Scars (Doctor Who)

Scars is the fourth episode of the second series of Doctor Who produced by The 56Studios.

Story
The edge of the solar system. A station orbiting Neptune.

Red lights faded on and off in the space station. An alarm sounded in the distance. Pieces of metal and other materials littered the ground. There were dark stains and pieces of organic material among them.

A moment later, a woman ran past a window overlooking the blue gas giant that they orbited. She was panting heavily as sweat glistened on her brow. She continually looked over her shoulder as she ran, as if something was chasing her. The woman turned down endless corridors, never slowing down for fear of being caught.

Behind her, there was an earsplitting scream. Then there was rapid thumping as some kind of creature ran after her. Its form was obscured by the shadows, but it was not human. Its red eyes blazed in the dark.

Eventually, the woman reached a door. Quickly entering a code into the pad, she rushed inside and closed the door behind her. She was in a control room of the station. Engaging a deadlock seal, she fell against the door, breathing heavily. A second later, however, there was a loud banging from the outside, with dents beginning to appear in the metal. She jumped away from it, watching in horror.

Knowing that time was running out, she ran to one of the consoles and entered something into the keypad. Just as she entered it, the door broke down, and the creature rushed in. She screamed as it came upon her like an animal, cutting into her with its razor claws.

Her screams echoed down the corridors of the station, before dying out completely.

The TARDIS wheezed and groaned as it transited through the time vortex. Inside, the Doctor walked along the upper deck of the console room. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses and strumming an electric guitar. The melody echoed around the room, and out down the corridors deeper into the ship.

Papers lay scattered about, like confetti. They lay on the floor, tacked to the railing and beams, and holding places in books. All these papers had one thing in common: the Darkness. They all contained fragments of the information the Doctor had learned about the entity since his first encounter. His personal hypotheses, other accounts, ancient documents, and scholarly speculations.

His most valuable piece of information was from the data he recovered from the research settlement he, Clara, and April had discovered. They hadn’t seen the footage yet, and he didn’t think they had too. But he had, and it only reaffirmed what he believed.

The Darkness was evil.

Not evil like the Daleks or other adversaries he had faced over the millennium. Instead, the Darkness embodied everything that was wrong in the universe. It was the blackness before the beginning of the universe, and it would be the darkness after the last star burned out.

He didn’t know why it acted the way it did. In the video, it had wiped out the entire settlement without a second thought. Men, women, and children – all gone for no other reason than because they were there. What was the Darkness after? What did it want?

The Doctor was pulled from his pondering as an alert rang out from the TARDIS. Setting down his guitar on a stand, he descended the stairs to the main deck. Pulling over one of the monitors, he took off his sunglasses to see a message appear on the screen.

SAVE US, it read, in bright red letters.

Pocketing his glasses, he swung around to the other side of the console, and slammed down a lever. The TARDIS lurched as it abruptly turned down another time corridor, purple energy swirling around it.

London. Present day.

“Alright! Make sure to read chapters eleven and thirteen, and do all the assignments in the chapter and bring them back next class!” Clara yelled over the roar the bell ringing and the rumbling of the kids leaving the classroom.

As she watched the last of the stragglers disappear, she sighed and turned to the board. Grabbing an eraser off her desk, she began clearing the glass surface of the notes she had made. She wasn’t as convinced that being a teacher was the dream job she had thought it was when she first started. Yes, she loved kids, but the task of teaching them was daunting to her. She couldn’t imagine what it was like to be a parent, especially with some of these kids.

Clearing the board, she dropped the eraser on her desk and slumped in her chair. It had been a few weeks since Cardiff, and she was growing bored. Her personal left a lot to be desired. She had gone on a few dates in the last few months, but no one who really excited her. Picking up her phone, she began scrolling through her texts. A few of them were from her dates. One woman in particular was very keen to see her again. She was a nice girl, for sure, but clingy, like some of the men she had seen.

Ultimately, she thought, she wasn’t going to be able to balance her life with the Doctor with anyone she chose to begin a romantic relationship with. One would have to go, and she certainly wasn’t going to give up the TARDIS.

Getting up to leave, she stopped as she heard a familiar noise in the distance. Going to the window, she saw the box materializing in the parking lot outside the school. A smile broke across her face.

“Speak of the devil.”

Grabbing her jacket and bag, she ran out of the classroom.

District of Columbia. 1980.

April was walking away from the newspaper at the end of the day. As she walked, she was staring at the ground. It had been a rough day. Her editor was giving her ridiculous and non-substantive pieces to write, even for sports news. Her coworkers were becoming more cruel and racist than ever. Being an Asian-British-American female journalist in an era of rising conservatism and following a time of racial tensions was not the environment one wanted to live in.

She longed for the TARDIS, with its ability to travel across time and space. There, she could see worlds that were better than hers, and times of Earth where people were free to live however they wanted to live, regardless of what they looked like, who they were, or who they loved.

Turning down another street towards her apartment building, she couldn’t help consider leaving her job for something better. But what was there? She had looked for better journalistic opportunities, but no one was hiring. Well, no one was hiring her. April supposed to she could always move back to England and look for something there, but she didn’t want to prove her ex-husband right. That would not happen.

The bottom line, however, was that she needed a change. And soon.

As she approached her apartment building, there was a sudden wind that rustled past her. The wind was followed by a wheezing noise that filled the air. Slowly, the TARDIS began to materialize before her. A smile broke across her face before she ran towards it.

The engines of the ship hummed around them as they hurtled through the time vortex. The women stood around the console as the Doctor piloted the ship.

“Where are we going this time?” April asked, obviously excited.

“The TARDIS picked up a distress signal from a space station orbiting Neptune in the thirty-eighth century.”

“What was the distress signal about? What happened?” Clara inquired.

“No idea. Just the words ‘save us’ in big dramatic red letters. Obviously too good to resist.”

“So it’s dangerous, yeah?” Clara bit at the tip of her nail in expectation.

“Probably,” he replied.

“How probably?” April pressed.

“Very,” he smiled.

The two women glanced at each other. “How long until we arrive?”

Around them, the ship shuddered as the engines died away. The Doctor disengaged the lever and looked at them.

“Now,” he said, leaving the console and striding to the doors. Quickly, April and Clara followed him, excitement in their steps.

As the Doctor opened the door and they stepped out, they found themselves in a dimly-lit corridor. Red emergency lights flashed in the distance, giving them a small amount of illumination. The Doctor went to an access panel and used the sonic screwdriver to open it. Poking around, he grunted in dissatisfaction.

“These wires have been cut,” he explained. “That’s why there’s no light here.”

Clara took out her phone and turned on the flashlight and shone it around. The Doctor and April looked at her.

“What? Did you forget that I come from the future?” she chuckled.

The Doctor raised the sonic screwdriver and it ignited like a torch. He shone it around the corridor. April felt obligated to look through her jacket, but came up empty.

“I’ve got nothing,” she said, pulling out her pockets.

“That’s okay,” Clara replied. “I’ve got you.”

Armed with their lights, the trio began looking around the station. Metal and wires stripped from the walls littered the floor or hung from the ceiling. Something bad had obviously happened here. A battle or a massacre, it looked like.

“Whoa,” Clara breathed.

There was a window a few paces away from the TARDIS. Striding over to it, they looked out. The women gasped at what they saw, but the Doctor remained quiet. They were on a space station of some kind, orbiting what appeared to be Neptune. The ball of blue gas loomed before them, the lonely planet spinning ominously through the black void of space. The sun blazed in the distance, so far away, but it still stung their eyes.

“Alright,” Clara said, as April turned away, holding her head. “Edge of the solar system. Cool.”

“You’ve been much farther than this, Clara,” the Doctor replied.

“I know, but this is home, only really far away from it. It’s kind of spooky out here.”

“Space can be like that,” he muttered.

“Hey,” April knelt down by a piece of metal. “What’s this?”

They came over and shed light on it. There was a large puddle of blood coming out from underneath the metal. Exchanging nervous glances, Clara helped April move the wreckage. To their horror, they found the body of a woman lying underneath it. Leaping back, they looked at the corpse from afar as the Doctor investigated. Her body was torn apart, with her face unidentifiable. It also appeared as if her torso had been torn open and many vital organs removed, with her jumpsuit in tatters.

“It looks like some kind of animal did this,” he said. “Or at least, made to look that way.”

“There’s more over there, I think,” April pointed further down the corridor.

Getting up, the Doctor shone his light down the corridor, and uncovered several other bodies. They all wore jumpsuits identical to the woman’s. They all had similar injuries, but inflicted in different ways.

“What the hell could’ve done this?” Clara covered her mouth. “What kind of creature does this?”

“There are many Earth animals that can tear you to shreds,” he replied. “But the removal of organs is certainly a new one.”

“So what do you think did it?” April asked.

“I don’t know-,” the Doctor was beginning to speak when an earsplitting scream echoed down the corridor.

They all quickly gathered together, standing shoulder to shoulder.

“What. Was. That?” April breathed.

“Most likely? The creature that killed the crew of this station,” the Doctor whispered, beginning to back up, moving so the women followed him.

They heard the sound of metal dragging against metal coming up the hallway. Moments later, they saw the silhouette of a humanoid creature appear several feet ahead of them at the mouth of the corridor. It was walking on all fours, and they could see metal plating and wires extruding from it. It had long claws, which was what was making the noise. Its most notable feature was its blazing red eyes.

Slowly, it began to approach them, its gaze unwavering. The trio began to step backwards, and with each step, the creature moved faster. It growled loudly and inhumanly. Moments later, it came into the light, and they saw that it was indeed humanoid, but wires and metal were fused to its flesh. It was sickening to look at.

“What do we do?” Clara hissed, obviously terrified.

“We mean you no harm!” the Doctor said to the creature as they continued their retreat. “We just want to help!”

The creature roared before breaking into a run. It was remarkably quick, considering the bulk it had on it. The Doctor’s eyes widened.

“RUN!” he yelled.

Turning, the three of the ran as the creature charged. They bolted around the corner and ran for their lives. Roaring, the creature followed in close pursuit. They had no idea where they were going, they just knew that they had to survive. Behind them, the creature was growing closer and closer.

After turning down many corridors, they were approaching a large set of metal doors. Aiming the sonic screwdriver at the panel on the side, the Doctor activated it. With a hissing noise, the doors slid open. Rushing inside, the Time Lord used the screwdriver to close the doors, looking them just as the creature crashed against them. The doors shook violently as it did. Pressing the button again, a large sheet of metal came down and covered the door, barricading them inside.

As the creature pounded on the door outside, unable to get in, the three of them fell against various objects in the room, catching their breath. They appeared to be in some kind of computer room of the station. There appeared to have been a struggle, with some dried blood streaked across the floor.

“What happened here?” Clara asked.

“I imagine that it has something to do with our friend outside,” the Doctor remarked, scanning the room. Looking at the readings, he frowned.

“That can’t be right,” he said.

“Huh?” April asked.

“There are multiple human life signs in this room,” the Doctor replied, still looking at the sonic.

Both women looked a teach other before looking back to the Time Lord. “If there are human life signs…” Clara trailed off.

Immediately, several figures appeared from behind the equipment. They were all carrying guns of various types, which were quickly aimed at the three of them. In the blink of an eye, they were surrounded, looking down the barrels of a half-dozen guns. The people wielding the guns were men and women in the same kind of uniform that the dead wore outside.

“Ah,” the Doctor said, looking at the woman who appeared to be the leader. “You must be the survivors.”

“Identify yourselves!” she barked, holding her rifle steady.

“I’m the Doctor. This is Clara and April,” he gestured to them individually. “We received your distress call.”

The crew exchanged glances. “Hannah got the message out?” one of them asked.

“Evidently,” he nodded.

“So she didn’t die for nothing,” another of them breathed.

“No, she didn’t,” April tried to sound comforting.

“She was crazy for doing it,” yet another spoke. “But, goddamn it worked.”

“Hannah wouldn’t’ve had to do it if this room hadn’t been fried by the demon,” one of the men’s hands trembled as he spoke.

“Like we said,” the lead woman said, glancing sideways at him but keeping her gun on the Doctor, “she didn’t die for nothing, Aaron.”

The man, Aaron, nodded, but still trembled. Clara watched him but kept quiet. The lead woman cleared her throat and continued speaking.

“So. You answered our distress signal, and you have named, but who are you, specifically? Are you some kind of authority? If so, which planet in the Federation do you come from?”

“Not really fond of authority,” the Doctor answered. “More sort of a traveler. An inbetweener.”

“That’s not what that is,” Clara said.

He ignored her. “But it doesn’t matter where I come from or who I am. The only thing that I care about is helping you survive that monster out there. Which means that I have to learn everything there is to know about that thing.”

Hesitating for a moment, the leader sighed, and lowered her gun. “Not here. Come with us.”

Turning, she broke rank with her fellow crew mates and walked towards the back of the room. The others watched the three of them, seemingly waiting for them to do something. Realizing that they were supposed to move, the trio walked after the woman. As they passed through, the other crew members followed them.

The woman led them between the computer banks and consoles before coming to a blank spot between two servers on the wall. Stepping forward, she pressed a certain spot in the metal, and it shifted inwards. A moment later, that part of the wall slid open to reveal a dark passageway. Without a word, she walked through it, and they followed.

Coming out of the short passageway, they came into another room, which appeared to be some kind of storage room. Inside were three other crew members, who looked up in surprise at their arrival. Behind them, the wall closed, and the remaining officers came through into the safe haven.

“Who the hell are they?” one woman who was sitting on the ground asked, her leg bandaged up.

“They say that they’re here to help,” the leader said, walking to the middle of the room before turning on her heel to face the travelers again. “So how can you help?”

“Well, first it would be useful to know who you are, and what’s going on here?” the Doctor held his hands behind his back. “Where we are would be helpful, also.”

The crew exchanged glances. “You mean you don’t know?” one of the men asked.

“Aside from the orbiting Neptune part on a space station, not a clue.”

“This is the space station Nimbus 8,” the lead woman said. “We’ve been monitoring the planet Neptune for the last two years. I’m Colonel Louise Miller. This is Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Brown, Major Clark Noah, Captain Sophia Davis, Lieutenant Phillip Jones, Sargent Aaron Gardener, Sargent Riley Armstrong, Private James Reynolds, and Private Samantha Palmer,” she gestured to each of them, ending with the woman on the ground.

Louise paused before continuing. “There used to be thirty of us here. Two days ago, an unauthorized shuttle docked with our station. It overrode our protocols like nothing I’ve ever seen. Then… that creature emerged from it. It tore us apart, and we barely escaped with our lives. We knew that we had to get a distress signal out, but it was impossible. Lieutenant Hannah Cook managed to get a signal out, but she was killed by that thing.”

“What is that thing?” Clara crossed her arms.

“No idea,” the Colonel shook her head. “It’s humanoid, but I’d hardly call it human. It’s a monster. It’s ruthless, and impervious to our firepower.”

“So you’ve barricaded yourselves in here to…?”

“Wait for rescue. Or at least plan another way to get out a distress signal,” Marcus crossed his arms.

“You guys were in a computer bank of some kind, right?” April gestured towards the corridor behind them. “Couldn’t you do something from there?”

“The creature’s been damaging power systems across the station,” Sophia spoke up. “We were trying to restore the computer room when you three showed up.”

“Well, the distress signal went out and now we’re here. It’s time to stop hiding in the shadows and fight this creature,” the Doctor said.

“And how do you propose we fight this thing?” Philip asked.

“A trap is never a bad idea,” he stroked his chin.

“How are we going to trap that thing?” Samantha protested, trying to move but wincing in pain. “That thing’s broken down doors. I don’t think a cage is going to cut it.”

The Doctor smiled. “Who said anything about a cage?” he pulled out the sonic screwdriver. “You’ve got a lot to learn, my dear.”

They all watched him curiously. He smiled.

“Now. Show me what I’ve got to work with.”

They had connected their safe haven to the storage room of the station. In the room, the Doctor had found many pieces of equipment that he said he could use to trap the creature. The most valuable items he found were energy emitters, he explained. He didn’t say how he was going to use them, just that they were vital to their success.

Returning to their safe haven, the Doctor began setting up the emitters, arranging them in a circle around the room. They looked like some kind of light arrays, but he assured them that they were not. He explained that they emitted powerful beams of energy that were used to suspend pieces of equipment in the air so they could be worked on by mechanics. He said that if they could get the creature in the circle, they could trap it with the emitters.

Both of his companions commented on how this plan was very similar to his plan to trap the Kasaavin in Cardiff, and he replied that trapping way not a novel idea. Plus, he wasn’t going to use anyone as bait this time, to April’s relief.

As he finished calibrating them, the Time Lord stepped back and watched as they glowed with a faint light.

“Will they work?” Louise asked, stepping up beside him.

“It should. But we’ll need one more thing that I couldn’t find in the storage room,” he turned to her.

“And what’s that?” she looked at him quizzically.

“A pound of human flesh,” he said.

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the Doctor. They all looked at him with horror on their faces. Silence hung around them before his companions spoke up.

“What do you mean ‘pound of human flesh?’” April asked.

“Doctor…” Clara trailed off.

He looked at them with an expression that indicated he didn’t know why everyone was upset. “What’s the problem? I need a pound of human flesh. How is that unclear?”

“Why would you possibly need that?” Riley gasped.

“As bait, of course!” the Doctor replied. “How else am I supposed to lure it here? I’m certainly not going to use one of you!”

“But those are people,” Philip stepped forward.

“Yes, and it’s very sad that they died, but they’re dead, and we need to stop this thing before it kills all of us.”

“I don’t know, Doctor…” Clara crossed her arms.

“Do you have a better idea?” he turned to her. “Do you want me to use you as bait?”

“There has to be another option!” April protested. “Using someone’s remains like that is wrong!”

“Sometimes there isn’t another option!” the Doctor spat back. “That creature will slaughter us if we do not act decisively now! There is no way back to the TARDIS, no other thing to use to lure it here. This is our only choice.”

He paused, looking at their shocked faces, before continuing.

“Now, go get me some flesh. Do as you are told!” there was a darkness in the way he spoke.

Clara stared at him for a long moment before sighing. She looked to Philip.

“Philip. Can you come with me?”

He looked between the Doctor and the woman and nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

“Bring Aaron too,” Louise said. “You need to keep safe out there.”

Aaron grabbed a rifle off a stack of metal containers. Making sure it was charged, he readied it. “Yes ma’am.”

The new trio was walking down the corridor incredibly slowly. They moved as quietly as they could, not daring to make even the slightest sound. Both men led the way, guns in hand, while Clara walked between them. She had a plastic bag, gloves, and a knife in her hands. She dreaded what the Doctor wanted them to do, but she knew that he had his reasons for it, even though she felt that it might be wrong.

Hesitantly, they turned a corner, and found the bodies of several crew members lying there. Their blood and internal organs lay scattered on the floor around them. The sight was revolting, forcing Clara to cover her nose.

“Jamie…” Philip muttered, looking at a blonde-haired woman who was lying under a sheet of metal. Her complexion was pale, and she had a lethal gash in her neck.

“Was she important to you?” Clara asked.

He didn’t answer. Aaron sighed.

“Philip liked her, and we think that she liked him back,” he said sadly. “I guess they never got around to telling each other how they felt. Makes you think, I guess, about those you love.”

Clara looked at Jamie’s body on the ground. “Yeah, it does.”

They stood there for several moments before Philip turned away from her corpse. “Come on. Let’s get what we came here for and go.”

She nodded. Looking around, she found a body that was hardly recognizable as human. Deciding this would be the best candidate, she put her gloves on and readied her knife. The two men readied their weapons and stood guard, looking up and down the corridor for anything that could even be seen as a threat. Slowly, she knelt over the body and began cutting into its flesh. It was deeply unpleasant, and the sight nearly made her want to vomit. Yet, she persisted.

Pulling out what she figured was about a pound, and slid it into the bag. Sealing it, she stood up and turned to the men.

“Okay. We’ve got what we need.”

“Then let’s get out of here. Now,” Philip said.

The three of them began moving back through the corridor towards the stronghold when a spine-chilling stopped them in their tracks. It echoed all around them, ringing in their ears. Immediately, the men pointed their guns into the darkness on either side of them, readying to fire at anything that emerged from the shadows.

“What do we do?” Clara hissed, her eyes wide in fright.

“We have to get back to the others,” Aaron said. “But we don’t know where this thing is.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Philip replied, turning away from the opposite corridor. “We have to mov-.”

He was suddenly tackled to the ground by the creature. Its red eyes blazed as it climbed on top of him and began tearing at his flesh with its razor claws and teeth. Philip screamed in agony as he was torn apart, struggling to fight back against the beast, but the creature had dealt dozens of fatal blows within seconds. Blood poured from his wounds, pooling around him rapidly. Color drained from his face as his arms weakened and his eyes fluttered.

Aaron, breaking from his momentary shock, readied his gun and opened fire on the beast. The bolts of energy bounced off its armor. It continued tearing at Philip before it looked up at Aaron. He continued firing, more and more blasts hitting it but doing no damage.

He looked over his shoulder at Clara.

“Go!” he barked. “Get back to the others! I’ll hold it off!”

“But you’ll die!” Clara protested.

“My life doesn’t matter! You need to stop this thing, and I’m giving you the time to do that! Now go!”

The two looked each other in the eyes for a moment. Suddenly, the creature pounced and tackled Aaron. He screamed as it dug into his flesh. She watched the horrific sight before turning and running down the corridor as the man was mauled by the beast. She heard his dying screams behind her before going quiet.

Clara continued running. Behind her, the creature came into pursuit, bounding down the hallway after her. She was breathing heavily and sweat covered her brow. Slowly, the creature drew closer to her, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

Turning a corner, she saw the open doors to the computer bank coming into view. Bolting towards it, she crossed the threshold. Rushing to the control panel, she hit a button and the doors slammed shut. Falling against the wall, she caught her breath. Immediately, April, Riley, and James came rushing up to her.

“Clara!” April asked. “What happened? Where are Philip and Aaron?”

She couldn’t answer, as she was still catching her breath. However, a moment later, there was a loud pounding on the door. Dents began to appear in the metal as they backed away from it. The creature struck hard, breaking through the door quicker and quicker.

“Out,” Clara gasped. “Everybody out, now!”

Together, the four of them ran to the opposite side of the room and through the hidden door. On the other side, they quickly closed it, and ran down the corridor to the stronghold. There, the Doctor appeared to be putting the finishing touches on the trap. He looked up as they entered.

“Oh good, did you bring the flesh?”

“Yes,” Clara handed the bag to him. “But that creature’s breaking int-,” she said when there was a loud crash outside the room.

Everyone tensed. Samantha noticed their was something wrong, however.

“Hey,” she looked around. “Where are the others?”

Clara swallowed a lump in her throat. “Dead. That thing got them.”

“And we can’t worry about that right now,” the Doctor said, setting the bag down and opening it, revealing the glistening lump of flesh. He then ran over to a crate and picked up a small tablet, which had a number of controls displayed on it.

“What are you doing?” Marcus asked, readying his rifle.

“Well, since Clara’s acted as the bait anyway,” he began moving the controls. “All we need to do is guide the beast into the ring.”

“How will we do that?” April asked.

“With the sample that Clara has procured, we should be able to get it right where we want it.”

“Then we better work fast,” Louise said as the creature began banging on the wall that hid the doorway to their sanctuary. “It’s found us.”

“Everyone take cover!” the Doctor said, gesturing for them to do so. “It can’t be distracted from the trap!”

Immediately, they all dove behind crates and boxes, watching the scene from afar. The Doctor hid behind a beam on the wall, looking out from his hiding place, tablet in hand. Using the sonic screwdriver, he shut off the lights. They waited, listening with horror as the creature continued to strike against the wall, slowly making its way through the metal using its inhuman strength.

Moments later, there was a loud crash, followed by a deafening scream. Everyone ducked behind their respective hiding places as the creature came down the corridor. There was a scrapping noise as the metal protruding from its body moved across the ground. Peeking out, they saw the horrific humanoid beast emerge into the stronghold.

It stalked across the floor, turning its head side to side as if it were looking for them. Its red eyes blazed in the dark. There was a low growl coming from it. They watched with anticipation as it slowly made its way to the center of the room. It was just at the edge of the ring of energy emitters, and almost into the trap. Stopping, it looked at one of the emitters with animal curiosity, bit after a few moments it must’ve thought that they were no threat, and it walked into the circle.

It walked around the perimeter before it saw the lump of flesh lying on the ground in the middle of the room. It crawled towards it, watching it closely. Sniffing it, it opened its jaws to bite.

At that moment, the Doctor pressed a large button on the tablet. Immediately, the energy emitters flared into life, humming like car engines. The creature looked up in surprise as them as they radiated with power. A split second later, a beam of purple energy shot from each of them and struck the creature. It roared in anger and pain as it found itself stuck to one spot. The beast thrashed, but the energy was too strong.

The Doctor stepped out from his hiding place. Using the sonic screwdriver, he restored the lights. Slowly, he walked towards the ring. Around the room, the others looked up to see what was happening. As he approached, the Doctor saw that the creature was more than humanoid, and more like a human being. From this angle, he could see that it was indeed male, judging from the bone structure and muscles. His face was completely deformed, and so were most identifying features. Metal was grafted onto his flesh, with the skin seared in many places. A metal spine was fused to his back. Long claws were attached to his fingers. His eyes had been replaced with some kind of bulbs.

“Oh, I’m so, so sorry,” the Doctor muttered as he examined him. “I really, really am.”

The creature looked to him, with an interest in his eyes. The two watched each other for a moment when suddenly a shot rang out. A hole appeared in the center of his head, where his flesh was exposed. The red lights went out, and his body went slack, still suspended by the energy emitters.

Turning around, they saw Marcus standing there, rifle in hand. Everyone looked at him with horror at what he had just done.

“Why did you do that?” the Doctor said angrily, approaching him quickly.

“This thing killed most of my crew!” he defended himself. “It deserved to die!”

“This thing was a person! A man! One of you! And you’ve just gone and blown its brains out!”

“What do you mean ‘one of us?’” Clark adjusted his glasses.

“Yeah,” Sophia nodded. “What the hell is this thing?”

“A guinea pig. An experiment,” the Doctor looked back to him. “Someone took him and made him this way. He is one of your crew, and you’ve just killed him.”

“If he was one of us, why would he kill so many?” Louise asked.

“I doubt he had any choice in the matter,” the Time Lord said, shutting off the emitters. The body fell to the ground with a loud noise.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Riley stepped forward.

“I mean he was being used,” the Doctor replied. “I mean that someone took himand turned him into a tool. Their tool.”

“Who would do this? What do they have to gain from this?” April looked on in disgust.

He looked at the body for a long moment when alarms began to ring all over the station. Red lights came to life in the room, signaling that something was wrong. They looked around in confusion.

“What’s that?” Clara looked to the crew.

“The alert that tells us when a ship is docking with the station. We’re… we’re being boarded!” Louise said, bewildered.

“Boarded?” Samantha exclaimed. “How is that even possible? How can they override our protocols?”

“The same way as the first shuttle, but it doesn’t matter,” Marcus said, readying his gun. “We’ll see who it is. Noah, Davis, Reynolds. With me.”

“Yes sir,” they replied in unison. Grabbing their own guns they moved to follow Marcus as he headed for the door. As they did, the Doctor stepped in front of them.

“Please. You don’t know what is going on here, let me come with you.”

“You’re a civilian, and you may be clever, but you sure as hell don’t know what’s going on here either. Stay with the body and figure out what that thing is. I’ll call you if I need you.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

Marcus looked him in the eyes. He held his gun tight. “I don’t care. I’m going to do my job. Stay here.”

The two stared at each other for a moment before he left, followed by his subordinates. They watched them go.

“What is boarding us?” Clara asked.

“I don’t know,” the Doctor replied. “But it’s not good.”

Waiting a moment, he walked out into the computer room. He was followed by his companions and the remaining crew.

“Doctor, the Lieutenant Colonel told us to stay here,” Riley said, crossing her arms.

“And I am, until I get bored,” he stopped at one of the terminals and began working on it. He pulled out cables and used the sonic screwdriver to rewire it.

“What are you doing?” Samantha asked.

“Trying to find out what’s going on here,” he connected a pair of wires. The screen in front of him suddenly flared to life, displaying the docking bay from the view of a security camera. They all gathered around it as the Doctor watched closely.

“Time to see who’s behind all of this.”

The four crew members ran down the corridors of the station, guns at the ready. They moved swiftly towards the docking bay. Outside the base, they could see a strange ship slowly approaching the port, docking sequence active. They had only minutes before it was complete, and whoever was piloting the ship stepped on board.

Turning down several corridors, they reached the door to the docking bay. Marcus entered the code into the pad and the doors slid open. Weapons ready, they rushed inside. The docking bay was filled with crates and other boxes, containing equipment, provisions, and weapons. On the far side of the room was the docking door.

Around them, the station shuddered as the ship docked. They tensed as the locking mechanism on the bay door began to disengage.

“Fan out!” Marcus barked, taking his place behind a stack of crates. “Be ready to fire on my command!”

“Yes sir,” they replied, spreading out around the room and taking cover, rifles ready.

For several moments, they watched as the lock turned back and forth as the combinations were calculated. Sweat formed on their brows and their grips on their weapons tightened. Then, the lock stopped spinning, and the door slid upwards and out of sight. Darkness sat beyond the threshold, and they squinted to catch a glimpse of anything.

Suddenly, light exploded from the darkness, filling the room. They were blinded by and it, and momentarily disoriented. They could hear heavy footsteps echoing from the doorway. Regaining their sight, they saw a tall figure emerging from the light. They wore what appeared to be a long cloak over ancient and heavy armor. Its head was locked in a strange helmet with horns protruding from the side and glowing blue eyes. At its side was a large and dangerous looking rifle-based weapon.

Stepping a few feet from the door, the tall figure stopped and surveyed the room. They could hear its breathing even from this distance, and it sent chills down their spins.

“Identify yourself!” Marcus demanded, taking aim at the arrival.

The figure didn’t answer initially, before it spoke. “You humans are something I will never understand. You are met with the greatest adversary and you fight to overcome it, no matter the cost. There is nothing that you won’t try to survive,” his voice rang out, deep and filtered by the helmet.

“I told you to identify yourself!” he repeated, angry.

The arrival ignored him. “I kidnap one of your crew from a routine trip into space and turn him into a hybrid of metal and flesh, and set him on this ship to tear you apart, and you kill him because he killed your crew, no matter what his life may have been worth. Your resilience is admirable, if misdirected. You should not fight to survive, but you should fight to win.”

“Who the hell are you?!” Marcus roared.

In the blink of an eye, the invader raised his rifle and fired. A beam of blue energy shot from the barrel and struck Marcus in the chest. He screamed in pain before his body disappeared in a spray of light, particles shimmering in the air before fading away.

The remaining crew looked on in shock before turning their attention back to him. As one, they opened fire, yelling as the unloaded their ammo packs on their attacker. The yellow orbs of light they were firing struck an invisible wall in front of the figure, exploding like fireworks. They continuing to shoot at him for several moments before stopping, seeing that their attacks were fruitless.

Seeing this, he chuckled, before raising his gun again. In a blur of motion he shot Clark, James, and Sophia before they could even dodge the attack. They cried as they exploded into clouds of glowing dust and disappeared from existence. Lowering his gun, the figure looked around at his work.

“You want to know who I am?” he asked, looking into the security camera. “I am the Raider. I have never been defeated, and I never will. Mark my words.”

Striding forward, the Raider walked across the room towards the door leading further into the station.

In the computer room, the group had just watched the massacre and the invader identify himself. They all stood in horror, except for the Doctor, who turned away and walked towards the door. Breaking from their momentary paralysis, the woman moved to follow him.

“Where are you going?” Louise asked.

“To stop him,” the Doctor replied over his shoulder.

“Doctor, he’ll kill you!” Clara objected.

“I’ve faced worse than him,” he continued.

“You don’t even know what he’s after!” April said. “He could be after you, couldn’t he? I mean, you said that someone’s looking for you. Or at least that’s what the Rani told you!”

“And if he’s looking for me, I’d like to know why,” the Doctor reached the door.

“Then let us come with you,” Clara ran up to him, joined by April.

“You’d only get in the way,” he looked at her. “If he’s after me, he’ll kill you two just because you’re irrelevant. If he just wants to kill everyone, he’ll just kill me instead of all three of us.”

“Come on, Doctor,” she stepped forward.

“I will not risk your lives. Stay here with them. I’ll let you know if I need you. Do as you are told!”

“You really need to stop saying that,” April crossed her arms.

“Not until you actually listen to me. That is part of the deal if you want to travel with me.”

The three looked at each other before the Doctor sighed and left the room, walking out through the broken doorway. The women watched him go, shaking slightly.

Stealthily, the Doctor made his way through the station towards the docking bay. He knew the Raider was making his way further into the ship, and he was hoping that he could intercept him with out prematurely giving away his location. He had the sonic screwdriver at his side.

Rounding a corner, he continued down the corridor when he heard heavy footsteps coming his way. He stopped in his tracks and listened before he saw the tall figure appear. He looked up and down the hallway before seeing the Doctor standing there. His eyes flashed as he raised his rifle and aimed it at the Time Lord. Energy crackled between the prongs of the weapon.

The Doctor raised his hands to show that he wasn’t a threat. “Wait! I just want to talk!”

“I do not have time to talk,” the Raider replied. “I must complete my conquest.”

“And what is that?”

“I do not have the time to explain it to a primitive like you,” he finger wrapped around the trigger. “You will die just as the rest of the humans.”

“You’re after something, I’m assuming,” the Doctor said quickly, staring down the barrel. “You kidnapped that man and turned him into a monster to kill the humans so you can easily come and take whatever it is you’re after. You’re only here right now because we killed him.”

The Raider looked at him for a long moment. “You are smarter than the others. His name was Jackson Mount. He was a lieutenant on this station. He was taking a spacewalk when I intercepted him with my shuttle. I took him back to my ship and transformed him.”

“So, once Jackson killed the last of the humans, what would you do then? What are you after?”

“My ship is currently marooned on Triton after the engine’s main power core gave out. There was auxiliary power, but not enough to let me leave the solar system. I needed a clear path and Jackson provided it.”

“But why? Why not just come and massacre the people here?”

“For sport,” the Raider chuckled. “I enjoyed watched the creature kill his comrades.”

He sighed. “How can you take pleasure is such acts?”

“That is how I was raised, and it is how I must live.”

“You can change,” the Doctor said.

“I won’t.”

Dropping his weapon, he looked at the Doctor for a moment before bring it up again and striking him with the body of the gun. The force of the impact sent him flying into the wall and to the ground, nearly unconscious. Seeing that he was incapacitated, the Raider moved on, walking heavily away from the Doctor towards his goal.

As the Doctor lay on the floor, he could hear two pairs of footsteps coming up the corridor towards him. They were lighter and quicker than that of their attacker. His vision slowly coming back, he saw Clara and April running towards him. Coming up to him, they helped him onto his feet.

“Doctor? Are you okay?” Clara asked.

“What are you doing out here?” he said, holding his head, still disoriented. “I told you…”

“…To stay put, yeah,” April finished for him. “Not happening.”

“It’s dangerous out here,” the Doctor picked up the sonic screwdriver.

“Well, what else is new,” Clara said.

The Time Lord looked at her before looking up and down the corridor.

“Come on. I have an idea.”

After searching the station, stepping over the bodies of those he had killed and slaughtered, avoiding the guts and blood that littered the floor, the Raider came to a large door. Raising his hand to the control pad, it flashed with light. A moment later, the door hissed open, revealing the engine room within. Stepping inside, the invader looked around at the complex machinery that filled the chamber.

Walking to the center of the room, where a large pillar-like piece of technology stood, he ripped open a panel in the build. Inside was a glowing ball of light encased in a piece of complicated equipment surrounded by a mesh ball. Reaching, he wrapped his clawed and armored hand around it and pulled it out. Wires that hand been attached disconnected with sparks. Immediately, the lights on the equipment went out, and lights around the station also went out a moment later.

Looking at the device in his hand, his eyes glowed. “Finally.”

Turning, he left the chamber. The corridors were dark now, with the only light coming from small emergency lights and the glow of the planet Neptune coming through the windows. The life-support systems must’ve been on an auxiliary power, which was slightly disappointing, but that didn’t matter. He had what he had come here for.

Retracing his steps, he traveled back through the station towards the docking bay. As he walked, he passed where he had left the Doctor, and found that he was gone. It was curious, but he would not be stopped.

Reaching the docking bay, he crossed through the crates and boxes and stepped through the doorway and into the airlock. Crossing through it, he stepped into his shuttle. Setting the device down, he slipped into the cockpit and began the takeoff sequence. Taking the controls in hand, he took off. The ship undocked from the station and flew into space towards Triton. He watched the infinitely blue expanse of Neptune passing by him.

After a few moments, he was coming up on the moon. Entering Triton’s atmosphere, he could see his ship as a speck on the surface. Pushing his controls down, he began his descent.

His ship shook violently as one of his thrusters abruptly exploded. Emergency lights went on around the cockpit of his shuttle as alerts and sirens stung his senses. He looked around in confusion as he began to spiral uncontrollably towards the moon below. The Raider tried to regain control of the vessel, but there was nothing that could be done. He was falling, falling, falling…

With a devastating crash, he was thrown from his seat. Due to his weight and the momentum generated by the impact, smashed into the glass and shot through it. He hit the hard surface of Triton and rolled across the icy ground as his shuttle skidded to a halt behind him. Smoke and debris filled the air.

Minutes passed before the Raider was able to move again. Slowly, he pushed himself off the ground and looked around. His shuttle was completely destroyed, and still burning. What had caused his thruster to explode? That had never happened before. His equipment was kept in peak condition. The only way for this to happen was…

“Having problems?”

Looking around, the Raider saw a figure in an orange spacesuit and yellow helmet approaching him across the surface of the planet. He carried a small blue object in his right had. As he drew closer, he recognized him as the man he had encountered on the station. How did he get here Out of the corner of his eye, the Raider saw a blue box about a mile away from them.

“How… how did you do this?” he asked with strained breath, wheezing as he got to his feet.

“Never leave your ship untended,” the Doctor said. “Especially in this neighborhood.”

“Why have you done this? What do you have to gain?”

“The power core for the station, obviously. I can’t allow you to have that.”

The warrior chuckled. “That station is a lost cause. It would be better leaving it to fall into Neptune’s gravity and be destroyed.”

“Perhaps, but you’re the reason why it’s in such a state,” the Doctor replied. “You kidnapped one of their crew, turned him into a monster, and forced him to kill his comrades, then you killed four more of their crew on your own, all because you forgot to bring a spare battery.”

“I had to survive! I must survive!”

“Your need to survive does not give you the right to destroy other people’s lives! To take them! Your life is not more important than theirs!”

“You’re wrong. My life is more important than theirs. My life is more important than anyone in this quadrant. My life is so important, in fact, that what you have done here,” he gestured to the wreckage, “could be punishable by death.”

“Are you threatening me?” the Doctor raised an eyebrow inside his suit.

“Obviously.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ve been threatened so many times that it sometimes slips past me.”

The Raider tilted his head. “You are different than the other humans. You have an intelligence, an impossibly ancient intelligence. Who are you?”

He smiled. “You want to know who I am? I’m the Doctor.”

Eyes flashing, he took a step back. “Impossible!”

“Oh, so you know me, then?” he replied sarcastically.

“Everyone in the universe knows you, Doctor! The Warrior, the Oncoming Storm, the Bringer of Darkness, the Great Destroyer, the Final Judgment, the Time Lord Victorious! Your name echoes throughout creation as the Doctor, the End of All Things!”

“Well, now that you’ve caught up, you should know exactly what must happen here.”

The Raider was visibly shaken. “You… you…” Suddenly, he grabbed his rifle off his back and aimed it at the Time Lord.

“I will not fall to you! You may be the Doctor, but you are still mortal! You will die by my hand!”

“Mortal? Yes. There is nothing immortal in this universe. But, so many have tried and failed to kill me, so you will not succeed.”

“I will!” energy crackled at the end of his weapon. The Doctor watched the glittering light and a thin smile broke across his face.

“Fine,” he whispered.

Finger around the trigger, the Raider readied to fire. Just as he pulled it, however, the Doctor raised the sonic screwdriver and ignited it. The rifle exploded in a sudden burst of light, the brunt of it being caught by the invader. He screamed in agony as he was thrown back. Looking at his hands, he saw them disintegrating, similar to what had happened to the crew, only slower and much more painful. After a few moments, it stopped, having taken most of his arms with it.

Between screams and ragged breaths, he looked a the Doctor. “You… you have killed me!”

“No. I merely put a plug in your weapon as you fired it. Instant backfire. You did this to yourself,” the Doctor approached him. “Has no one ever told you to never point a weapon at me?”

Falling to his knees, the Raider withered in agony.

“Just… just kill me…”

“No. Another thing about me: I never kill. Never.”

He looked up at the Time Lord, fear behind his mask. The Doctor stared back at him, his gaze sharper than any blade. After standing there a moment, he sighed.

“You can keep the power core. I’m letting you have the chance to escape. Although, in your current state, I’m not sure you’ll be able to. But I’m giving you a second chance. If you leave, leave this solar system forever. Go into hiding. If anyone asks you want happened, tell them that the Doctor stopped you. Tell them that you fought me and lost, like so many others have. And when they laugh, tell them to come find me, and I’ll show them what a real warrior looks like.”

Turning, the Doctor began walking away. As he did so, the Raider called after him.

“There’s someone looking for you, Doctor,” he said. “Someone who knows you. Someone who lives in the shadows, moving the strings of time. A Dark One. There’s a bounty on your head, and you’d best watch yourself.”

The Doctor stopped, standing still for a moment. He glanced over his shoulder, before continuing. He walked across Triton towards the TARDIS, leaving the Raider behind.

Stepping into the TARDIS, the Doctor took off his helmet and walked over to the console. Around him, Clara, April, and the survivors, Louise, Riley, and Samantha, gathered.

“What happened?” Aprilasked.

“I’m leaving him here with the power core,” the Doctor said, flipping switches and turning knobs. The ship shuddered as they began to fade into the time vortex, plotting a course for Earth. “He’ll have the opportunity to escape, but I don’t know if he’ll be able to. That’s up to him.”

“What about Nimbus 8?” Louise asked.

“I think it’s best to just leave it. Let it drift through space before the auxiliary power eventually cuts out and it falls into Neptune, gone forever. There’s nothing there for you anymore.”

There was a silence for a moment before she replied. “Thank you, Doctor. For saving us.”

He didn’t looked at her, instead crossing to another panel. “I could’ve done more. I should’ve done more.”

“You did everything you could,” Clara said.

“I can do anything,” the Doctor looked at her. “I’ve walked this universe thousands of times over. I’ve seen the scars across time and space. I’ve seen the hurt and the pain and the suffering. I can do anything. I just have to have the strength to do it.”

He looked at them.

“I’m the Doctor. That has to mean something.”

Characters

 * Twelfth Doctor
 * Clara Oswald
 * April Leigh-Morgan
 * Colonel Louise Miller
 * Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Brown
 * Major Clark Noah
 * Captain Sophia Davis
 * Lieutenant Hannah Cook
 * Lieutenant Phillip Jones
 * Lieutenant Jackson Mount
 * Sargent Aaron Gardener
 * Sargent Riley Armstrong
 * Private James Reynolds
 * Private Samantha Palmer
 * The Raider

Trivia

 * The premise of this story being set on a space station orbiting Neptune in the 38th Century was taken from Sleep No More, the ninth episode of Series 9 of Doctor Who, but this is where the similarities end.
 * This story implies that Clara is bisexual, which is a notion taken from the main series.