop her.” Martha laughed bitterly.

“I’m sorry. I’ll stop her. I promise Martha. She won’t do any more harm.”

“That’s nice River. Don’t make any promises you can’t hold though.” Martha smiled as she wiped her tears.

“I never do that. I’m not the Doctor.” River joked.

“Thank God!” Martha laughed.

“Can you imagine? Anyway, I better get going, all of Jack’s sensors are getting crazy over here. We’ll get her, guys, don’t worry!”

“Good luck!” Martha answered.

She turned to see Mickey sat on the floor, head hanging low. She sat next to him and started hugging and rocking him.

“How come you’re so down, all of a sudden? It’s not like you to get depressed instead of angry.” she asked.

“Well, I don’t have the same history than you with Missy, but it still wears me down that she can get away with so much stuff. I mean, she met all of us, former Doctor companions, some that have already defeated her, some other that she knows personally, and she still manages to escape every time, not to listen at all and keep changing history. That’s quite irritating.”

“Yep. I know. And you don’t have history with her.” Martha chuckled, rubbing his arm in a comforting manner.

“And I don’t have history with her. Sorry babe, I shouldn’t complain when you’re the one she traumatized. You probably want to slap me right now.” Mickey joked.

Martha shook her head and kissed him on the cheek.

“Never.”

Chapter Text

River hung up with Martha and looked closer to the screens, trying to make sense of all the beeps and flashing lights and graphs buzzing all around. She picked up her vortex manipulator.

“Kate? Jack? Are you listening?”

“What is it?” Kate answered.

“I think we got the signals wrong earlier. All the screens here are indicating that the modification of time happened way earlier that the mood landing, the consequences just appeared to be in 1969.”

“Yeah, I think this might be the answer. I’ve been snooping around for a while now and apart from your past self and the Doctor’s shenanigans, nothing weirder is happening.” Jack said.

“Okay.” Kate sighed, “Let me check for a second, I’ll get back to you. Jack, stay where you are for the moment being, I’ll tell you if you need to go back to your ship.”

River huffed in frustration. She’d been stuck in Jack’s ship for hours now, nothing happening and when the action was finally starting, they had to wait yet a while longer. She knew this was safer, she couldn’t risk running into her parents, the Doctor, or her past self in 1969 but she was itching from some adrenaline. Really, she just wanted anything to do other than sitting in front of computer screens waiting for Jack. Her vortex chirped.

“Okay! We took a closer look at the readings, and it indeed appears that the alteration took place somewhen in 1967. Do you have a more precise reading, being closer to it?” Kate asked.

“Let me check.” River pressed a few buttons and typed in a lot of passwords. She sighed, “Jack your ship’s system is a nightmare!”

“I know, I designed it myself.” His smirk was audible.

“Okay,” River said after a few seconds, “the change apparently occurred the 17^th of March of 1967.”

“Go ahead then! Jack, go back to the ship now and you two investigate.”

“On it! See you in a minute River. See you later Kate.” Jack disconnected himself to teleport to the ship.

“Kate?” River said.

“Yes?”

“While you’re at it, could you check on Martha? She’ll never admit it, but I think she was pretty shaken by her encounter with Missy… I mean I don’t know her that much but I just… You know?” she trailed off.

“I know. I’ll call her or check in with her when they come back… Should be any seconds now.” Kate reassured.

“Thanks.”

“No problem! Now go catch a bad girl!”

“On it, though I can’t really catch myself, can I?” River chuckled.

She just had time to hear Kate laugh before the vortex disconnected.

Jack appeared in the ship.

“Okay! Are you ready Professor Song?”

“I sure am! I’m dying for a bit of action, anything to get out of your ship!”

“Oi! Don’t be rude!”

“I got bored, I snooped around, and I regretted it immediately.” River smirked, “Some very interesting object you got in the trunk. Anyway, let’s go!” she said as she entered the time coordinates on the ship console.

Jack pushed a few buttons and soon, they were landing in 1967. River read the screens.

“Okay. It seems we landed right where the alteration took place.”

“Perfect. Where are we?” Jack asked as he readied his guns.

“Nasa headquarters.”

River exited the ship. She looked around, looking for clues of Missy’s whereabouts. Jack followed behind her and started walking.

“Where are you going?” River called after him.

“To the secretaries break room.”

“Why?” River shook her head, “This isn’t the time to flirt Jack!”

“I’m not going to flirt! Who do you think I am?” – River rolled her eyes – “I’m going to ask them if one of their bosses is meeting someone unusual. Martha once told me Donna solved a case in two minutes by just looking at the employees sick-leave and she said that you should always listen to the little people. I’ve since always done that, and it always worked out perfectly.” Jack smiled.

“I really should meet Donna. She seems like someone I would get along with perfectly.”

“Oh, you would. But you’re too much like the Doctor, you’d make her mind burn.”

River smiled.

“Shouldn’t we come up with some sort of backstory for us, to explain who we are and everything?”

“Let me do my thing and just do like me.”

“Oh, you want me to follow your lead? I like that.” River smirked.

They entered the break room and Jack immediately collapsed onto one of the couches, sighing loudly. One of the secretaries looked up.

“Long day?”

“You know how it is. Doesn’t help that I’m a man and new.”

“Tell me about it. It’s no better after a while though. I’ve been working with Mr Wilson for five years now and he still can’t remember my name.” She rolled her eyes.

River smiled but she was utterly uncomfortable. She wasn’t stranger to roleplay, but small talk was just not her things.

“Who are you working for?” the brunette asked.

“Uh…” Jack blanked for a few seconds.

“I work for the old creepy one, you know?” River came to his rescue, “Sorry, I’m really bad with names.” She chuckled.

“Oh, Mr Peterson? Yeah, he can be a handful. You both work for him?”

“Yep. Every other day.”

“Well good luck. I mean, Mr Wilson isn’t the best but at least he’s somewhat respectful.”

“Is he the one working with a woman?” Jack asked.

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh, it’s just that when we applied to work at the NASA, some of our friends told us someone was working with women, so maybe they would hire a man as a secretary.” River smiled.

“Oh! I see! No, that’s Mr Hughes. He’s the youngest scientific here, he’s only 27. A genius really. But he doesn’t work with secretaries. He says he doesn’t like the idea of giving orders to someone. He’s currently working on some sort of spaceship idea with a woman called Missy. She’s weird but you know, they’re both really excited about the project.”

River smiled. Suddenly, Jack got up.

“Oh my god, honey! We were supposed to fetch Tom at your mom’s twenty minutes ago!”

River almost burst out laughing here and there but she contained herself long enough to utter a few “Oh my god darling, let’s go!”. They quickly exited the break room and started laughing uncontrollably in a corridor nearby.

“You can’t invent your boss’s name, but you can invent us a whole family life on the spot?” River managed to say between two giggles.

“I don’t know what came over me, okay? Let’s find Mr Hughes’ desk now.” Jack chuckled.

They found an orientation panel and quickly made their way to the second storey. Every time they saw a flash of purple they would ready their vortex manipulator, prepared to catch Missy with all means necessary. They arrived in front of the door and listened closely. When it was clear no one was there, they entered. They snooped around a bit. Jack approached the desk, looking at the enormous pile of papers sitting on top of it.

“Look, River! Look at those plans. Don’t they look familiar?”

River looked over his shoulders.

“Not at all. Well, that’s disappointing, there’s nothing. And no signs of Missy.” River said as Jack looked more closely to the plans on the desk

“If I knew the famous River Song was looking for me, I wouldn’t have played so hard to catch.”

River and Jack started and turned around. Missy was standing in the doorway, loosely leaning on the frame.

“Missy!” River exclaimed.

“How are you dear? How was Darillium? I think you left our favourite idiot there not long ago, right?”

“Leave the Doctor out of this, please? This has nothing to do with them.”

“Oh, it has everything to do with them, honey. You just don’t know it. And how are you, Jack? We didn’t separate on the best terms last time.”

“I was fine until you started messing with time. What are you doing now? How is this linked to the Doctor? What’s your plan?”

“There’s no plan. Why is each of you thinking I’m trying to do something bad. I’m trying to help you humans!”

“You don’t exactly have the best history when it comes to helping humans Missy, maybe that’s why. And what you’re doing is not good. It’s just trying to change fix points in time. Believe me, it never ends well.” River stated.

“Oh my god! Those are the ISS plans! You’re trying to build the ISS 30 years earlier.” Jack exclaimed.

“Well done! You uncovered my mischievous plan,” Missy mocked, “Yeah, I though “why not give the humans a head-start on space exploration?” You’ll end up everywhere anyway, 30 years won’t change much.” She shrugged.

“Missy, you can’t change fixed point like that. You’re going to freeze the universe! Why are you doing that?” River exclaimed.

“Because I’m trying to do good! Why is no one understanding that? I’m trying to change; I’m trying to do what the Doctor wants. I just want him to see I can change and do good on my own terms.”

“Missy, that’s not… That’s not what the Doctor means when he says that he wants you to change and do good.” Jack said quietly, “You’re doing what you’ve always been doing, you just justify it to yourself from another angle. You’re doing what I did before I met with the Doctor. I was a time agent, I interfered in big major events thinking I was helping. But I was just interfering, that’s all. It took the Doctor to show me that helping was answering to someone’s call to help. Not jumping in front of someone to protect them because you think they need it.”

“Then what am I supposed to do? Even when I try to change and do good, it doesn’t seem like I can do it. Not on the Doctor terms. I just can’t change.”

“Missy, listen to me.” River took a step further to the time lady, “You can change. Everyone can. I’m the living proof of that. I went from trying to kill the Doctor to marrying them. And I did that by meeting them, watching them do their thing and listening to them. It is possible to change. That said, you need to change because you want to. Because you need to, and you see why you need to. Not just because the Doctor asks you too. Because the Doctor also must change on a lot of things. They’re selfish and arrogant and frankly quite irritating sometimes. They crosse lines they shouldn’t all the time. But they try. When they mess up, they apologize, and they keep trying. Because sometimes they also think they’re trying to do good when they’re not. I do that too. We all do. Sometimes we take care of things that are none of our business and it blows up in our face. And usually, it’s because we tried to help when our help wasn’t needed.”

River took a long breath.

“But what if I don’t want to change? I’m not asking my best friend to change for me. I’m not asking them anything; just to see and understand me. If I change, then what’s the point?”

“They just want the exact same thing Missy. For you to see and understand them;” Jack said.

“And you don’t have to change completely for them either. I never stop using guns even though I know they hate it. I just hide it or tell them to watch somewhere else. Because sometimes, how we think we should help differ. But on the things and the person we should help, we agree. And we agree that we help when we’re asked. We agree to show empathy to other. To give second chances. To listen. And that’s the point.”

Missy sighed. Jack and River looked at each other, trying to assess if they should try to catch her now or give her the benefit of the doubt.

“Okay.” Missy finally said.

“Okay?” Jack repeated.

“Okay. I will go back to the Vault. I will listen to the Doctor and try things his way. One or two things you all said while you were pestering me did seem reasonable.”

River smiled.

“I promise you won’t regret it.”

“We’ll see.” Missy said grimly.

She entered the Vault’s coordinates, showing it to River and Jack in a show of good faith.

“Bye, then!”

“Good luck.” River said.

Missy disappeared in a flash of blue light.

“Good luck? Are you friendly with Missy?” Jack asked.

“Listen, I once wanted to kill the Doctor too. I know how it feels to have all your moral values switched in a second. So yeah, good luck.” River said firmly.

Jack nodded and smiled lightly. River texted Kate that Missy was back to the Vault and that the mission was a success.

At the UNIT QG, a loud thrilling sound can be heard. All sensors and alarms are going off. There’s a cup of coffee steaming on the table. And yet it seems no one was here for a long time. A ping can be heard as River’s text arrives. No one rushes to read it, no one celebrates. The QG is empty.

Chapter Text

Martha leaned on brutally and threw up in the nearest bean.

“You okay, Sweetie?” Mickey asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine! Too many time-travelling with a vortex manipulator, that’s all!”

They entered the main control room, finally hearing all the noises and alarms.

“What’s happening, where’s Kate?” Martha said.

“I don’t know,” Mickey turned the alarms off, reading all the alert on screen.

Behind them, a few stomping sounds could be heard as everyone else returned from their missions.

“Did you hear the good new?” Jack cheered.

“We did it! We stopped Missy!” River grinned proudly.

Everyone gathered around, congratulating each other. Clara hugged Bill while Jenny and Vastra and Heather and Ashildr improvised a little victory dance. Graham went to high-five Ryan, but the latter looked confused at Mickey and Martha.

“Why aren’t you two cheering? We won!”

“Has anyone seen Kate?” Mickey asked, still reading worryingly the numerous messages on the numerous computers.

“I texted her a few seconds ago.” River answered, coming closer.

Around them, everyone fell silent, sensing that something was wrong.

Bill noticed the empty but still steaming cup of coffee.

“She was here not long ago, this cup of coffee’s still hot. I’m gonna go and look for her, she’s probably just in the kitchen.”

Jack sat down next to Mickey to read the alert.

“Is something wrong?” Jenny wondered.

“Did she answer you, River?” Martha asked, a sense of urgency in her voice.

“No, we were supposed to come back almost instantly and celebrate with her…” River’s voice trailed off.

“So where is she?” Vastra asked.

“Everyone let’s not panic, she’s probably here somewhere…” Ashildr tried to reassure everyone, almost at the same time Bill came back alone.

“I didn’t find her…”

Suddenly, Graham collapsed on the floor.

“Gramps!” Ryan exclaimed, rushing to his side, trying to wake him up. But then Jenny collapsed again, and then Heather and Clara.

“What’s happening?!” Bill shouted, rushing to her girlfriend’s side, followed closely by Ahildr and Vastra.

“I don’t know! Try and stay calm…” Martha urged but a slight tremor could be heard in her voice.

“I don’t feel well…” Ryan started before collapsing on his grandfather.

Jack rushed to help him, but he stumbled and fell.

“What’s happening?” Bill shrieked, completely and fully panicked now.

River came to hug her, trying to reassure her, but she, too, was not feeling well. She exchanged a look with Martha.

“Mickey, can you tell us what’s happening?” Martha asked. “Mickey?” She asked again when her husband didn’t answer.

That’s when River and Martha noticed that they were the last one awake. Bill had passed out in River’s arms; Mickey was head down on his desk and Vastra and Ashildr were laying down on Jenny and Clara as they probably passed out while trying to wake them up.

“Okay, I don’t like this! I don’t like this at all!” Martha stood up, reaching to read the screens.

She grabbed the desk as she started to sway a little.

“Can you read anything?” River said, trying very hard not to pass out as well but feeling her mind fogging more and more with every passing second.

“I…” Martha started, trying to shake the blurriness out of her vision.

She sat down on Jack’s former chair, feeling that she would fall otherwise.

“Are you okay?” River asked.

“No, I’m not feeling well… What’s happening?” Martha frantically skipped from windows to windows on the computers, desperate for some answers.

“Try the…” River started before collapsing as well.

“River!” Martha weakly exclaimed.

She turned to the computers again, but her head was heavy, and she couldn’t concentrate and…

She woke up completely disoriented, just like the others.

“Where are we?” Clara asked, looking around.

They were in the middle of what looked like a futuristic parc. Children were playing around them and the parc was in the middle of some sort of green city.

The buildings, and overall the ambience, were a mix of a Back to the future city and a Middle-age one.

“Are we in some sort of low-tech experiment?” Ryan asked.

“Low-tech?” Jenny stared at him, confused.

“It’s what scientists call the inventions and innovations people make centred around using as little energy as possible, as little rare metals as possible, recycling materials, reusing as much as possible, et cetera. Basically, it’s innovation to save the planet. And all this,” he gestured to what was surrounding them, “looks like low-tech inventions.”

“According to my vortex manipulator, we’re still in the same place and time as we were minutes ago…” Jack said.

“Mine too.” River said, clearly confused.

“What is happening?” Heather worried.

“Where is Kate?” Martha asked.

“Where’s the UNIT QG?” Mickey added.

“How can an entire building just disappear?” Graham exclaimed.

“This is not normal. Something happened.” Ashildr said.

“Duh! The question’s what’s happening? Why is London so different? Where are the skyscrapers?” Clara pointed out.

“Big Ben’s still here.” Vastra showed.

“And the Globe as well.” Jenny pointed to the building on the other side of the Thames.

“Wait…” Martha said, seemingly thinking.

River looked at her and clapped in her hands.

“Oh my god, yes!”

“You noticed too? Every building constructed before the industrial revolution is still here. The others have disappeared.” Martha turned to the others to explain.

The other looked around.

“So what? Has time changed? I thought we stopped Missy.” Ashildr said.

“We did! Right?” Bill looked at Jack and River.

“Well, we obviously messed up somewhen.” Jack stated.

They all started speaking at the same time, trying to understand what happened. Martha jumped when her phone started ringing. She didn’t have time to wonder why her phone still existed if time had changed when she saw Donna was calling. Her first thought went to her daughter who was with her.

“Donna? Is everything alright?”

“Oh my god, Martha, what’s happening?” Donna started, distraught and sobbing hard, “I passed out in the kitchen and when I woke up, the house had disappeared. I… I…” She couldn’t finish and started sobbing even harder.

Martha tried to calm her down, her anguish shooting up.

“Donna! Donna, calm down… Focus on my voice… That’s it. Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m not. I’m okay. I think.”

“Are the children hurt?” Martha asked, her voice rising with her anguish.

Donna started sobbing again.

“Oh my god, the children!” She let out a sound between utter despair and sorrow, “Martha, I don’t know what happened, I swear…They’re not here. Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I lost Lila, I lost them!” She started sobbing so hard, Martha feared she would choke.

Martha felt her throat tighten up and a knot formed in her stomach, a knot she knew wouldn’t disappear as long as she hadn’t her daughter safe and sound with her. She started to breath harder and quicker. River and Mickey noticed and came closer while the others were still trying to figure out what was happening. Martha tried to quickly sum up the situation between shallow breaths but as soon as she was finished, she started crying. On the other end of the line, Donna was crying just as much, and she kept apologizing and calling the children, stuck in a panicked loop. Mickey immediately pulled Martha into a hug, his eyes filling with tears as well. River took the phone and put it on speaker.

“Donna, my name is River. I’m a friend of Martha. Listen to me. It’s okay, we’re gonna fix this. We will find your children, I swear. Is anyone else with you right now?”

“River? I…” River heard her let out a shaky breath, “No, my gramps’ with me but he’s still out and I can’t wake him up…”

“Okay…” River sighed, “Do you know if you can come here if we send you the localisation? Or can you send us your localisation?”

“I guess… Why do I feel like I know you? And why is my head hurting like that?” Donna suddenly said, breathing harder on the other side of the line.

River’s eyes opened wide. Martha stopped crying almost at once. She shook her head frantically at River and gestured to have the phone back.

“Okay, stay there, Donna, we’re coming.”

“Oh my god! You’re River Song! But you’re supposed to be dead. What’s happening?”

“Oh no, this is bad.” River panicked, fully aware of the implications of Donna remembering her.

She heard Donna whimper, a clear sign of what was going on.

“Donna, hang in there, we’re coming.” Martha called out.

River gave back the phone to Martha, telling her to keep talking to Donna to keep her distracted from the rest. She quickly informed Jack of what was happening and came back. She exposed her plan to Mickey and Martha, the latter only half-listening as she was still on the phone, trying to keep Donna with her. Donna’s whimpers could be heard as she kept repeating River’s name.

“Okay, we’re going there via vortex manipulator. Do you have her house coordinates?”

“No, only her address!” Mickey said.

“I can translate it.”

“Even if everything changed?”

“Yes, my vortex didn’t. I don’t know why but it didn’t. Give me your phone.”

She typed quickly on it.

“Done!”

Suddenly, a loud cry escaped from the phone and then nothing.

“Donna?! Donna, are you there?” Martha asked.

Only wind could be heard on the phone.

River grabbed Martha and Mickey’s hand and they teleported.

Chapter Text

River, Martha and Mickey appeared in what seemed to be a wooden cabin. They stood still a few seconds, trying to ease the vortex-induced sickness. As soon as everything stopped being a blur, Martha rushed to Donna who was lying unconscious on the floor. Mickey followed closely, reaching for Wilf who was slowly waking up and struggling.

“Oh my god, Donna! She’s burning up.” Martha exclaimed, frantically trying to wake her friend.

“What’s happening? What’s happened to my Donna? Where are we?” Wilf asked, becoming more agitated by the minute.

River came to Martha’s side, trying to assess Dona’s state.

“Her mind’s burning.”

“The Doctor said it would happen if she remembered.” Wilf said, trying to get closer but still feeling too weak.

“Is there anything we can do?” Mickey asked.

“I don’t know, it’s not like there’s a human-timelord meta crisis guidebook out there!” River said, frustrated.

“We can’t let her die here!” Martha said as tears started to run down her cheek, “She’s so hot…”

She took a strand of hair away from Donna’s forehead, feeling it stick because of the sweat.

“I can try something but…” River started.

“If there’s anything you can do, please do it!” Martha looked at her hopeful.

“I don’t know if it’ll work, okay?” River said as she put both her hands on Donna’s temples, “I’m not a proper timelord so my psychic ability might not work on her.”

“Whatever you can do, please save my granddaughter, Miss!” Wilf pleaded.

River looked deeply at him, taking in the responsibility of what she was about to try. She then closed her eyes and focused on Donna. Her face tensed as she tried to keep Donna’s memories in check. Everything was flooding in, and she could feel Donna’s joy upon remembering. She tried to lock the time-lord part of her brain away, so that the red-head could regain her memory without harm, but she didn’t succeed. So, one by one, she forced every memory Donna had of the Doctor back into her subconscious, where they’d stayed all those years. It broke her heart to feel Donna’s sorrow caused by the whole process but there was nothing she could do about it for now. She however made a mental note to talk to the Doctor about this next time she ran into her, but also to fix this in any way she could if she had the occasion. Amy had told her so many times how awful forgetting Rory was, still subconsciously knowing what happened, and she didn’t wish that on anyone else.

When she opened her eyes, Wilf and Martha were both holding Donna, gently rubbing her arms as her body cooled down. River leaned back and almost fell, Mickey catching her in extremis.

“Woah there! Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m just really tired. She didn’t want to forget. I really struggled.” A sob escaped her at the thought of what she just did.

Martha took her hand.

“You saved her life. You did a good thing.”

“What if she didn’t want to be saved, huh? I got my mind manipulated against my will my whole childhood and it scarred me for life, and I just did it to someone else.” River answered bitterly.

“Listen here sweetheart,” Wilf started, “I don’t know who you are and how you know my granddaughter, but you just saved her life. And she’s a stubborn one, so I don’t care if she wanted to remember; so long as there’s not a safe way to do it, she will live without her memories okay? Don’t you go feeling all guilty about it, she doesn’t know what’s good for her!”

“Thanks…” River smiled softly. No matter what anyone said, she knew she would hate herself for a long time for what she did.

Martha squeezed River’s hand, trying to comfort her. She knew very little about the archaeologist, but she’d read the files. What just happened would be hard to forget. How ironic!

She looked down at Donna who was still out. She noticed that her cheeks were all wet, as if she’d just cry. A lump formed in her throat.

“She can’t wake up there. We need to take her somewhere she will think is normal or her mind will just burn up again. At least until we understand what’s happening.” Mickey stated.

“I can’t stomach another vortex voyage.” Martha shook her head.

“I can’t either.” River yawned, exhausted.

“Alright, I’ll call the headquarters. We still need to understand why any of us aren’t affected by whatever’s happening anyway.”

Mickey got his phone out and went away to try and contact the rest of them. Martha put Donna on Wilf’s lap and got up, trying to check the uneasiness she felt. She walked around, gently touching the wood furniture surrounding them. She kept looking around, as if she was looking for something, but she didn’t know what. Donna and Wilf were right there so what was she looking for?

That’s when it hit her. She was looking for Lila. She was looking for her daughter; she’d subconsciously hoped that she’d be here, that with Donna’s mind burning up, whatever she said on the phone would be wrong, a panic-induced illusion or something. She also realized that she’d forgotten Lila for a few minutes and a wave of guilt washed over her. She started trembling and panicking, really realizing that her daughter was gone, maybe forever. She fell to her knee and started sobbing. She heard River get up to join her.

The panic kept rising, each wave increasing in strength, and she rushed outside and vomited. She tried to breath the fresh air, air fresher than it had ever been in London, but she couldn’t even breath properly. She heard the door behind her open and close and she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see River, barely standing up.

“She’s really gone,” she started between sobs, “I kept hoping Donna would be wrong but she’s not. My baby girl’s gone…”

River started rubbing her arm before pulling her into a tight hug and rocking her gently. She kept whispering “It’s gonna be okay, it’s gonna be okay…”. But truth be told, River was not far from crying as well and she wasn’t entirely believing her own words. They stayed like that a few minutes, until Martha eventually calmed down.

“What are we gonna do, River? Lila’s gone and so are Keith and Erin. We can’t hide that to Donna. And Shawn’s missing too!” Martha’s voice broke.

“I know. I know. We’ll figure it out with the others. I don’t think Donna’s going to wake up soon anyway.”

Martha sighed. “I’m gonna wait out there until they come and pick us up. I need air. And time alone.” She smiled apologetically at River.

“No problem. I’m going to crash on the couch for a few minutes.”

“Yeah, you look like you need it.”

River entered the living room and saw Mickey sitting next to Will, his head in his hand. The older man was gently rubbing his back. It looked like both parents were coming to terms with what was happening.

“Martha’s out there, Mickey, if you want. She said she needed some time alone, but I think you both need each other right now.”

Mickey nodded slightly.

“I’ll join her in a sec. You should go to sleep; you can’t stand upright.”

“I know. Wake me up when the others arrive.”

As soon as River’s head hit the couch, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

It had already been a long day and it was nowhere near the end.

Chapter Text

Clara and Bill entered the main room, a tray of tea and snacks in their hands. Everyone was grouped around the main desk, except for River who was sleeping on a couch nearby. Clara lowered her tray and sat heavily on a chair. Bill started hanging snacks, but she didn’t sit. Instead, she got out a white board and took a pen.

“So! What are everyone’s theories?”

Everyone looked at her as if she had a second head growing up.

“Come on! You must have thought about it, all of you? We’re not the Doctor’s friends for nothing; we thrive on this sort of situation. So, come on, I wanna hear your ideas.”

“Maybe Missy created a parallel universe?” Jenny guessed.

“How?” Vastra asked.

“I don’t know. Changing too many events in time?”

“It could be… But why wouldn’t it have happened earlier when she changed other things?”

“Maybe it did, we just weren’t there. I mean, no one saw Kate disappear and we all left almost as soon as the first change occurred.” Ashildr pondered.

“That’s true. But why wouldn’t we have changed?” Heather asked.

“I, for one,” – Bill said as she started writing everyone’s theories on the board – “think that Missy took pity on us and saved us from the timelines alterations.”

Martha, Mickey, Jack and Wilf scoffed.

“Yeah, sweetie, that’s not how the Master does thing.” Martha said bitterly.

“In fact, he would be more inclined to kill us all first.” Mickey added.

“No, she might be right!” Clara interjected, “We’re talking about Missy here, not the Master. I know they’re the same person technically, but I do believe Missy would make an exception for us. I just don’t think it’s out of the goodness of her heart though.”

“I’m with Martha and Mickey. The Master is not one to do exceptions, whatever the reason.” Ryan said.

“Yeah, he’s a maniac.” Graham nodded.

“Look, I’m sorry girls, I’ve met the Master and I’ve seen what he did to the Doc last time. I don’t think this is it.” Jack added.

“Who cares about Missy’s reasons? You’re focusing on the wrong problem. How could we travel back to this universe if we come from another one?” Vastra asked.

“Because this is not a parallel universe. Or at least, not in the sense you understand it.” A voice came out of nowhere.

Bill jumped out of surprise.

“What the hell! Who’s talking?” Jack asked.

River sat up on the couch, woken up by the sudden activity. From her point of view, she could see who was talking.

“Bill, move the board away. And hello Missy,” she said as she approached, “care to explain all this?” she gestured around.

“What you’re witnessing, my adorable little humans, is what your world looks like when progress is faster.”

“What?” Wilf asked.

“I’m completely lost.” Jenny sighed.

“I suggest you be a little clearer Missy.” Clara said sternly.

“What did you do?” Jack asked.

“Again.” Mickey added in a cold furry.

“I sped up a little the industrial revolution by introducing another revolution in the 1850’s: the Internet!” she spread her arms as if she was unveiling a new building.

“You what?” River repeated.

“Come again?” Heather exclaimed.

“You heard me right the first time. You’re in your world, except the Internet is around since the 1850’s.”

“That’s why it’s all low-tech!” Ryan realized.

“Oh yes! I wouldn’t be stupid enough to introduce the Internet and then let you ruin the planet like you were doing. I introduced some other useful concepts, like low-tech or recycling. Enjoy!”

And the screen went black. They all looked at each other. The silence was so thick you could hear it.

“I can’t deal with this right now.” Martha shook her head, “I’ll go check on Donna.” She left, visibly trying not to cry.

“Are you telling me we lost our daughter, that Willf lost his great-grandchildren, and that Donna almost died because some maniac, know-it-all, narcissistic timelord thought it was their role to “help” humanity?” Mickey erupted.

“Mickey…” Jack said in a soothing tone.

“No! I won’t calm down. This is bullshit! I need some air.”

He stormed out.

Jenny looked at Vastra.

“Does this mean our time is changed too, Ma’am? Because of this… thing, the Internet?”

“I’m afraid so dear, I’m afraid so…” Vastra said gently, pulling her wife into a hug.

“But why aren’t we affected?” Bill said in a low voice.

“I have no idea, but this is bad.” Clara sighed.

“I’ll go check on Mickey.” Jack said.

“And I on Martha. Do you want to come, sir?” Vastra asked to Wilf.

“No, thank you sweetheart. I want to figure this out with the rest of you.”

Everyone jumped when a high tune started to ring in the building.

“What now?” Ashildr asked.

“No, relax everyone, it’s just my phone,” River looked who was calling her and saw “Mum ❤” appeared on the screen, “I’ll be back in a minute.”

She picked up.

“River! Are you alright? Oh my god, I was so worried that something happened to you.”

“I’m fine Mum. What’s happening? Is Dad alright? Is he with you?” River felt her chest tighten at the idea her parents were hurt. One bad news was enough for the day.

“We’re fine honey. Your father’s with me. Hang on, I’ll put you on speaker.”

River heard a fainted “Hi, sweetie!” in the background.

“So, why are you calling me?” River asked, still feeling something was wrong.

“Well, I don’t know why exactly, I thought you might be able to help us. Everything changed. All around us, it’s like we’re in the future, but we’re still in the 40’s, date-wise. I don’t understand. And I was worried about you, what with all those changes around. I was afraid someone messed up again with Earth and that you’d be involved, knowing you.”

“Oh my god!” River let out a shaky breath.

Hearing her mum talk about the time changes, she realized that they could have been affected and disappeared but that they, too, weren’t touched.

“What?” Amy asked.

“Oh my god, Mum, I…” River started before letting a sob escape her.

“River, what’s the matter?” Rory asked.

River started to explain the whole thing between sobs.

“Oh gosh, River! Is the Doctor with you?” Amy asked.

River scoffed.

“Of course not. Since when does she show up when we need her?”

“She?” Rory prompted.

“Long story. But she’s not here and now everyone’s a mess and I had to go into Donna’s head and…” River started crying again.

“Shh, sweetie, it’s gonna be okay. You did your best, I’m sure.” Amy kept saying over the phone, trying to appease her daughter.

“I miss you Mum. And you Dad.”

“We know sweetie. Do you want to come over here?” Rory asked.

“I can make hot chocolate and we can watch a movie. You know, you could just leave the crisis a bit. They can manage without you.”

“I can’t. I already travelled so much with vortex manipulator today, I just can’t. And I’m exhausted. I’m sorry” River shook her head, still crying silently. This was all a bit too much.

“There’s nothing to apologize for, darling. You come when you can and if you want.” Amy reassured her.

“But are you alright though?” River sniffled.

“Oh yeah, don’t worry about your old folks! It’s good actually, we have internet and all, it’s like we’re back to the 21^st century!” Rory laughed.

“Yeah, it’s not that bad. See, we can phone you in the street and it’s just normal.” Amy chuckled.

“Well, that’s at least one silver lining of this whole mess.” River chuckled, wiping her tears away.

“River, it’s gonna be okay, I swear.” Amy said gently.

“In any case, we’re here for you sweetie.” Rory added.

“Thanks. Oh gosh, I really miss you so much!” River exclaimed, aching for one of her parents’ hugs.

“I know, River. We miss you too.” Amy answered, a lump in her throat.

“As soon as we’ve figured all of this, I’m coming to see you.” River said.

“I’ll prepare the hot chocolate and the ice cream for when you do.” Rory said cheerfully.

“And you can tell us about the whole changing the Doctor’s pronouns thing,” Amy joked.

“Oh gosh, I’ll visit for a long time then,” River laughed, “Anyway, I should go and see what we can do with the others…” she sighed.

“Take care of you River. I know you wanna help others and save the world but don’t forget to take care of my daughter in the process, okay?” Amy said, mi-joking, mi-worrying.

“I won’t Mum, I promise.”

“Okay, good luck darling. Kiss Jenny and Vastra for us.” Rory said.

“Will do. Bye Dad! Bye Mum.”

River hung up. She still wasn’t feeling the best, but it wasn’t so bad anymore. At least, her parents were okay. She let out a heavy sigh and entered the building again, her mind already trying to work out a solution to all this.

Chapter Text

Jack got out of the storage building and followed the low thumps and grunts until he found Mickey boxing some construction sacks. He stood back for a few moments but had to intervene when Mickey started to punch the wall nearby and started bleeding.

“Wow, wow, wow!” he said as he caught Mickey’s hands, “Stop that, you’re hurting yourself.”

“Let me go, Jack.” Mickey said in a low voice, struggling to free himself from Jack’s grip.

“I won’t let you harm yourself. You have every right to be angry and I understand you need to let it out, but this is not the way.”

“I feel like I’m exploding, and this is the only way to let it out. Let me be.”

“No.”

Mickey shot a dark look at Jack but when he saw the resolution in his friend’s eyes, he let go.

“I just don’t know what to do. I feel useless and pathetic, and this makes me so angry! I want to kill this god forsaken Timelord – or lady! You know what, this is not true, I want to kill all timelords! Since the Doctor came into my life, it’s only been deaths and abandon and ruins. I’m so mad at them.”

Jack said nothing. Even though he knew Mickey was a bit unfair to the Doctor, he wasn’t wrong either.

“I’m so worried about Martha. And Lila. What if we never see her again? What if she’s dead? I’ll never forgive myself.”

“It’s not your fault Mickey.”

“It is. If only I wasn’t so stubborn and didn’t want to keep investigating every weird thing that happens on Earth, we would never have been in this situation in the first place. I just had to say no to Kate. Ugh, I’m so stupid!” he kicked a sack again.

Jack shook his head.

“Look, I know you’re angry at yourself, and the world, and Missy. I know. But you won’t find a solution by kicking random sacks in an alley. Where is special agent Mickey from UNIT that I know, eh?”

“He disappeared with his daughter, when he was a crying mess after one of his best friends almost died because she was about to be her true self again.” Mickey punctuated every word with a punch in a bag, “Also, if you don’t stop talking rubbish, I will start punching you instead of the sacks. I need to let it out, what don’t you understand Jack? If I don’t do that, I’ll do something stupid, like trying to find and kill Missy myself. Except none of you will let me do it, and the Doctor will probably come in the way at some point.”

“So, look for another solution. Let the anger out and then think.” Jack answered in a soft voice.

“Easy for you to say. I didn’t see you lose a daughter today.”

“That’s right; But I also almost lost a friend, because unless you forgot, Donna is my friend too. And I lost a goddaughter…” Jack’s voice trailed off.

Mickey stopped punching bags immediately to look at Jack.

“Right. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Look, I understand you’re angry, and afraid, and worried, and sad. You lost your daughter, and I won’t even pretend to know how that feels. But we need you in there, Mickey. We need your logic, we need your combativity. And we’re there for you in return. You don’t have to go through this alone, hurting yourself in the process. That’s what friends are for.”

Jack pulled Mickey into a hug. Mickey sniffed.

“God, I’m so pathetic. I already cried with Wilf earlier, now I cry with you, and I destroy perfectly fine cement sacks.”

“Oh! That’s what they are!” Jack exclaimed, softly smiling at Mickey, “Don’t worry about crying or punching bags or just blowing a fuse. It’s normal and we’re here to catch you up afterwards. Just, talk to us, okay? You don’t need to make yourself bleed.”

Mickey nodded.

“We better go in there. We need a plan.”

When Jack and Mickey entered the building, they found chaos. Every phone was ringing and there weren’t enough people to answer them all. Jack picked up the nearest.

“UNIT HQ, hello?”

“Jack? This is Sarah Jane. Something’s wrong! I need to talk to Kate.”

“Oh, that will be, erm, complicated.”

He summarized the situation and urged her to stay safe.

“Right, exactly what we, former Doctor’s companions, are best at.” Sarah Jane ironized.

“Yeah, well, just don’t do anything stupid okay. You forbade me to train Luke so I can’t take care of him if something happens to you.” Jack joked.

“Luke is… That’s part of why I was calling, Jack…” Sarah Jane answered, her voice suddenly shaking.

She didn’t have to explain further.

Next to Jack, River was trying to reassure Liv and Helen while Clara was comforting Jo. Bill was still trying to convince Ace not to go blow up Missy right there and then.

Vastra and Martha came back, saying that Susan called them to know what was up.

“Oh my god, I get it!” Jenny exclaimed suddenly.

Everyone shut up and looked weirdly at her.

“It’s so obvious! Don’t you get it?”

“We don’t sweetie so why don’t you explain it to us?” Vastra asked, amused.

“What is the one thing we all have in common?”

Behind her, Ashildr and Heather let out cries of understanding.

“I don’t know.” Clara shook her head.

“You’re so used to it you don’t even realize it.” Heather chuckle.

“We all travelled with the Doctor at some point. We’ve all been in the TARDIS, and we all travelled with it.” Jenny explained.

They all breathed out in realization.

“It was sitting in front of us from the beginning.” Bill laughed.

“We’re really not the cleverest humans the Doctor chose, it seems.” Graham ironized.

“It’s not a question of being clever. It’s just that we’ve all travelled with the Doctor, so we don’t realize not everyone has. We forgot that we’re special, in a way.” Ryan shrugged.

“I don’t want to be defeatist,” River intervened, “but what good is it to know that? So, what, we all travelled in time, so we’re not affected by the changes Missy did. How do we undo them? That’s the real question.”

“We should call the Doctor. They’d know.” Bill said.

Martha and River scoffed.

“They never answer their phone.”

“That’s not true. We just need to be… a little insistent?” Bill shrugged.

“I don’t know Bill. They rarely answer text message as well, and it’s not like it’s the hardest thing to do. And they read it!” Ryan sighed.

“Come on! Since when are we all so distrusting of the Doctor? They all saved us a billion times and they always answer calls for help. We just need to do it, all of us. Surely, if every person they travelled with call them, or text them, or whatever, they will come, right?”

“I guess so…” Graham answered, slowly convinced of Bill’s idea.

“I mean, the first time and only time I called for help, he came.” Wilf shrugged.

“Okay, so that’s a plan then!” Bill exclaimed. “Everyone, get your phone and call the Doctor. We need them.”

Chapter Text

Clara hung up and sighed.

“Okay, let’s face it. The Doctor’s not gonna answer. We’ve been at it for two hours now.”

Everyone looked at her.

“Can’t we just try one last time?” Graham asked.

“She’s not gonna answer, okay? You all need to stop putting all your faith in her.” Mickey huffed in frustration.

“We need a new plan.” Ashildr went further.

“I’m all for that but we’re kinda out of solution, aren’t we?” Ryan said.

“Not necessarily.” River said.

“What do you mean?” Bill asked.

“I may have a solution but I’m not sure everyone’ll like it.”

“What is it?” Jack asked.

“Okay, so, for those of you who don’t know, I was initially raised to kill the Doctor. I was a trained assassin whose target was the Doctor, only them and always them. And I almost managed to kill him – them - once. In, fact, if it were not also for me, they wouldn’t be alive today.”

“So what? You just want to kill Missy?” Martha asked.

“Pretty much, yeah. If we can avoid it by talking some sense into her, I’d rather do that but if we fail, again, then I still have the poison I used on the Doctor all those times ago.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Jenny exclaimed, “Are you really planning to kill another person in cold blood?”

“Obviously not! I mean, if I can avoid it, then no.” River shook her head.

“But in case you didn’t notice, time keep changing out there.” Mickey pointed through the window, “If it takes killing the Master to bring back my daughter and make Donna safe, well… I’m not happy about it but I’m not against it either.”

“Look, I don’t have anything against Missy but if it takes killing one person to save humanity, my choice is made.” Ashildr added.

“How can you say that?” Bill exclaimed, “We’re not killing Missy, not now, not ever. She doesn’t deserve it.”

“Yeah, she’s really not that bad.” Clara pleaded.

Martha and Mickey huffed.

“Look, Bill, Clara, Jenny, I understand you want to find another solution, I really do but… We’re running out of options here.” River said in a soft voice.

“Besides, Missy never hesitates to sacrifice all of humanity just to talk to the Doctor, I don’t see why we couldn’t to the opposite.” Graham shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s very true.” Martha said.

“Gramps! You can’t be serious! I’m with Bill on this one, we can’t just plan to kill her. We need to try harder and find another solution.” Ryan exclaimed.

“This is the trolley problem. I, for one, think I’m okay with killing one person to save billions of others, especially when that person is the Master.” Vastra mused.

“Yeah, it wouldn’t be the first time we have to take that sort of decisions while the Doctor’s not around. I’m in.” Jack said.

“Seriously, you all agree on this? Killing someone just like that?” Heather asked.

The other shrugged.

“Wilf, what do you think?” Mickey asked.

“I don’t know. I’m certainly not advocating for murder, but this is the Master we’re talking about so…”

Everyone started talking at the same time, arguing in favour or against the plan. It slowly escalated, everyone practically shouting at the other.

River took a step back, as well as Martha and Vastra.

“What do you think?” River asked.

“I don’t know… I’m really not a fan of the murder idea but the Doctor’s not answering and we’re really running out of time here…” Vastra whispered.

“Yeah, I really wish there was another solution, but it’s been two hours and counting. They’re not coming.” Martha shook her head.

“Yeah. Not the most reliable spouse out there, right?” River let a bitter chuckle escape her.

“Do you think we could still talk to her? Try one last time?” Vastra asked.

“To Missy? I don’t think so. She seemed so sure of herself. I mean, I don’t know her as well as Clara or Bill and they seem to think she’s changed but it didn’t seem like it back then.” Martha answered.

“I mean, we can always try, just to be sure this is our only last option.” River shrugged.

“Who’d do it, though? Who’d take the responsibility of killing her?” Vastra asked.

“How much as I hate the Master and all they’ve done, I’m not sure I can kill them. I’m sorry.” Martha whispered.

“It’s okay, I’ll do it. I have experience killing time lord anyway,” River tried to joke, “and Missy knows who I am and how dubious my morals are. Maybe she’ll listen if it’s only the two of us.”

“Are you sure?” Vastra asked.

“Yes.” River smiled softly, putting a reassuring hand on her friend’s arm, “I’ll be back before you know it.”

Martha smiled and went to fetch River’s vortex manipulator. Bill noticed.

“What are you doing?”

“Okay, I understand you cannot condone what I’m about to do, so here goes: this is my decision. I am deciding to go and try to stop Missy, whatever the method. It’s my choice, my decision, my responsibility. You can try and stop me if you want.” River said as she entered the first coordinates when she’d try to find Missy.

“River, you can’t do that!” Clara exclaimed.

“I can and I will. I’m sorry. Don’t feel guilty, I’m always doing whatever I want anyway. This is not your fault, nor your decision.” River said as she looked each of them in the eyes. “And if the Doctor finally decides to show up, tell them I love them, but they really need to get a grip on time.”

Martha smiled at River who waved.

“Wish me luck!”

And with that, the archaeologist disappeared.

Chapter Text

River appeared in the middle of a very busy street of London. She looked around her, very confused. People were wearing end of the 19^th century fashion, but cars were driving around, and cell phones were in everyone’s hands. In fact, when River got hers out, perplexed, she realized she had internet. Shaking her head, she started strolling around the city, trying to find Missy. She couldn’t shake the awkwardness she felt when she saw women in corset and puffed sleeves texting or men in top hat with Ear-pods. She arrived on Piccadilly Circus and was unpleasantly surprised to see that here, too, Missy’s work had changed things earlier on: advertising billboards were shining everywhere. She scanned the crowd, looking for the vibrant and familiar purple. She then lost herself in London, looking attentively around her to try and find the Time Lady. Two hours later, she still hadn’t found her. The night was about to fall, she was tired, and getting more frustrated every minute. Around her time kept changing and the people as well. The fashion was never the same, new technologies appeared out of nowhere and the language evolved so fast, River wasn’t actually sure she could talk with someone more than one minute before she stopped understanding them. She sat on a bench and sighed. She needed to revaluate her strategy. She considered sending a text to the QG, tell them to try and find a more precise location but by the time they’d do it, Missy would likely have moved again anyway. She rubbed her nose bridge, closing her eyes. Someone sat next to her.

“Looking for me darling?”

River jumped.

“Oh my god, Missy! You startled me!”

“That was rather the point dear.” Missy chuckled, “Are you here to try to stop me?”

“If I can, yes.”

River decided to go straight to the point and be honest. She was tired of all this games.

“Again? What makes you think you can?” Missy tilted her head and bit her lip in a falsely naïve pose.

“I don’t know. I guess I remember all the great things the Doctor told me about you, about when you were young and I… I guess I still have faith in you.” River shrugged.

“Oh, but you can!” Missy exclaimed, “Look at what I’ve accomplished.” She gestured around.

“Yeah, that is not what I meant.” River sighed. “This is not what we want. There’s still time to go back you know. We wouldn’t be creating too much of a paradox, I think the universe could take it.”

“Why would I want to undo all of this?”

“Seriously?”

“Oh, I’m dead serious. I do not understand why you all seem so set on making me stop. I genuinely do not understand why I’m the bad one here. I advanced human progress by more than a century, how is that bad? I prevented so many deaths!”

“The thing is, you think you did but you actually killed billions of people.”

Missy shook her head in disbelief.

“They never existed, that is barely killing them.”

“But it is, though. You made Martha and Mickey’s daughter disappear. As well as Donna’s children. She almost died upon remembering the Doctor.”

“Oh yeah, Donna… I vaguely remember that name…” Missy wondered, “As for Martha and Mickey, I think their daughter’s disappearance isn’t that high a cost when you look at the grand scheme of things, is it?”

“But that’s the thing Missy!” River got up, getting frustrated, “We’re not interested in the grand scheme of things! There isn’t a grand scheme of things to begin with. Human progress is what it is because humans are who they are. There are no laws of progress or whatever. Humanity progresses through individual actions. Progress isn’t some sort of autonomous process or whatever. And that’s not even the point, ok? What good is progress for, if no humans exist more than a few seconds to benefit from it? What’s the point? Because yes, it’s usual to say that progress is for the greater good, that it’s an amelioration of society. But ultimately, what is progress really? It’s a mother capable of feeding her children without worrying about money. It’s a child able to go to whatever school they want regardless of where they come from and how they learn or think. It’s a man able to process his emotions without being shamed for it. Progress, ultimately, is to better the life of people. Individually. It’s so that everyone can live an easier and happier life. So, what’s the point if no one can experience it because they disappear or change every five minutes?”

“Oh! But that’s because I’m not done yet. Once I’m done, don’t worry, humans will exist for more than five minutes to enjoy all this.”

“No but…”

River pondered if it was still worth it to try and reason with Missy.

“Okay, this is my last shot…” she muttered under her breath.

“What’s that dear?” Missy asked.

“Look. This is like my history with the Doctor. Technically, the Doctor could go back in time and save me from being taken by the Silence. I would live a happy childhood with my parents, I wouldn’t be brainwashed and traumatized, my mum wouldn’t be scarred for life and my dad wouldn’t feel useless and guilty every day of his life. From almost every point of view, this would be a good thing. But one, if the Doctor saved me, then I wouldn’t have grown up with my parents and I wouldn’t have played the matchmaker. So, my parents would have never had me. I disappear. And two, if the Doctor did that, then we would have never met as adult and well… Long story short I would be single, and I wouldn’t exist. And let me tell you, none of the options please me. Sometimes something that seems bad is actually a blessing and vice-versa.”

Missy looked at her unimpressed.

“Are you really trying to convince me to stop helping humanity by comparing its history with your pathetic romance with the Doctor? First, that’s a bit pretentious of you and second, your love pales in comparison to the relationship I have with him! Granted, you’re one of the strongest romantic interests they’ve had in a long time, but that’s nothing compared to us. You could never compare to me. And besides, that’s certainly nothing compared to human history. So tough luck on that.”

Missy smiled, as if apologizing. River glared at her and took a big breath. She had tried and she had failed. She would have to act quick if she wanted to knock Missy off by surprise with the poison. It was her last option.

River pretended to give up and started fidgeting with her vortex manipulator to make it look like she was going back to the “present”. Satisfied, Missy turned her back and started going.

River jumped on her, the vial of poison in one hand, ready to smack it on whatever naked bit of skin she could find on Missy. But Missy wasn’t an untrained Time Lady and she, too, knew Venusian aikido.

She slammed River on the ground and put her in an armlock.

“You really though that would work? Who do you think I am?” she said in a dangerously soft voice.

“I… had… to… try…” River said, straining to free herself.

“Yeah, well, you failed. That’s too bad.” Missy said sarcastically, “I’ll take that.”

She took the vial with precautions between two fingers, disgusted.

She got up, still restraining River with an iron fist.

“What am I gonna do with you now?” she said as a city alarm went off, “Oh, what a good idea!”

River struggled to get free as Missy started laughing.

“See, that’s a tiny detail I forgot to mention but I still haven’t found a way to prevent wars. So right now, France is actively bombing London. This is the signal to join a shelter. But you, my dear, are going to sleep under the stars, the most explosive stars!”

River started to fight back, while still desperately trying to convince Missy to stop. But soon, Missy’s thumb was on her throat, and everything went black. Missy delicately laid River down.

“It’s a real shame you do not give in more to your sociopath side River. We could do such great thing.” She whispered, shaking her head.

The first bomb dropped somewhere in London. Missy jumped.

“Oh, that’s my cue!”

And she disappeared with River’s vortex and the vial of poison.

All around River, who was still unconscious, it rained bombs. And the storm was closing in on her. Suddenly, a whirring and whizzing sound was audible. A familiar blue box appeared a few meters away. Inside, the mood was perplexed and worried.

“Doctor, aren’t we supposed to be in London in 1889?” Yaz asked as soon as they landed.

“We are, why?”

“I have 4G.”

“You what?”

“I have internet.”

The Doctor’s head appeared on the other side of the console.

“What? That’s not possible!”

“I know. I also have 50 missed calls from Graham and 100 audio messages from Ryan.” Yas announced as her phone started to vibrate and the notifications flooded in, her face growing more worried as she realized what was happening.

Somewhere into the console, another phone started to blow up with notifications. The Doctor retrieved it quickly, reading all the notifications from at least 5 former companions, but in truth, they were so many notifications, she wasn’t even sure how many people had tried to contact her.

“Oh my god, this is not good. This is very very bad.”

“What’s happening?”

“I don’t know Yaz.  Let me take a look outside.”

The Doctor’s head pooped through the TARDIS’ opened door just as a bomb landed a few meters away, blinding her and deafening Yaz.

“Why are there bombs?” Yaz panicked.

“I don’t know.” The Doctor properly stepped outside and scanned around her, her sight coming back slowly.

She read her sonic’s results.

“We are definitely in 1889. But why are there bombs? It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Maybe this is a consequence of the Flux?” Yaz guessed.

“Unlikely. We stopped it before it could destroy Earth.”

Yaz went around the TARDIS and that’s when she spotted her. The woman laying unconscious on the floor behind the TARDIS. She rushed to her side, checking her pulse.

“Doctor!” she called out, “We have someone unconscious here.”

The Doctor came running.

“Are they alive?” she asked.

“It appears so. I have a pulse and she’s breathing.”

The Doctor stopped dead when she sighted the woman in Yaz’s arms. She knew those curves, she knew this hair, she knew her.

“River!” she shouted as she shoved Yaz aside, taking her wife into her arms, “River, wake up. River! Sweetie, please wake up.” She started crying as she called her wife’s name. She didn’t know if it was tears of joy to see her again or fear to see her unconscious.

Yaz looked at her, confused. So, this was River. The Doctor’s deceased wife. Who was very much alive. She was about to ask how this was possible when a bomb landed only a few meters away from them, making her jump.

“Doctor! We need to go! We can’t wait for her to wake up here. We need to go back to the TARDIS.” Yaz shouted.

The Doctor looked at her but didn’t move. Yaz took River legs.

“Come on, let’s get a shift on! We need to go somewhere safe or else we’ll all die here.” She urged the Doctor.

This seemed to snap the Doctor back to the urgency of the situation. They carried River into the TARDIS and laid her down carefully on the floor. The Doctor launched the TARDIS into the time vortex as the ship hummed in joy to sense River back.

Yaz caught her breath.

“So… What just happened?”

The Doctor kneeled next to River, stroking gently her cheek.

“I don’t know. And I don’t like that. We’re going to UNIT, see if Kate knows what’s up. She called for help anyway I think.”

“Good idea. Apparently, Ryan and Graham met her, they sent me a text message asking me about UNIT. So, they’re probably there as well.”

“Perfect. I’ll let you handle it, please?” The Doctor looked at Yaz and then at River.

“Of course.” Yaz answered softly.

The Doctor gently took a strand of hair away from River’s face.

“We’re going to make sense of it all, Sweetie. I will find who did this to you.”

She gently kissed River's forehead as Yaz pulled down the lever.

Chapter Text

Martha sighed as Clara stormed out of the room. They’d just spend half an hour arguing (and shouting on Clara and Bill’s part) about whether to go after River. But as Clara started to go, a very familiar sound started resonating. Clara spun around so fast she almost fell. The TARDIS appeared and Yaz got out first, closely followed by the Doctor carrying River. She eyed the room quickly before laying River on the couch.

“What happened?” Martha said as she hurried to River’s side.

“I was rather hoping you would explain.” The Doctor said flatly, “We found her unconscious outside in the middle of the Blitz. What’s happening here?” She asked, a furious edge to her voice.

Behind her, Yaz was furiously whispering to Ryan and Graham about the billion texts they sent her.

Jack opened his mouth to start explaining the situation when Missy appeared at the other end of the room. Not looking up from her vortex, she started talking.

“Alright everyone. This was fun while it lasted, and out of respect for the Doctor I didn’t want to kill you, but this has gone too far. So, you have approximately 10 seconds to apologize and leave the building, or I blow you up. Am I clear?”

She finally looked up and breathed out a very surprised “oh”. Someone in this room had a very questionable (and recognizable) fashion sense and she was not expecting to meet them now.

“Why?” The Doctor asked, almost as if she wasn’t expecting any answer.

“Why what, Doctor dear?”

“Why are you here?”

The Doctor didn’t understand the situation, but she really wasn’t in the mood to see the Master again.

“I see you managed to save your dear wife just in time.” Missy eyed the curls sticking out of the couch, ignoring the Doctor’s question.

“You’re responsible for this?” The Doctor asked again, a dangerous edge to her voice.

“Weeeell… She brought it onto herself, really.”

“How dare you? You come into our world, you change our history, we try to stop you and you say we brought it onto ourselves?” Martha exclaimed, taking a step forward.

“Martha, don’t.” Jack warned.

“So, this is what you’ve been doing?” The Doctor tilted her head and crossed her arms.

“Oh yeah, but don’t worry, your little pets have been very adamant to stop me. They didn’t succeed but they tried. Kudos to them for the effort.” Missy smiled mischievously.

“I repeat my question then: why?”

“You know why.” Missy said sternly, all trace of enjoyment gone from her face.

“Is this about you turning good? Again? Because this sure as hell doesn’t seem like it.” The Doctor gestured wildly.

(“What are they’re talking about? Who’s she?” Yaz asked.

“It’s the Master. And a long story. I’ll explain later.” Ryan whispered back.)

“Ah! Here we are again. Yes, this is about me trying to be good. But once again, anything I do isn’t good enough for you, is it?” Missy shot back bitterly.

“It’s not about me and you know it. It’s about people’s lives which you destroy. Continuously.”

The companions exchanged worried glances, sensing the energy shift in the room. This was quickly devolving into a very personal discussion they weren’t certain to be willing to listen to.

“No, it’s not! It’s about me trying to get my friend back but you’re being impossible. You’ve always had this sense of superiority about yourself, Doctor. Always so sure to be better than anyone else, always so sure to know better than and for anyone else. I’m really trying here, I’m trying to be good for you, but no! The Universe forbids you admit that I can change. Or that maybe, maybe ” she stressed, “there is another way than yours to be good.”

“Why is it always about that? Why do you always make it about me being better than you? I. am. Not. Better. Than. Anyone.” The Doctor whispered darkly.

“You may say you’re not, but you sure believe you are. And the worst is, you convince anyone else it’s true!” Missy exclaimed, her voice rising with frustration and anger, and centuries of unsaid conflict, “Look at them lot! Look at them! They are convinced they are doing the right thing because it’s what you would do. They don’t even question it! You are turning everyone into you, and no one questions you but me.” Missy gestured wildly, “I can’t take it anymore! I am sick of people being like you and owing you for everything!” she practically shouted.

“WHY. CAN’T. YOU. LEAVE. ME. ALONE?!” The Doctor yelled back.

Everyone in the room took a step back and River awoke with a start. She looked between the Doctor and Missy while the Doctor completely lost it.

“I don’t want to be the Timeless child and I am not better than you! I have been an experiment; I have lived longer than I ever thought, and I can’t even remember it! I forgot friends, and probably members of my family! I’ve killed people and done things I can’t even remember! And you relished telling me that! You relished seeing me crumble at your feet. You say that I feel better than you and you hate me for that, but who is trying to feel superior here? Who is trying to prove me their version of good is better than mine? I’m not. I’m sure as hell not.” The Doctor trailed off, “I don’t even know who I am any more, how could I know what is good or not? But this is certainly not what you’re doing. Rewriting history,” She shook her head, “I know what it feels to have your entire history rewritten and this is not a good thing. So why, why Missy, can’t you leave me, and humanity, alone?”

“Oh, so you know about the Timeless child then?” Missy asked, sadness and compassion flashing through her eyes.

“Yes, and I see you do too.”

The Doctor’s mind was racing. Missy was apparently a regeneration after the last one she saw. She didn’t let herself dwell on that. It was a problem for after Missy stopped threatening to blow them off.

“Then you should understand Doctor. Why I’m doing this. Don’t you want to change what happened to you? Aren’t you tired to always abide by the law made by the very people who tortured you?”

“Not if it means killing thousands of people or erasing them from time. This is not the way. And like I said, my history’s already been rewritten and hidden from me, against my will.”

“I’m so sorry Doctor but you are so soft. You deserve to change you own history. You deserve better things. You are the only one preventing that for yourself. And you are the only one preventing your friend from having a better life. I’m only trying to help.”

The Doctor considered Missy’s words. They rang true. Didn’t she deserve a little bit of peace and quiet. And didn’t her friends deserve to live on a better planet?

Martha and River both saw the Doctor’s look change. River could sense her wife’s mind racing.

“Doctor don’t listen to her. You know this isn’t true.”

“And why is that River? Why isn’t that true?”

“Because Lila disappeared.” Martha said through her tears.

“Because Luke did too.” Jack added.

“Because Donna almost died.” Graham whispered.

“Because you refused to sacrifice me to save Earth from the Monks.” Bill locked eyes with the Doctor.

The Doctor looked at them all and looked at River again.

“Because, my love, you refused to let time die just so that we could be together.”

Behind them, Clara was discreetly approaching the desk. She’d noticed a cube was sitting on it and she had recognized it as a stasis cube, which had given the Doctor the idea to save Gallifrey all those years ago. Missy snorted at River’s comment. The Doctor spun around and sprinted to face Missy, their faces only inches apart.

“Why can’t you stop? Why can’t you just accept that what you’re doing is wrong?” she said in a low, threatening voice.

“Because then, it would mean you were always better than me.”

Missy extended her hands, about to push the bomb’s detonator. Clara lunged forward and activated the cube on Missy. Silence fell on the room. The Doctor was so still, Clara feared she had activated the stasis cube on her as well. She got closer.

“Doctor?” She whispered, barely daring to talk.

The Doctor slowly turned her head before taking a step back from the frozen Missy.

“What do we do now?” Yaz asked.

The Doctor didn’t answer. She looked at everyone, barely breathing, before storming out. Yaz started following her.

“Don’t.” River called out.

Yaz turned around.

“Why not?”

“She needs time alone. And we need to figure out this mess.” Vastra answered.

Clara sighed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think this far. My focus was to stop her blowing us off, to be honest.” She chuckled sourly.

“Thank you for that.” Martha smiled.

“I think I may have an idea…” Bill said in a tiny voice.

They all looked at her expectantly.

“I’m not sure but… Missy leaving the Vault is completely preventable, isn’t it? We just need to get there right before she leaves.”

“You’re right! This isn’t a fixed point in time!” River exclaimed.

“And…” Jack said as he approached the still frozen Missy, “We have her vortex manipulator and it’s the latest model! We can look through her trip history!” He held Missy’s vortex manipulator triumphantly.

“We just have to go back there and if she never left, then all the paradoxes will solve themselves? Right?” Bill looked at River.

“I think so, yes.” River smiled.

“Then it’s a plan.” Mickey clapped in his hands. “Who volunteers?”

“I do! I know where the Vault is and how to enter it.” Bill said.

“I do.” A voice came from afar.

They all looked around to see the Doctor making her way back toward them.

“She and I need to have a conversation. A calmer conversation.” The Doctor tried to joke, aware of her companions’ feelings towards her right now.

“Are you sure Doc?” Graham asked.

“Yes.”

They all exchanged looks, unsure of what to say.

“It’ll be fine, guys, I promise. We’ll be back in no time.”

Vastra cleared her throat.

“Actually, if the paradoxes resolve themselves, then some of us won’t be here. Donna and Wilf for example.”

“Which is a good thing.” Martha said, “Donna shouldn’t be here, it’s too dangerous.”

“Donna’s here?” The Doctor’s face lit up.

“Yes, but not in a good shape. We’ll explain later.” Jack quickly set the Doctor’s hopes down, “The priority right now is to solve all this. You should go now. Here are the coordinates of Missy’s departure.”

Bill took the vortex manipulator.

“Can we use the TARDIS, Doctor? It’ll be way more enjoyable than yet another vortex trip.”

“Sure. Go ahead, I’ll join you.”

The Doctor went to Yaz.

“Are you okay staying here?”

“Yeah, fine. I’ll catch up with these two.” Yaz smiled.

The Doctor went into the TARDIS and soon they were leaving.

“How do we know if this will work?” Jenny asked.

“This Missy should disappear soon. And maybe we’ll all be back to before we tried to catch Missy the first time. I don’t know. Paradoxes always give me a headache.” River complained.

“Kate should reappear somehow as well.” Martha said.

“So now we just wait.” Vastra concluded.

Chapter Text

Bill was waiting outside of the Vault, trying not to listen to the Doctor and Missy’s conversation. She was supposed to be on watch, in case her Doctor or Nardole came by. In any case, she didn’t really understand half of the conversation. Apparently, the Doctor was something called “The Timeless Child”? And this wasn’t something she or Missy were happy about. There were also a lot of accusations, on both parts, followed by apologies or at least some kind of common peaceful ground. Bill sunk to the floor and started dozing off, lulled by the Time ladies’ muffled voices. She awoke with a start a few hours later when the Doctor called out for her.

“Really good watcher you make, heh? Sleeping like a child.” She laughed.

“Yeah, well, “Bill checked her watch, “You’ve been in there for 3 hours so…”

“I know. I’m sorry. We needed to talk. Lots of things to catch up on.” The Doctor said, making her way to the TARDIS.

“But don’t you know her future? Didn’t you influence her in some ways?” Bill tilted her head.

“I tried not to but also… Looking back on it, I think Missy always had this conversation with me.” She entered the TARDIS and went to the control room.

“Really? How so?” Bill asked.

The Doctor scrunched her face. “Do we really have to talk about it?”

“We don’t. I just thought you might want to, I don’t know, share it with someone else. Make it easier to bear?”

“Yeah, I don’t… I don’t do that anymore…” The Doctor whispered, launching the TARDIS into the Time vortex.

“Not very trusting this regeneration, I take it?” Bill asked softly.

“Things happened. No need to dwell on the past.” The Doctor cut short.

“If you say so.” Bill looked worriedly at the Doctor.

The TARDIS landed and the two of them got out. They arrived in the middle of a party. Kate was there, listening to Clara and River tell her what she’d missed. The “other” Missy had disappeared. Bill smiled and joined Heather, Jenny and Ashildr on the dance floor. The Doctor joined Martha and Vastra on the couch. Graham, Mickey, Jack, Ryan and Yaz were coming back with beers and juices, and they dropped them on the table before going dancing. Mickey however went to hug Martha and whispered something to her.

“I was just waiting for you. Do you really think I’d still be here otherwise?” Martha asked.

“Fair point.” Mickey smiled as Martha got up.

“Where are you going?” the Doctor asked.

“To the Nobles’. We need to get our daughter back.” Martha smiled.

“Can I come?” The Doctor asked hopefully. She desperately needed to see Donna. She wanted to see her best mate again, just to have some sense of normalcy.

“Sure. If it’s not too hard for you.” Mickey said, conscious of the Doctor’s feelings.

“It won’t be. I think. Can I just say something to the others first?”

“Don’t be too long.” Martha smiled.

The Doctor stood up on the couch. Everyone looked at her while Yaz lowered the music.

“I just wanted to say how grateful and proud of you I am. I really picked the best humans to travel with and I couldn’t hope for better friends. And I also wanted to apologize. For not being here earlier. You had to deal with something that had absolutely nothing to do with humanity or you. And I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry for not answering my calls and for not always being there for you.” Saying that, she looked directly into Kate’s eyes. She knew she’d had to deal with the Grand Serpent and she wasn’t there to help her. “You are, and I mean it, my family. My extended fam. So, thank you for that.” She finished with her voice barely louder than a whisper, tears in her eyes.

River went to her side and took her hands, squeezing it in support.

“Thank you for being our friend back Doctor.” Jack smiled. “And you know we always got your back,” He came to hug her, “Speaking of it, I must go. Some people close to me need rescuing.” He winked at the Doctor and then disappeared.

“Can we go now?” Martha asked.

“Yeah sure! Yaz, I’ll come back to pick you up later if it’s ok?”

“No problem!” Yaz smiled broadly. She’d rather stay here and listen to all the others talking about their times with the Doctor.

Indeed, as soon as the Doctor, River, Martha, and Mickey left, the party soon turned into an improvised “Former companions of the Doctor anonymous”. Everyone talked about the joy and the hardships of traveling with them. Their not-so-nice moments. Their frankly fucked-up behaviours on occasion. Their unconditional love and friendship. The wonders of the universe. The pain of leaving. How, for those of them who’d left, it’d still been absolutely worth it. A lot of tears were shed, a lot of hugs were shared. Yaz told them the few things she knew about what happened to the Doctor lately. But she also shared how the Doctor was so secretive, or at least very wary of sharing anything personal. At that, Vastra and Jenny scoffed, as well as Graham and Ryan.

“She really hasn’t changed, has she?” Vastra said.

“On that point, I don’t think she ever will,” River mused, “There’s too much going on in that idiot’s head for her to be able to share it with us. I don’t think she even understands herself half of the time. And it seems to me it’s much much worse now, especially after what you’ve told us Yaz.”

They all sighed and nodded.

On the other side of London, the atmosphere was more joyful. Martha and Mickey were playing with Lila, relishing the time spent with their daughter. Lila hadn’t really understood why her parents had been there twice in the same afternoon and why they’d both given her massive hugs the second time, but she wasn’t about to complain. Wilfred and the Doctor were chatting discreetly on the couch, catching up happily but trying not to wake up Donna’s suspicion. The Doctor had chatted a bit with Donna, introducing herself and all, but Donna had quickly gone back to play with her kids, at their express demand. She didn’t understand why she’d felt so at ease with this woman, nor why her Gramps seemed to know her. She also didn’t really understand this sudden ache in her chest, like she was missing something. She tried to shake the feelings, thinking this was possibly just seasonal depression, and the advantage of having two kids was that she couldn’t dwell too long on it either. Soon they were all playing a game of Monopoly and Donna’s kids were absolutely thrilled to see the Doctor being a bad sport. Donna, Martha, Mickey, and Wilfred were just really amused at the Doctor’s childish behaviour. When dinner came, the Doctor said goodbye to everyone, not wanting to impose too much on Donna, when she was just a polite stranger to the redhead. She left quickly and silently, her heart still aching a bit, even after all these years.

When she arrived at the UNIT QG, only River, Yaz, and Kate were left. Clara and Ashildr had dropped off Vastra and Jenny in the 19 th century, and Bill and Heather had gone back to wherever they were before this whole mess. Yaz and Kate were trying to assess the Flux consequences and they spent almost all night on it, barely scratching the surface of it. The Doctor and River, on the other hand, spent the night together, enjoying what little time they had before River had to leave.

“Are you okay Doctor?” River asked, tracing mindless patterns on the Doctor's arms, as they were cuddled together on the couch.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” The Doctor asked.

“You’ve got that look on your face.”

“I’m fine, sweetie. I promise. As long as I’ve got you, I’ll be fine.” The Doctor smiled. For the first time in ages, she really believed those words.

River kissed her head. The Doctor cuddled further into her arms, and they silently went to sleep, comforted by each other. Tomorrow they’d have to leave, go back to their lives. But tonight, The Doctor had a wife, and a family, and all was well in the universe.