Freedom (Doctor Who)

Freedom is the second episode of the second series of Doctor Who produced by The 56Studios. It concludes the story of Control.

Story
The group stepped back from the door as pounding came from the other side. They heard the hisses and growls of the Zygons within. There were groans from the metal doors as the monsters attempted to pull them open by force. Quickly, the Doctor went to the panel and used the sonic screwdriver to try and override the doors, but the Zygons were already damaging the mechanism.

As sparks began to shoot from the doors, the Doctor retreated back to the group of humans.

“They’re going to get through!” he said. “We have to move!”

“Where do we go?” Alexandra asked.

“We have to get you out of here, ma’am,” her last remaining Secret Service agent said, his gun drawn. “We need to evacuate-.”

“Of course we need to evacuate!” the Doctor snapped, cutting him off. “But we can’t let the Zygons take control of the Valiant!”

“Then what do you propose we do?” the man replied. “Because my top priority is the President’s safety.”

The two stood off before Clara came between them.

“How about we get the President and the Prime Minister to the TARDIS, and then we can stop the Zygons?” she said, her gaze switching between the two.

There was silence between them for a moment, the only noise being the sound of the sirens blaring around them. After a few moments, the Secret Service agent sighed and broke the stare and turned to the group.

“Alright. Let’s do that,” he nodded.

The doors continued to be pulled apart, threatening to break open at any moment. Kate ran a hand through her hair and turned to them.

“If we’re going to do this, now is the time.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” April said. “Let’s go!”

As the Zygons continued to break through the blast doors, the group of humans, led by the Doctor, ran down the corridor towards the TARDIS.

“We are almost through!” one of the Zygons declared as they continued prying the doors open.

“Faster!” Kalek demanded, standing behind them. “The Doctor is getting away!”

“These are blast doors!” another of them, Vudun, retorted. “They’re not as easy as you think!”

“It does not matter!” their leader snapped. “The Doctor must die!”

The Zygons continued pulling at the doors. Suddenly, the locks broke, and the blast doors slid open and crashed into their slots. Stepping into the corridor, they found that the Doctor and his allies were nowhere to be seen. They looked around, but they were long gone. Kalek growled, storming around the corridor.

“No… no…!” he roared. “They will not get away! They will not escape!”

“They could be anywhere by now,” another of the Zygons, named Rohag, said. “We should regroup.”

“No!” Kalek’s eyes flashed. “This could be our only chance to topple of the oppressive regime of the humans! Of the Doctor! We will not waste this chance!”

“But how will we find them?” Vudun asked. “This ship is massive, and it’ll be crawling with humans!”

Kalek stood and considered this before he came to a realization. Turning around, he walked back onto the flight deck. The other Zygons watched him with confusion before following. Walking over the bodies of the fallen soldiers, their leader ascended the stairs to the controls. He surveyed them from a moment before coming to one panel in particular. Holding his claw over it, electric suddenly erupted from his fingertips and hit the controls.

Immediately, the panels sparked, which caused a chain reaction of miniature explosions around the room. The Zygons looked around in alarm as the ship shuddered and the lights went out, only be replaced a moment later by emergency lights. The alarms died out, the distant hum of the engines being the only thing they could hear.

“What have you done?” Rohag stepped forward.

Kalek turned towards them and smiled. “Trapped our prey.”

“Five Zygons are not going to be able to defeat the Doctor, Kalek. He has stopped us time and time again,” Vudun said.

“I know,” he said, producing a small device. “That’s why I brought this.”

They watched as Kalek held it up. Pressing a large red button, the object lit up. For several moments, nothing happened, when suddenly more than a dozen Zygons teleported onto the flight deck around them. The members of the Zygon delegation looked around in surprise, before smiles broke across their faces.

“My brothers,” Kalek said. “The hunt is on.”

The group was running down the corridor when the ship suddenly shook. The lights went out and alarms died. Emergency lights flared into life around them. The large blast doors ahead of them slide shut, locking with a loud noise.

“What’s going on?” Clara asked.

“The power’s been cut!” Kate exclaimed. “But that’s impossible!”

“Not when those who did it can generate electricity,” the Doctor said grimly.

Bringing up the sonic screwdriver, he ignited it, using it as a torch. He shone it around the corridor. Kate and the Secret Service agent pulled out their own torches. The gentle hum of the engines filled the silence.

“So what now?” April looked around the darkness. “If there’s no power, we can’t open the doors.”

“We can still try to bypass it,” the Doctor said and walked over to the panel beside the door. Opening it up, he began working on it with the sonic screwdriver.

As he worked, Clara saw the aide who had escaped the room with them standing against the wall. She looked uneasy, probably shaken by everything that had happened. A faint smile crossing her face for a moment, Clara approached her.

“Hey,” she said, which seemed to startle the woman for a moment. She looked up at her.

“Hey,” she replied, distantly.

“Are you doing alright?” Clara asked.

“Fine. Yeah.”

“I can understand not being able to comprehend all of this. It’s pretty crazy what’s going on as is, and I should be able to grasp it all,” she chuckled.

“Lucky for you.”

Clara watched her for a moment before continuing.

“What’s your name?”

“Olivia,” she looked at her. “Olivia Angstrom.”

“And who do you work for?” Clara asked.

“The Prime Minister,” Olivia replied. “Was just assigned from U.N.I.T. this week. Didn’t think I’d end up in the middle of a civil war.”

She chuckled. “When traveling with the Doctor, you can never be too sure of what kind of situation you’re going to end up in.”

Olivia nodded. “I can imagine.”

Silence hung between them for a moment when suddenly the blast doors slid open. They all got up as they revealed another darkened corridor beyond. Slowly, the Doctor stepped into the darkness, followed by the others.

“Where are the other soldiers?” April asked. “Shouldn’t there be other soldiers?”

“There should only be a handful,” Kate explained. “For this summit, we felt that we shouldn’t have too many soldiers on board. Otherwise we might upset the Zygon delegation and derail everything.”

“That certainly worked out well,” April commented.

Kate frowned. “That wasn’t our fault.”

“Yes. It was whoever the trigger-happy soldier was,” the Doctor said at the front of the group. “And you wonder why I never carry a gun.”

“I don’t know who fired,” Kate replied. “But whoever did it is dead now, so that doesn’t matter. All that matters now is stopping this war.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” the Time Lord muttered.

They continued walking for a while before they reached yet another sealed door. They all groaned as they approached. Walking up to it, the Doctor pounded his fist against the metal. He pressed his forehead against the door, eyes closed. They all watched him before he spoke.

“We don’t have time for this,” he growled. “Humanity is on the brink of war… and I’m stuck unlocking these damn doors!”

He slammed his foot against the door, and immediately recoiled in pain. Walking it off, he moved to the panel beside the door and began working on it.

“You’re right, though,” one of the Osgoods said. “We can’t keep doing this. We’re wasting time.”

“We need to reset the systems,” the other Osgood adjusted her glasses. “That’d be in the engine room.”

“Well, we’re not getting to the engine room at this rate,” the Doctor stepped away from the panel as the doors slid open. He began to move to cross the threshold when a voice filled the corridor.

“You’re not going anywhere, Doctor.”

Half a dozen Zygons were standing behind them. Electricity crackled in their claws, and their eyes blazed. The group stiffened at their sudden appearance. Kate and the agent drew their weapons while the others moved behind them. Slowly, the Zygons began to approach them. Stepping forward, the Doctor moved to the front of the group.

“Listen to me!” he barked. “We can stop this conflict now before it becomes war!”

“It is war, Doctor!” one of them hissed. “It became war as soon as you forced us to make peace with these humans! You started this, and now you shall reap the consequences of your interference!”

“My interference was stopping you from taking over the Earth and destroying the human race,” the Doctor replied. “And if you don’t stop, I’ll do it again!”

“We won’t stop. We’ll never stop,” the Zygon growled. “Not until we are free!”

The beast set a bolt of electricity at him. The Doctor ducked under it before moving backwards.

“Out! Out now!” he said.

Together, they retreated towards the doorway. As they did, the Zygons fired on them. Bolts of electricity crackled past them, coming within inches of them. They moved to cross the threshold into the new corridor. As they did, the last Secret Service was struck by a bolt of energy. He was immediately transformed into a smoking ball of hair and flesh.

The Doctor was the first to cross the threshold. He raised the sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the panel. Activating it, the doors began to close. Clara and April crossed, then the Osgoods, then Kate, then Olivia. Alexandra and Austin were close behind. However, a second later, the President and the Prime Minister were struck, but they were merely knocked to the ground.

“No!” Kate yelled.

The doors closed with a clank. Roars of the Zygons echoed from behind the doorway. The group was breathing heavily. Outside, the aliens pounded on the doors, desperate to open them. Finally Kate caught her breath.

“They have the Prime Minister and the President,” she said, stepping towards the Doctor. “We have to save them!”

“Of course we do,” he replied. “But we can’t now. If we try, they will massacre us!”

“They could kill them!” she snapped back.

“If they wanted that, they would’ve turned them into balls of smoking flesh,” the Doctor said. “The Zygons want them for something, and I promise you I will find out why, but we have to move. Now!”

The Doctor then took off down the corridor. After a moment, Clara and April followed, then the Osgoods, and as Kate looked at the door, she then turned and ran after them also. Behind them, the banging of the Zygons on the door echoed in their ears. They continued running, not looking back.

“Where are we going now?” April asked.

“To the TARDIS. We can use it to fight back,” the Doctor replied.

“I thought you wanted to face them?” Clara tried to keep up with him.

“Well, they don’t want to negotiate, do they?” he looked at her as they ran. “I’m going to have to try a different approach.”

“And what’s that?” she raised an eyebrow.

The Doctor smiled. “A rescue.”

The President and Prime Minster were thrown to the ground. Zygons surrounded them, being too numerous to count. Among them, one stood prominent. He stood over them, fire in his eyes. He licked his lips and flexed his fingers. Stepping forward, he towered over them. They looked at him in raw defiance.

“What do you want?” Alexandra demanded.

“You can’t keep us here!” Austin growled.

Kalek laughed. “I do not answer to you. You are under my command. You will do exactly as I say, or suffer the consequences.”

“And what consequences would that be?” she asked.

“Death, of course,” Kalek replied. “Disobedience would be unwise.”

“And why would abduct two of the most powerful people in the world?” the Prime Minister tried to stand, but was forced back to his knees.

The Zygon smiled. “The Osgood Box is in the Black Archive. We want you to help us get into the Black Archive.”

“What? Are you insane?” Alexandra gasped. “You can’t use the Osgood Box!”

He began circling around them. “I can, and will. The Osgood Box was given by the Doctor for both of our races to use in the event that either broke the treaty. It was supposed to be a fail safe: equal and unconditioned. But instead, we were disadvantaged from the start. The humans were given sole access to the box that could decide the fate of both species. How is that a fair treaty? How does that insure that the peace will be upheld? The humans could wipe us out whenever they choose to! We’ve been forced to live in fear, because any day we could face extinction.”

“That wouldn’t happen-,” Austin tried to say, but was quickly cut across.

“It has already begun!” Kalek roared. “My people have been shot down in their homes! Your soldiers killed one of my people! Clearly, the Doctor, the mediator of our kind and yours, has chosen sides. Today, it ends. Today, we use the Osgood Box to put an end to humanity, and finally claim the Earth as our own!”

Finally, the group reached the TARDIS. Quickly, the Doctor unlocked the doors and rushed inside, followed by his companions. He ran to the console and began pulling levers as the doors were closed. Immediately, the ship shook as they dematerialized.

“Where are we going?” one of the Osgoods asked.

“Back to the flight deck. I’m going to pick up the President and the Prime Minster. Then I’m going to try and sort out this mess,” he said, slamming down a lever.

He danced around the console, piloting the ship through the vortex. “See? This is exactly why I don’t like guns. They start wars.”

“They can also end wars,” Kate replied.

“Fighting fire with fire only adds to the flames,” the Doctor’s eyes flashed.

“But it can save lives-.”

“NO!” The Doctor slammed his fist on the console. Every jumped at it, and unconsciously took a step back. The Doctor stared at the console for a moment before he turned his eyes on Kate. His eyes were blazing, and she felt that he was looking into her soul.

“I will not have anymore bloodshed. No one else has to die today. No one else will die today. Not if I have anything to say about it. Do you understand?”

Everyone was silent. His outburst seemed to have made them mute. However, he was not asking a rhetorical question, and slammed his hand on the console again.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Kate suddenly said, snapping out of her brief daze. “Yes, I understand.”

The Doctor, standing up straight, smiled. The fire faded from his eyes.

“Good. Now let’s go save the world.”

On the flight deck, the Zygons were getting ready to teleport off the Valiant and complete their mission. They had bound their hostages using pieces of the curtains that had decorated the portion of the deck used for conferences. The two world leaders struggled against the restraints, but it was useless. Now they sat on the floor against the wall, waiting for their departure.

“What do we do?” Austin whispered to Alexandra.

“I don’t know, but we can’t let them get to the Osgood Box,” she replied. “That’s for sure.”

“Agreed,” he nodded. “But we can’t get out of these restraints.”

She looked around for a moment before turning back to him. “We need the Doctor.”

“The Doctor’s abandoned us,” he said.

“No. We were taken. He’s probably finding a way to save us right now.”

“I doubt that,” Austin rolled his eyes. “The Doctor may save people, yes, but he also leaves destruction in his wake. He is a hero, but he is also a destroyer.”

Silence hung between them for a moment before she continued.

“Well, if there’s anything I’ve learned about the Doctor,” Alexandra said. “He won’t go down without a fight.”

“I hope that’s true,” he said as he saw Kalek turn to approach them, flanked by two other Zygons. “And soon.”

“We are ready to leave,” he hissed. “Soon, you will give us access to the Osgood Box, and humanity will be no more.”

Alexandra glared at him. “We won’t help you. We never will.”

“You have no choice,” Kalek smiled. “You are merely a means to an end.”

He turned to his fellow Zygons and nodded. “Grab them. Ready them for transport. We’ll leave momentarily.”

Reaching forward, the two Zygons grabbed the world leaders by the shoulders and pulled them up, despite their best efforts to fight against them. They dragged them over to where the other Zygons stood. The creatures cast threatening looks at them as they passed by. Behind them, Kalek stepped forward, seemingly to address the assembled. Silence fell around them as they waited for their leader to begin speaking.

“My brothers. Today is the day that we win our freedom. Today is the day that we rid ourselves of the iron fist of humanity’s oppression. The Doctor has shown that prefers the humans, and that he is a traitor to is word. We will destroy him, and the humans. We will have our victory!”

The Zygons roared their accord. The President and Prime Minister looked around in concern at the assembly. A war was brewing around them, and there was no way to stop them.

“Now,” Kalek said, producing his small device, “we march to our desti-!”

He was stopped by a strange groaning that was beginning to fill the room. The Zygons looked around in confusion as the noise grew louder, and louder. Smiles broke across Alexandra’s and Austin’s faces. Kalek’s face, however, contorted in rage.

“No!” he roared.

To their shock, the TARDIS was materializing on the flight deck. Gusts of wind blew past them, as if someone had left a window open somewhere. A moment later, with a thump, the blue box solidified, and the doors opened and the Doctor and his companions stepped out. The Zygons snarled at the Doctor’s arrival. He was unfazed, however, and confidently strode forward.

Kalek stepped forward towards the Time Lord. “Doctor.”

“Kalek,” the Doctor replied, meeting the Zygon. The two faced off again.

“You cannot hope to stop me, Doctor!” he snarled.

“Many have said that to me,” he answered. “None have ever been right.”

“My people will have their freedom!”

“By massacring humanity? Genocide is never the answer, Kalek,” the Doctor narrowed his eyes.

“It is us or them, Doctor,” he replied. “If we do not kill the humans, the humans will kill us.”

“I won’t allow that.”

“You have allowed it, Doctor!” Kalek snarled. “You are too late. The war has started, and humanity sparked the fire that will burn them to ash!”

“I can still fix this-.”

“We are long past that, Doctor!” he snapped. “There is no time to fix it. This must end now. It will end.”

Electricity crackled in his claws. Around them, the Zygons were growing more restless. The Doctor’s companions looked around anxiously. They could feel the tension in the air. The Doctor stepped back as electricity began to flicker around Kalek’s body.

“And if we are to be free, I must make sure you are not in our way,” he leveled his hand at the Doctor. Energy crackled between his fingers.

“Goodbye, Time Lord.”

The Doctor was about to react when a gunshot rang out in the room. Maroon blood sprayed into the air as Kalek lurched forward. He fell to his knees, screaming in agony. He clutched his shoulder as blood streamed out.

Immediately, everyone in the room turned to see where the shot had come from. To their surprise, Colonel James was standing, his gun in hand. There was a moment where nothing happened when the Zygons raised their claws and readied to fire electricity at him. Darren turned his gun on them and opened fire. Many Zygons fell as bullets entered their bodies. The President and Prime Minister dove to the ground.

“Stop!” the Doctor yelled.

The other Zygons moved on the Doctor and his companions. Kate immediately pulled her own gun and opened fire. More Zygons fell to the ground around them. Electricity flew through the air, forcing the unarmed women to dive to the ground. The Doctor also ducked under the fire, but was still desperate to stop the fighting.

“Please, stop this!” he demanded.

Kalek, getting to his feet, saw one of the Osgoods ducking close by. Snarling, he quickly moved forward and grabbed her by the neck. She screamed as he pulled her around.

“You’ve brought this upon yourself, Doctor,” he growled.

The Doctor looked up to him. He saw Osgood struggling in his grasp. He then turned his clawed hand on the controls of the ship and unleashed a powerful blast of electricity. The controls flashed and exploded with sparks before their went dead entirely. The ship began to shake all around them. Then, he produced a small device. Holding it up, he pressed a button on it. A second later, shimmering with energy, Kalek disappeared, and so did Osgood, the remaining Zygons, and the President and Prime Minister. Immediately, Kate and the Colonel stopped firing and looked around, confused as to what just happened.

“Where’d they go?” Kate asked.

The ship shook even more intensely, and suddenly, they hear the engines die in the distance. Objects began to slide across the room as the ship seemed to tilt. The Doctor looked around in horror.

“The ship is falling!” he yelled.

“That’s impossible!” Kate replied, grabbing onto something. “There are fail safes!”

“Not when the whole system is taken down at once!” the Doctor replied. “The Valiant is dead and we’re falling to Earth!”

“Shouldn’t we get into the TARDIS?” April grabbed the table.

“If we abandon the Valiant, millions of people will die in the crash!” he said. “We have to restart the ship’s mainframe!”

“And how do we do that?” Clara asked.

“We have to get to the engine room. Now!”

Getting to his feet, the Doctor rushed out of the room and down the corridor, followed by Clara, April, and Osgood. The four of them ran down the corridors of the Valiant towards the engine room. The ship shook around them, and they felt as it fell towards the Earth below. Sparks fell from the walls and ceiling, signifying that the ship was being pulled apart.

Finally, they reached a large blast door. Going to the control panel, the Doctor began working on opening it. The hum of the sonic screwdriver was drowned out by the shaking of the ship. After a few moments, the blast door slid open and they rushed inside.

Sparks were flying in all directions, and smoke filled the air. It was obvious that the entire system had shut down. The chamber was filled with complex machinery, and piping, and none of it was active.

“What do we do?” Clara asked.

The Doctor scanned the large room. There was a series of control modules grouped in what appeared to be the middle of the machinery. Running to it, he began pressing buttons and pulling levers, but to no avail. Pulling out the sonic screwdriver, he began trying to trigger the system.

“Kalek’s fried the whole mainframe!” he yelled over the noise.

“Can you do anything to fix it?” April grabbed onto the console.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “There could be a way… but I can’t do it alone.”

“Good thing you have us here,” Clara smiled.

“I doubt you could handle the complexity of what needs to be done here,” he replied.

“Well, we’re going to be dead pretty soon if we don’t do anything,” April said. “So, what the hell?”

He looked at her for a long moment before sighing. “April. Go to that panel over there,” he pointed to one opposite them. “Clara, to that terminal,” he indicated a computer pod in the corner of the square of consoles. “And Petronella, be ready to hit this button when I tell you,” he showed her a big red button on the console.

He then rushed off to another control console and began working on it. Sparks continued to fall through the air as the ship plummeted towards the ground. Opening a panel on it, he began pulling out wires and seemingly trying to hot wire the system. Sparks flew as he did so. The monitors flickered with life, but not enough to mean anything.

“Doctor,” April said. “We’re going to crash-.”

“I know! I know!” he replied, working furiously. “Just give me a moment-.”

The Valiant shook violently. So violently that they were thrown to the ground. Picking themselves back up, they looked around in surprise.

“What was that?” Clara asked.

“We’re getting dangerously close to the Earth,” Petronella answered. “We’re running out of time.”

The Doctor was still working on the wiring. He was growing frustrated, and the pressure was mounting. He could feel it. They could all feel it.

Suddenly, the controls came alive. They glowed bright, filling the darkness of the chamber. Looking around, the Doctor laughed. He then turned to Osgood.

“NOW!” he exclaimed.

Immediately, she slammed her hand on the button. There was a loud noise followed by the room shuddering, but different than how it had before. Around them, the machinery roared into life. The engines reignited, and light filled the room. In the distance, they could hear the turbines start up, and the ship stopped shaking as they stabilized.

Together, they looked around in relief.

“We did it,” April said. “We really did it. We saved the Earth.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Not yet.”

Getting to his feet, the Doctor immediately bolted out of the room. The women exchanged glances for a moment before running after him.

“Where are we going now?” Clara asked as they caught up to the Time Lord.

“To save the world,” the Doctor replied.

The four reentered the flight deck. Kate and the Colonel had been checking the remaining bodies for survivors, but all of them, save for the Colonel himself, had perished in the firefight. Olivia was standing on the sidelines, watching. The two U.N.I.T. looked up as the group arrived and walked over to them. Olivia came and joined them.

“What did you do?” the Colonel asked.

“Restarted the engines, obviously,” the Doctor replied. “Power’s been restored to the Valiant. You’re welcome.”

Silence hung between the six of them for a moment before Kate stepped forward.

“So what happened to the Zygons? Where did they go?”

“I don’t know, but they have Osgood now too,” he answered. “One of the Osgoods, anyway.”

“They had to have taken her for a reason,” Clara said.

“Seemed more impulsive than anything,” April crossed her arms.

“No, it was strategic,” Osgood stepped forward. “And I think I know why.”

They all turned to her.

“Strategic how?” the Colonel inquired.

“They want to use the Osgood Box. That’s why they took the President and Prime Minister, and probably why they took my sister,” she explained, much to their dismay. “They want to get into the Black Archive.”

“Of course,” the Doctor muttered, pacing the room. “Of course. It makes sense. They want to commit genocide before genocide is committed against them.”

“Can they do that?” April asked. “Sorry, still trying to play catch up.”

“If they have the President and the Prime Minister, they can access the Black Archive,” Kate explained. “And therefore access the Osgood Box.”

“Couldn’t they have accessed it before?” Clara crossed her arms.

The two U.N.I.T. officers exchanged glances. “No,” the Colonel shook his head.

“Why not?” Clara stepped forward. “You’re saying that we had access to the Osgood Box, but they did not? We could have wiped them out at any time we chose and they wouldn’t’ve had a chance?”

“We couldn’t just let them have access to the Black Archive willy nilly!” the Colonel snapped. “Obviously you can see that?”

The Doctor’s expression grew dark. “That was not the terms of the treaty,” he said. “You deprived them of a right. You’ve jeopardized the ceasefire! No wonder we’re in this mess! It’s because you!”

“And what if this radical group of Zygons decided to use the box against us, Doctor?” Kate joined the debate. “Because they certainly didn’t come here and decide that humanity needed to be extinct. They’ve been planning this for a long time. It only depended on which side was depraved enough to shoot first, and clearly, some group of scum decided to do so.”

“Some group of scum?” Olivia suddenly said. They all turned to look at her. As they did, a smile crossed her face.

“Well, I suppose most of them are scum,” she continued, now that she had their attention. “But they are scum with a purpose. A righteous purpose, in fact.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” April asked.

Olivia chuckled. “You really think that that first shot was a mistake? Some trigger-happy soldier trying to save the day? If so, you’re dead wrong,” she gestured to one of the soldiers lying on the ground. “He was one of those righteous scum you were speaking about, and he only fired on my orders.”

“Your orders?” Clara stepped forward.

“Of course my orders,” she said. “Who else could’ve started this war? Everything that has led you here has been of my design.”

“You’re the one that organized the attack on the transport,” Kate realized. “You’re the one that stole the documents.”

“Isn’t that what I just explained?” Olivia rolled her eyes. “God, you’re slow. Maybe you shouldn’t be leading U.N.I.T.”

“Why?” the Doctor asked. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because humanity is in danger from this alien invaders,” Olivia replied. “For decades – centuries, even – humanity has been attacked countless times by creatures from other worlds who seek to wipe us out. The Daleks, the Cybermen, the Zygons, the Slitheen, the Sycorax, the Replicators, the Ice Warriors, the Autons, the Daemons, the Weeping Angels, the Sontarans, the Silence, the Racnoss, Great Intelligence, the Master, the Rani, the Time Lords, the Darkness, and countless others. They have all come to this Earth and tried to destroy us.”

“And they were stopped,” the Doctor said. “I stopped them.”

“But at what cost? How many lives have to be lost before the aliens are gone for good?” her eyes flashed.

The Doctor saw something in them, and sighed. “Who did you lose?”

“What?” she asked, obviously surprised by the question.

“Who did you lose?” he repeated.

She looked at him for a long moment before she smiled. “That doesn’t matter, because you’ll be dead soon enough. The war has begun, and it won’t stop until every Zygon has been killed, along with any other alien invader. Such as yourself.”

“Please,” the Doctor said. “You don’t have to do this.”

“My work has already been done. You’ve lost, Doctor.”

Immediately, Kate and the Colonel turned their guns on Olivia. She took a step back as she looked at their weapons. They held them steady, readying to fire at any moment.

“You will surrender yourself,” the Colonel barked. “Now!”

“You’re under arrest for murder, theft of government documents, and international terrorism,” Kate said.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Olivia smirked, she pulled up her sleeve, where a leather object was strapped around her wrist. “You’re far too late.”

Opening a leather flap on it, she revealed a small panel. Pressing a button, she shimmered with blue light before flashing out of existence before their eyes.

They looked around in confusion.

“What happened?” Clara asked. “Where did she go?”

“Vortex manipulator,” the Doctor replied, stepping forward and scanning the area with his sonic screwdriver to confirm his suspicions. “Cheap and nasty time travel, but also a teleport.”

“So she teleported?” April said. “But she also has access to time travel? Isn’t that bad?”

“I can’t be bothered to worry about that right now,” he pocketed the sonic screwdriver. “The Zygons want to use the Osgood Box and wipe out humanity. We need to get to Earth.”

“Doctor,” Kate stepped towards him. “If they’re going to use the Osgood Box, we should use the TARDIS to get there before they do and use it. This is why you left it.”

“Don’t you dare,” he glared at her. “Don’t. You. Dare.”

“They will commit genocide against us!” she snapped back. “My job is to protect humanity!”

“And what do you think my job is?” the Doctor asked. “I have saved this planet more times than anyone can remember. Don’t tell me how to protect humanity!”

“I will use the Osgood Box if I have to, Doctor, and you can’t tell me otherwise.”

“No. You won’t,” he said, before turning and walking to the TARDIS. He stepped inside and disappeared from view.

“Doctor? Where are you going?” the Colonel called after him.

Clara stood there, looking around for a moment, before she followed him into the box. April, hesitating, did the same. Osgood watched them go, looking between her superiors and the TARDIS. Coming to a decision, she walked towards the ship.

“Petronella!” Kate said. “Where are you going?”

The TARDIS engines started up, the familiar groaning beginning to fill the room. Osgood turned and looked at the woman.

“Sorry, ma’am. I have to save the universe.”

Quickly, she stepped inside, and just as she closed the door, the TARDIS began to fade out of existence and into the vortex. Kate and the Colonel stepped towards it as wind filled the room. They watched helplessly as the box vanished from sight.

“Doctor!” Kate yelled. “Doctor! Come back here! Come back here this instant!”

But her cries were in vain, as the TARDIS disappeared a second later, and then there was silence in the room.

Outside the tower of London, the large group of people approached the building. They were a group of personal security officers, surrounding the President and the Prime Minister. They looked at their entourage uneasily. Forced to march, the world leaders had no way out from the midst of their captors. Petronella Osgood was also held with them. After they had returned to Earth, they had taken on the forms of the Secret Service agents they had killed and began marching to the Tower of London.

Kalek, who now led the group, disguised as a tall, slim, service agent, told them his plan. It was simple: they would gain access to the facility by claiming they were on an important mission from the Doctor and U.N.I.T. leadership, and they needed access to the Black Archive. They would gain access, as they were the President of the United States and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It would also help to have Osgood with them.

The Zygons couldn’t clone them, because the U.N.I.T. access scanners had been programmed to detect the biological signatures that were left by their transformations. It was subtle enough that area scanners were useless, but contact scanners could detect it.

Once inside the Black Archive, Kalek would locate the Osgood Box, and activating it, wipe out humanity. The plan seemed basic to the world leaders, but they knew that if it succeeded, the consequences would be devastating.

They were approaching the gate when two U.N.I.T. soldiers appeared. The entourage stopped before them.

“What are you doing?” one of the soldier asked.

“Escorting the Prime Minister and the President to U.N.I.T. headquarters,” the lead security officer, who the world leaders knew was Kalek, replied.

The soldiers saw that the two world leaders were indeed there. “But aren’t they supposed to be on the Valiant? The summit was scheduled for today, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was,” Kalek nodded.

The soldier raised an eyebrow. “…Then why are you here?”

Kalek cast a sideways glance at their two hostages, signaling for one of them to speak. They exchanged glances for a moment, and reluctantly, the Prime Minister moved to answer. Straightening his tie, he cleared his throat, and stepped forward.

“The Doctor, er, told us to go ahead here and, uh, procure an object from the Black Archive. He dropped us off in the TARDIS with our security detail while he went, um, to deal with another issue involving the Zygons,” Austin said. It was close to what the Zygons told them to say.

The two soldiers exchanged glances before Alexandra stepped forward. “Yes. There’s a piece of alien technology that we’ve been asked to retrieve.”

“What piece of alien technology?” the other soldier asked.

“A piece of technology that could potentially disrupt the Zygon’s transformation abilities,” it was Osgood’s turn to bluff. “The device was built by humans in the future, and somehow made it’s way back to Earth in the 1990s. We have no idea if it will work, but the Doctor wants to try.”

“Aren’t you Petronella Osgood?” the first soldier recognized her.

“Yes, I am,” she nodded. “And I… I need you to let us in. Please.”

She thought about it for a moment before nodding.

“Yes ma’am.”

Going to the side of the gate, he entered a code, and the gates rolled open. For a moment, no one did anything, before the entourage began moving, forcing their hostages to come along with them. The two soldiers watched them go as they crossed over the threshold. And onto the grounds of the Tower of London.

As they walked, the three humans huddled together.

“What’s the plan,” Alexandra whispered to Osgood.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “But the Doctor will save us. I know he will. Just go along with the Zygons for now.”

“And what if the Doctor doesn’t come?” Austin said. “What if the Zygons activate the Osgood Box before he comes?”

As they continued walking, Osgood couldn’t find an answer.

The door to the Black Archive slid shut as the group gained access to it. They had gotten a few more interested looks as moved through the U.N.I.T. base, but overall, they received no trouble. Their story seemed to check out. They hadn’t heard anything of the Valiant crashing, so either they didn’t know about it or the Valiant survived, but they were not yet to get a message out.

It did not matter, however, as the Zygons were now inside the Black Archive. Stepping forward and looking at the hundreds of shelves that filled the massive room, Kalek smiled.

“Finally,” he chuckled. “Finally.”

His form shimmering, he then transformed back into his original state. Around them, the other Zygons did the same. As Kalek stepped further into the Black Archive, the Zygons grabbed their three hostages and pushed them after their leader.

“Tell me, Petronella,” Kalek boomed, walking between the shelves, looking at the various objects of alien origin that surrounded them. “Where is the Osgood Box?”

“Like I’d tell you,” Osgood replied, struggling against their grip.

“You are my prisoner,” he stopped and picked up a small, crude device that appeared to be cannibalized from a cellphone and several other components, before replacing it. “You will do exactly as I command.”

“The Osgood Box isn’t what you think it is,” Osgood said as they continued walking.

“Oh? Is it not a beacon of freedom and a beacon of oppression, depending on who stands over it? Just as it is now a beacon of hope for my people, and a beacon of oppression for yours.”

They continuing walking along the shelves before they existed into a large open area. They were surrounded by more alien objects, but the most notable of all was the long table in the middle of the area. On the table were two boxes: one red and one blue. They were wooden and engraved in strange symbols. Each had a large button on top of it, for easy activation. One box sat on either end of the table, waiting to be used.

Kalek was confused, and looked between the two boxes. He turned to Osgood, who was smiling. He growled at her.

“What is this?” he demanded.

Her smile broadened. “A choice.”

Sparks flew from the TARDIS console as they hurtled through the time vortex. The Doctor’s companions gripped onto the railing surrounding the platform. The Doctor moved around the console as best he could, trying to stabilize the ship. He was met with more sparks and the room spiraling out of control.

“Why us the TARDIS acting this way?” Clara asked over the roaring of the engines.

“We’re trying to get into the Black Archive!” the Doctor replied, pushing down a lever. “A place designed to keep the TARDIS out, so it’s harder than usual.”

“How are you planning on getting in?” Osgood grabbed onto the console. “The shielding is quite unbreakable.”

“That’s why, the last time I was there, I left behind something to help me back in,” he flipped a switch.

Osgood was shocked. “You did what?”

“It doesn’t matter now,” he waved her off. “We have a planet to save!”

Throwing down another lever, they flew even faster into the swirling purple tunnel of energy that made up the time vortex.

Kalek stared at the two boxes on the table. Both of them were identical, aside from the different coloring. His eyes darted from one to the other before he looked up to Osgood. She stood with her arms crossed, smiling. Breathing angrily, he marched over to her. Towering over her, he looked down. His eyes blazed with raw anger.

“What is this? Why are there two boxes?”

“You really think the Doctor would just give the humans or the Zygons easy access to a genocide device? Really?” she looked up at him. “You don’t know him at all.”

“So one box is for the humans…”

“…And the other is for the Zygons,” Osgood finished. “Two Osgoods. Two boxes.”

He looked back at the boxes before turning to her again. “Which one is which?”

She chuckled. “Well, that would defeat the point, wouldn’t it?”

“You will tell me, or the President and Prime Minister die!” Kalek’s claws flickered with electricity.

“If the President and Prime Minister die,” Osgood faced off against him. “Then you lose all your leverage, and the Doctor will wipe you out.”

“The Doctor does not kill,” the Zygon growled.

“That’s true. But, he probably won’t be willing to extend as much grace to you as he has in the past. He’s not a big fan of killing. He may end up deporting you to Pluto, or something.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Oh?” she asked. “Am I?”

Kalek was about to respond to her when a groaning noise began to fill the room. The humans and the Zygons looked around for its source. They all knew what it was, and while the humans’ faces lit up, the Zygons’ eyes filled with fiery rage. A breeze began to rustle past them. Energy flickered in the air. They looked around in anticipation.

Suddenly, in an incredible flash of light, the TARDIS burst into existence. It spun through the air for a moment before falling to the ground with a loud noise. They all watched it in awe. As the glow around the box faded away.

The door opened and the Doctor emerged, followed by Clara, April, and the other Osgood. The Doctor, his expression filled with fire, strode up to the table. Kalek, growling, walked to the opposite side, facing off against him. The Doctor stared into him with his pale blue eyes.

“Doctor,” Kalek said. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“You really thought that crashing the Valiant would be enough to kill me?” he replied, his gaze unwavering. “As I’ve said before, many have tried and failed.”

“It is too late, Doctor,” he snarled. “I have the Osgood Box, and I will not hesitate to wipe out humanity!”

The edges of the Time Lord’s mouth quivered as he suppressed a smirk. “Oh? And which box will you be using for this? The red box or the blue box?” he gestured to each. “One for the humans, and one for the Zygons.”

“Tell me which box will destroy the humans, Doctor!”

Now the Doctor laughed. “You really think that I would do that? Really?”

“Humanity must pay for what they have done to my people! They will suffer!” he slammed his clawed hand on the table.

“Believe me,” he said. “I will make sure that the humans experience the consequences of their actions. But I cannot do that without your standing down.”

“I will not stand down until my people are free.”

“And if you continue on this path, your people will never be free,” a voice, belonging to Kate Stewart, came over the loudspeaker.

They heard the door to the Black Archive open. Suddenly, dozens of armored U.N.I.T. soldiers streamed into the room. They surrounded them and aimed their weapons at them. A moment later Kate Stewart and Colonel James appeared, stepping through the wall of soldiers and into the circle. They both had a gun in hand.

“How did she get here so fast?” Clara asked.

“Breaking into the Black Archive must’ve sent us forward in time,” the Doctor looked around at the assembled soldiers.

“Doctor,” Kate stepped towards him, her tone severe. “This ends here.”

“Would your father be doing this?” he looked at her. “Would your father be threatening to wipe out a whole race?”

Her eyes flashed. “Don’t you dare bring him into this,” she paused. “And yes, I believe he would, if it meant saving humanity.”

He frowned. “I’m disappointed in you, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.”

“These Zygons kidnapped the President and the Prime Minister and brought hem here to use the Osgood Box to wipe out humanity, Doctor,” the Colonel stepped forward. “We have every right to defend ourselves. Either we use the box, or they do.”

“No,” he replied. “No you don’t.”

Kalek suddenly moved to the blue box and held his claw over the button. Seeing this, Kate quickly moved to the red box and held her hand over its button.

“NO!” the Doctor yelled.

“I will not fall under their tyranny again!” Kalek roared.

“If they seek to destroy us, this is the final option,” Kate replied. “A fifty-fifty chance.”

The Doctor was growing frustrated. He pacing around the room, running his hands through his short gray hair. Finally, he stopped and looked at the U.N.I.T. officers and the Zygons.

“This? This is what you think must happen? This is how you think peace can be obtained? With genocide? When someone crosses you, you wipe out their whole family? You destroy everything to get revenge? Really? I thought you were the best of your peoples. Instead, you’re monsters just as anyone else I’ve faced in my long, long, life. The Daleks seek to wipe out everything that is different than them. Do you want to be the same?”

They all stood in silence at his words. Seeing that no one was going to interrupt him, he continued.

“I was in the same position as you once. I stood over a box just like these, and I was about to make the same decision. Whether to let my people burn, or make it happen. I had fought in a war: a war that raged across the universe. I had seen whole civilizations burning. I had seen children killed in the fire. At the end of all of that, I declared that there would be no more. I was about to destroy my own people to end the bloodshed, and I was about to do it three times over.

“But,” he said, glancing at Clara, who was watching him like the rest. He looked back to them.

“But, someone made me choose something else. Someone made me choose something better. And that decision saved millions of lives. But, I thought that I had committed genocide, and for years, I had felt the weight of what I thought I had done. And I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. No one. Not ever.”

He looked at them, his expression one of pleading.

“Please. Please, let me help you. Let me fix this.”

“You can’t fix this, Doctor,” Kalek said. “Humanity will die.”

“Or the Zygons. Do you really want to be responsible for that? For either of them?” the Doctor stepped towards him.

“If I stop, they will only oppress us further. They will not forgive us for what we’ve done!”

“I forgive you,” the Doctor stepped towards him. These words took them by surprise. “I forgive you. You’ve been manipulated into this position. We all have. But we don’t have to do as they want. We can create a new path. I promise. But don’t do this. You’ll regret it for the rest of your lives. It will haunt you. It will drag you down into the darkness, and you will never emerge from it. Please.”

Silence followed his words. Both the humans and the Zygons stared at him as he stepped away from the table, breathing heavily. No one moved. No one did anything.

After a moment, and shaking slightly, Kate removed her hand from above the box. She stepped away, holding her wrist. The Doctor smiled at her.

“Thank you.”

She only glanced at him, still shaking, and nodded. Kalek, however, stared at the box. He then looked up at the Doctor.

“No. I will not allow our freedoms to be taken away again. I will not!” he growled.

Placing his hand over the button again, he readied to press it. Kate seeing this, sprung forward to do the same. Together, the two of them slammed their fists down on the buttons. Everyone in the room gasped at this. The Doctor, however, merely looked down in sorrow.

“It shouldn’t have had to be this way,” he muttered.

As they hit the buttons, the boxes suddenly began to glow with a white light. The light began to grow brighter, and brighter, before they were all consumed in a blinding light.

April was lying on the steel floor. It was cold against her face. Slowly, she began to stir. Gathering her strength, she pushed herself off the ground. Her head spun as she looked around. She appeared to be in some kind of control room, with control consoles lining the walls. Clara then appeared beside her and helped her onto her feet.

“What’s going on?” April asked. “Where are we?”

“On a ship,” Clara replied, walking her over to a chair and sitting her down. “I think we’re orbiting the moon.”

She held her head as she tried to will the spinning to stop. Her head ached. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she looked up. The Zygons laid on the floor, with Kate, Darren, and a handful of the U.N.I.T. soldiers around them. They must have been teleported here, April deduced. But how? The last thing she remembered was the Osgood Boxes being activated…

A moment later, the Osgoods themselves appeared and came up to the two women.

“How are you doing?” one of them asked.

“Why aren’t we dead?” April looked at her. “I mean, the Osgood Boxes were activated, weren’t they? Why weren’t the humans and Zygons wiped out?”

The two exchanged glances.

“You really believe that the Doctor would leave the humans or the Zygons a weapon that could wipe out the other? He knew this would happen. He just didn’t want to believe it.”

“So what happened?”

“The Osgood Boxes are actually teleports,” the other Osgood said. “They teleported us here, to a ship.”

April was still having a hard time understand, probably because her head was pounding. “But why?”

“Because,” the Doctor’s voice rang through the room. “I wanted to give them a choice.”

The Doctor was standing in the doorway to the bridge. He stood there for a moment before crossing into the room. He strode to the console in the center of the room and pressed several buttons. A moment later, a section of the front wall slid open and revealed that they were in space. They could see the moon and the Earth, and the sun blazing in the blackness.

“A choice that shouldn’t have been needed,” he said, looking down.

Behind him, the humans and the Zygons began to stir. As soon as they awoke and saw each other, they sprung to their feet and readied their weapons. The Zygons claws flickered with electricity. The President and Prime Minister moved to the back of the group.

“What is this?” Kalek looked around the room. “What is going on?”

“A ship,” the Doctor turned to them. “A ship large enough to take you and your people to a new world, far from the humans and from oppression.”

“That’s what the Osgood Boxes do?” Kate asked. “They teleported us here, and didn’t kill all of humanity and the Zygons?”

“Of course not,” the Doctor replied. “I would never leave you with such a device.”

“But why do all of this? Why have the charade?” Colonel James questioned.

“Because I wanted to see if humans and Zygons could live together peacefully, I still believe that you can. I genuinely do. You just have to try. Forget the sins of the past and start anew.”

“After everything that’s happened, you believe we can go back?” Kalek snarled. “After all the bloodshed?”

“Yes,” he replied bluntly. “That’s how every great civilization has formed: by forgetting what had come before and working to build something new. But it is your responsibility to do so.”

The two groups watched each other, both unsure of what to do. The Doctor sighed.

“Look. You have two options here. One is to take this ship, fill it with the Zygons, and go to a brand new world. The other is to remain on Earth, and try to make amends. Build a brand new world yourselves,” he paused, looking between them.

“It’s up to you to decide. The future of the Earth is in your hands.”

They were standing in the U.N.I.T. control room. The Zygons had resumed their human forms, and were standing with the humans as they faced the Doctor, Clara, and April as they stood outside the TARDIS.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Kate said, smiling. “Really. Thank you again.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“But she does,” Kalek, chuckling, stepped forward. “You saved both of our races, and showed us the right path.”

“You showed yourselves. I merely guided,” he replied. “You are in charge of your own destinies, and I look forward to see how you forge yours.”

Alexandra nodded. “You have my assurance that I will do everything I can do ensure that this treaty continues.”

“Same here,” Austin joined her.

“Good luck with that,” he muttered. He then turned to the Osgoods.

“You two are the bridge between the humans and the Zygons. It’s up to you to maintain peace between them.”

They nodded. “We know, Doctor. We know.”

“Fantastic,” he smiled.

“Goodbye, Doctor,” Kate said.

He nodded. “Goodbye, Kate.”

The Doctor was about to move to enter the TARDIS when a U.N.I.T. aide came running into the room. She ran up to Kate, panting.

“What is it, Isabel?” Kate asked, confused.

“She wants to speak to him,” Isabel looked to the Doctor. Kate’s eyes widened.

“How the hell did she know he was here?” the Colonel asked.

“She’s a Time Lord,” the Doctor said grimly. “We always know when there’s another one of us around. Always.”

Clara took his hand. “You don’t need to go.”

He looked at her and nodded. “Yes, I do. And I go alone.”

The Doctor entered the room. The cell in the middle was shrouded in darkness. As he approached it, a voice came from the shadows.

“Doctor,” she said. “You came.”

“Only because you asked,” he replied.

A light over the cage suddenly exploded into life, filling the room. The Rani was sitting in the middle of the cage, on the stone floor, watching him. She was bound in a straight jacket. Her hair was a mess, and she appeared to have tried strangling herself at one point. She still only had one hand, since her other arm had been blown off.

“How do you like my new look?” she smiled.

“What have you been doing?” he said, beginning to circle the cage.

“Trying to kill myself, obviously,” the Rani answered, moving to follow him. “I’m tired of this prison.”

“You would just regenerate,” the Doctor stopped on the opposite side of the cage. “And you’re the one who waged an invasion on the Earth. Of course they’re going to punish you for your actions!”

“I did not wage an invasion!” she spat. “I was forced to do this! He made me do this!”

“Ah yes,” he chuckled. “The Dark One. Your supposed employer.”

“Yes,” she said. “He rescued me from the Time War at a cost: I bring you to him. That’s why I did it. That’s why I invaded the Earth. It was his plan. Not mine.”

“And you had no choice but to do his bidding?” he crouched down, so that they were eye-to-eye.

“He said that if I disobeyed, he would kill me,” the Rani answered, her eyes flashing. “I did have no choice.”

“Kill or be killed,” he sighed, standing up. “Spoken like a Time Lord.”

“Doctor, I didn’t ask you here to argue,” she finally said. “I wanted you here to warn you.”

He stopped and looked at her. “Warn me about what?”

Her expression became grim. “The Dark One is still coming for you. He’s plotting something else. Something big. I know that he planned something in case the incursion failed. I don’t know what it is, but he’s not done with you yet.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m telling you to watch yourself, because he will come. And when he does, he may just get what he wants.”

“And what does he want?” the Doctor came around to the front of the cage again.

She looked up at him. “I don’t know. But it will be the end of you if he gets it.”

The Doctor stared at her for a long moment, and he stared at her. Finally, he turned and walked out of the room. As he did, the Rani called after him.

“The Dark One is coming, Doctor. And no one will stop him. Not even you.”

Her words echoed after him as he walked down the corridor and out of sight.

Characters

 * Twelfth Doctor
 * Clara Oswald
 * April Leigh-Morgan
 * Kate Stewart
 * Petronella Osgood
 * Darren James
 * Olivia Angstrom
 * President Alexandra Garcia Morales
 * Prime Minister Lewis Austin
 * Foreign Minister Eugene Gaiman
 * Secretary of State Brandon O'Connor
 * Kalek
 * U.N.I.T.
 * Zygons

Trivia

 * This story is based on The Zygon Invasion and The Zygon Inversion, but shows a different form of events, stemming from the alternate timeline that the series takes place in.
 * It also draws inspiration from Spyfall.