Oswald (Doctor Who)

Oswald is the sixth episode of the second series of Doctor Who produced by The 56Studios. It features the Ninth Doctor early in his life, and also takes place during the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Story
On a street corner in the busy city, the TARDIS faded into view. After a few moments, the Doctor, Clara, and April emerged. The women were dressed in retro clothing. They looked around at the hustle and bustle of the street.

“It’s certainly busy here,” Clara remarked.

“That’s to be expected,” the Doctor said, striding forward down the sidewalk. His companions followed. “Welcome to Paris, France, 1973.”

“I still don’t know why we had to come to the seventies,” April groaned. “I lived in the seventies, and they weren’t fun.”

“What are you talking about?” Clara adjusted her sunglasses. “I love the seventies!”

April shrugged.

They rounded a corner. Clara looked around at the city. “It’ll be nice to see it to see the seventies when when something crazy doesn’t happen, also.”

“That’s basically the entire decade, though,” April replied.

“Still,” Clara brushed the hair out of her face, “I want to see it.”

They continued walking through the city. People passed by them, going to and fro this way and that. As they did, some of them seemed to take notice of the strangers, eyeing their clothes with confusion.

“Doctor, why are they looking at us like that?” Clara asked.

“Well, your sense of fashion could use some work,” he said. “I’ve been meaning to mention it.”

Clara frowned, but April was looking around with confusion also. “No. I think they’re onto something. Something’s not right here…”

As she mentioned it, there was something off about the city. The cars seemed out of date for this decade, and the clothes that the civilians were wearing also seemed outdated. Stopping, they saw an array of American flags and posters bearing the images of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

“That can’t be right…” Clara trailed off.

April spotted a newspaper stand down the street. Walking over to it, she picked up a copy and read the date. Her expression dropped. Noticing this, the Doctor and Clara moved towards her. Seeing them, she turned over the newspaper to show them. The headline read in bold letters ‘PRESIDENT KENNEDY TO VISIT DALLAS‘ over a picture of the President himself.

Looking closer, they saw that the date was November 21, 1963.

“Doctor. We’re in Dallas, and it’s 1963,” April said.

“The day before the Kennedy assassination,” Clara responded, but tried to keep her voice down.

“We’re off by a decade,” April set down the paper. “And a continent.”

“We have to leave,” the Doctor looked at his watch. “Tomorrow is a temporal catastrophe. Time travelers everywhere, and I’d rather not be one of them. Again. Come on.”

Turning on his heel, he retreated back up the street where they had came from. They hesitated before following. They wove their way through the pedestrians and avoided crashing into several people who were hurriedly making their way down the street.

As they were about to round the corner, however, a man came running past them. He crashed into Clara and knocked her to the ground, but he kept running.

“Oi!” she yelled, sitting up and calling after him. “What the hell?”

April and the Doctor were helping her up when another man came rushing through in pursuit of the first. They couldn’t tell his features, but something seemed off about him. Off enough for the Doctor to notice, and he got to his feet.

“Come on. We need to follow that man,” he said quickly.

“What about getting out of here and the temporal catastrophe thing?” Clara brushed herself off.

“There’s something going on here, and we need to check it out,” the Doctor replied before running down the street after them. “Come on!” he called over his shoulder.

Looking at each other with exasperated looks, Clara and April ran after him.

They chased the two men through the streets of Dallas. They avoided startled pedestrians in their pursuit. Rounding corners and crossing roads, they ran further into the street. Abruptly, the two men turned down an alleyway and out of sight. The Doctor and his companions followed. Running down the alley, they came out into a small area behind a building. The first man was cornered, and he knew it.

Just as the second man began to approach him, however, he pulled up his sleeve and revealed a leather-bound device. Pressing a button on it, he disappeared in a flash of light.

The Doctor and his companions came to stop, panting for breath. The second man was staring at the corner where the first had vanished. The Doctor, looking at him, stepped forward.

“Who was that?” he asked. “What’s going on here?”

The man stood there for a moment before he turned around. They noticed his buzz-cut hair and large ears. He wore a black leather jacket and a dark jumper. His pale blue eyes narrowed as he looked at them. The Doctor’s eyes widened as he saw him.

“I’m more interested in who you are,” the Ninth Doctor said, taking a step forward.

Elsewhere, the man materialized on a ship. He looked around in frustration. His anger boiling, he slammed his fist on a console. Another man entered the chamber and looked quizzically at his comrade, wondering what was wrong.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“The Doctor’s onto us,” he replied. “We need to move quicker.”

“The time is coming. He won’t be able to stop us. Otherwise we’ll have failed.”

“You think I don’t know that? If we fail, then everything will be destroyed. We have to move, now!”

He nodded. “What do we do?”

“We have to find Oswald.”

The four stood off, with the Doctor and his companions staring at the Doctor’s previous incarnation. He was eyeing with both suspicion and curiosity. The Doctor was eyeing him with surprise, and seemed to have a vague memory of this happening before.

“Who are you?” the Ninth Doctor asked again.

“I would think that it’s very obvious who I am,” the Doctor replied.

“No it’s not,” he stepped forward.

“Really?” the two began circling each other as the women watched from the outside. “I would think you’d be a bit quicker to figure this out.”

The Ninth Doctor narrowed his eyes. “You’re familiar somehow. Have we met?”

“In a manner of speaking,” the Doctor nodded. “You might just be remembering in the wrong order.”

He stopped and stared at the Doctor, eyes wide now. “You’re not…”

“I very much am.”

“What are you doing here?” the Ninth Doctor asked, now that he knew who he was talking to.

“Came here by mistake. Was trying to get to 1973 in Paris. Ended up in Dallas on November 21, 1963,” the Doctor answered.

“Are you going to leave?”

He shook his head. “Not now since I saw myself chasing someone who vanished out of thin air. I’d like to know what’s going on.”

“You mean that you don’t remember what happens here?”

“The timelines are out of sync. You can’t retain what happens here, therefore I cannot remember what happened when I was you. I need you to fill me in on what’s happened so far.”

The Ninth Doctor watched him for a moment, before he sighed. “I don’t know what he’s planning, but that man has something to do with the Kennedy assassination.”

“The Kennedy assassination?” the Doctor raised an eyebrow. “How can you be sure?”

Reaching into his jacket, the Ninth Doctor produced a small rectangular device. Pressing a button on it, it lit up with a holographic image of a man.

“Lee Harvey Oswald,” April said.

“Yes,” the other Doctor nodded. “That man dropped this as I followed him earlier today. He seemed suspicious, and as it turns out, I was right.”

“We usually are,” the Doctor remarked.

“So they’re targeting Oswald. Why?” Clara asked. “What do they want with the man who killed the President? Revenge?”

“There are many dates in history that are magnets for time travelers. November 22, 1963 is one of these dates. Observers, opportunists, and schemers. They’re so many of them, in fact, that the Time Agency has agents monitoring it constantly,” the Doctor explained.

“Why? What would people do?” April crossed her arms.

“Many things. Souvenirs, stories, pranks, but most of the time its to change history. The universe would be very different if John F. Kennedy survived past tomorrow.”

“That’s why I was investigating,” the Ninth Doctor said. “I was passing through when I noticed the man. He seemed out of place, and I had to see what he was up to. He spotted me and ran, and then he disappeared. Vortex manipulator, it seems.”

The Doctor pressed his finger against his lips in thought before responding. “Seems important. I’ll help you.”

“I don’t need any help,” the Ninth Doctor shook his head.

“Well, you probably do, because I seem to remember more than just this interaction.”

His earlier incarnation was getting visibly irritated. Running a hand through his short hair, he sighed again and rolled his eyes.

“Fine. Let’s go to my TARDIS.”

The two women looked around the console room of the Ninth Doctor’s TARDIS with interest. It was larger than the Doctor’s but appeared dirtier and but not as lived-in as the one they knew. Clara noted that it was nearly identical to the one she had seen the Tenth Doctor use. As they entered, the two Doctors strode to the console and began working.

Pulling over the monitor, the two began looking through data. The women joined them, but couldn’t decipher the Gallifreyan symbols flashing on it.

“What are we doing?” Clara asked.

“Looking through temporal data for anomalies that pertain to the travelers,” the Doctor replied.

“It’ll be difficult because of all the traffic this time experiences, but we can narrow it down based on a reading a got with the sonic screwdriver,” the Ninth Doctor produced a long silver tube with a red tip on one end and red cap on the other. Taking it, he plugged it into a slot on the console.

Information flickered into view on the screen. The Doctor squinted at it for a long time, before finally groaning in frustration. Stepping away, he ran a hand through his gray hair.

“This information is useless. There’s too much data coming through. We won’t be able to find anything.”

“What’s your next great idea then?” the Ninth Doctor stepped towards him.

“We could follow Oswald,” April suggested. “If they’re interested in him, we can follow him and then when they do something, we’ll be right there to stop it.”

They all looked at her. The Ninth Doctor nodded. “That’s a good idea. You’re pretty smart.”

April smiled. “Thank you.”

“At this time Oswald would’ve been in Irving,” Clara said. Now it was her turn for everyone to stare at her. She looked around before rolling her eyes. “One of my dates was a history nut, and was really fascinated with the Kennedy assassination. He literally couldn’t stop talking about it the entire time.”

“That’s weird,” April remarked.

Clara nodded. “For sure. But apparently it was helpful.”

“So we go to Irving?” the Ninth Doctor asked.

“We go to Irving,” the Doctor agreed.

Entering the coordinates into the console, the Ninth Doctor moved around to the opposite side of the console. Grabbing a leaver, he slammed it down. Immediately, the room shook as the center column began to move. They held on as the TARDIS hurtled into the vortex.

The four of them walked down the street of Irving. They were looking around for any sign of Lee Harvey Oswald, seemingly expecting to see him walking down the street with them. They didn’t know where to begin looking for him, so they would need to ask around. One issue was what would happen if they began asking around about him.

“Where do we start looking?” April was the first to ask.

“Did your date tell you anything more?” the Ninth Doctor asked Clara.

“I can’t remember if he did or not,” he shrugged. “Honestly, I lost interest after drinks.”

“We’ll have to find him soon,” the Doctor said. “We don’t want to have to stay overnight.”

“When does he head back to Dallas to kill the President?” April inquired as they turned a corner.

“In the morning,” the Doctor replied. “And I’d like to be done with this before then. November 23 is a dangerous time to be a time traveler.”

They continued walking when a voice called out to them.

“Hey! You four! What are you doing here?”

Stopping, their turned to see a police officer striding towards them. He moved quickly. His badge glittered in the sunlight and his belt clinked slightly as he walked. Stopping a few feet from them, he put his hands on his hips and looked at them.

“What seems to be the problem, officer?” the Doctor stepped forward.

“I said what are you doing here?” the officer repeated the question, his accent thick.

“Oh, you know, sight-seeing,” the Ninth Doctor forced a smile. “Looking around before the President comes.”

The officer was skeptical. “What are you doing here? Kennedy’s going to be in Dallas. Irving’s quite a bit out of the way for internationals.”

“A relative of ours lives in Irving,” Clara suddenly spoke up. “We wanted to visit, but we’re having a little bit of trouble finding him.”

“Couldn’t you call him?”

“He doesn’t believe in phones,” she replied.

He watched her before continuing. “What’s the name?”

“Lee Harvey Oswald,” she said. “I’m Clara Oswald. Distant cousin.”

“I know Lee. Saw him downtown a little while ago. Are you sure you’re his relatives? He never mentioned having any alien family,” his eyes fell on April. “Especially someone so…”

“Beautiful?” April crossed her arms, her tone sharp.

“Exotic,” he narrowed his eyes.

“You know what?” the Doctor said. “We’ll go look for him downtown. Thank you, officer.”

As they began moving past him, he watched with a suspicious look. “Sure thing, strangers. You be careful around here,” he warned, before walking away.

Rounding another corner, they continued towards downtown. “God, I hate the sixties so much,” April groaned. “Racist piece of sh-.”

“Come now,” the Doctor cut her off. “He’s a product of his time. A relic. He’s not even going to be alive by the time the Civil Rights Act is passed.”

“How do you know?” Clara asked.

“Time Lords can tell,” the Ninth Doctor said, nodding. “For some individuals, we can see their whole history radiating from them. That man was like reading a book.”

“Sounds exhausting,” she remarked.

“You have no idea,” the earlier Doctor stared dead ahead.

“Let’s just hurry up and find Oswald,” April stuck her hands in her pockets.

They had reached downtown Irving within ten minutes of speaking to the officer. Now, they had their eyes peeled for the man whom they were searching for. So far, they had no luck. Every time they would see someone who they thought might be Oswald, they were immediately disappointed when they realized that it wasn’t.

As they walked, the Ninth Doctor looked to his future incarnation. “How much older are you?”

“Why do you ask?” the Doctor replied, not looking back at him.

“I’d like to know where I’m going.”

He sighed. “Three hundred years? Four hundred? Five hundred? Honestly, I’ve lost count.”

“Which regeneration then? Which life?”

“Thirteenth regeneration,” the Doctor answered.

“Thirteenth?” the Ninth Doctor was shocked. “How is that possible?”

“A thing happened. You’ll find out.”

“Why won’t you tell me?”

“Spoilers.”

The Ninth Doctor grew visibly angry. “After everything we’ve seen, everything that we’ve lost, why do you think that the laws of time are still binding? What does it matter?”

The Doctor stopped and spun on his heel. His eyes flashed with anger. “It matters because there has to be a balance! There has to be order! If we break from that order, there is chaos and destruction! There has to be a line that we must never – ever – cross!”

“Haven’t we earned that right? The Time Lords are gone. No one can stop us! The laws of time are ours!”

“No one owns the laws of time!” the Doctor growled. “No one!”

The two stared off when they noticed that several people were watching them. The four stopped and looked at their observers. As they did, however, April noticed someone familiar watching them from across the street. Squinting at the man, she nearly gasped.

“Doctor,” she tugged on his velvet coat, pointing towards the man. “That’s him. That’s Lee Harvey Oswald.”

The Doctor looked at him, and sure enough, it was indeed. The man saw them, and their reactions to him, and seeming to think that they knew who he was, turned and ran. Quickly, the Ninth Doctor bolted after him.

“Come on!” he yelled. “We can’t lose him!”

Together, the three followed in his wake. The broke through the crowd of people and after Lee Harvey Oswald. They ran down streets and crossed roads in their pursuit. It was their second chase of the day, and the women didn’t know if they could keep up with the two Time Lords, but rather than be left behind, they pressed on.

Oswald wasn’t letting up. He apparently knew his way around town, because he narrowly lost them. Eventually, he turned down an alleyway and disappeared for a moment. When the four of them turned down it just a moment later, he was gone. They ran down the alley before coming to an intersection. Coming to a halt, they looked around in confusion.

“Where’d he go?” Ckara asked.

“He just… vanished,” April panted.

“He gave us the slip,” the Doctor said.

“We can’t lose sight of him!” the Ninth Doctor responded.

“You think I don’t know that?” he replied, straightening his jacket. “Let’s go!”

The Doctor turned down the left alleyway. They watched him go for a moment before they followed after him.

Up ahead, Lee Harvey Oswald was still running. He didn’t know who those people who were chasing him were, but he seemed to have managed to lose them. If they knew about his plot, he had to work quickly. Perhaps he had to go back to Dallas sooner.

He turned down another alleyway and saw an opening up ahead. Reaching it, he came out onto the sidewalk. Gaining his bearings, he recognized where he was, and knew that he had managed to get away. Smiling, he looked back at the alleyway entrance before stepping onto the street.

There was the skidding of tires and the piercing cry of a horn before Lee Harvey Oswald was struck by a car. The force of the impact knocked him off his feet and launched him into the air. He hit the ground several feet away, rolling to a stop. He didn’t move. People who had witnessed the accident quickly gathered around.

A moment later, the Doctor, his predecessor, and his companions exited the alleyway and came onto the street. They saw the people gathered around some unseen thing. Walking over to it, they broke through the crowd and saw Lee Harvey Oswald lying on the ground. Blood pooled around his head as he stared at the sky.

Clara covered her mouth while April looked on. The Ninth Doctor stared at the body. The Doctor stepped forward and knelt down. Pulling out the sonic screwdriver, he began scanning the body.

“Impossible,” the Ninth Doctor breathed.

“He’s dead. Killed instantaneously,” the Doctor reported.

“But how can this happen?” Clara asked. “How can he die here? He’s supposed to ki-,” she was cut off as April grabbed her arm.

“Shut up,” she muttered, indicating the crowd. Clara quickly became quiet.

The number of onlookers became increasingly larger. Knowing that they couldn’t stay there long, the Doctor got to his feet. Turning to his companion, he motioned for them to leave.

“We have to get out of here.”

The three of them began moving. However, they noticed that the Ninth Doctor was looking at something across the street. Following his gaze, they saw a man standing at the corner, watching not the scene, but them. As they looked at him, they realized that he was the man they had chased earlier. Seeing that he was spotted, he reached to his wrist and disappeared in a flash of light.

“Why was he watching us?” Clara looked at the Doctor.

“Something’s happening,” he said. “We have to get back to the TARDIS.”

They returned to the Doctor’s earlier incarnation’s TARDIS. Rushing to the console, the two Doctors set to work. The Doctor pulled around the monitor and began looking through pages of data. Eventually, a picture of Lee Harvey Oswald appeared next to a picture of the Kennedy assassination.

“According to the TARDIS records, Oswald still killed President Kennedy,” the Doctor announced.

“But he’s dead. How is that possible?” April asked.

He stepped back and scratched his head. “I don’t know, but the timeline hasn’t changed. History still happens how it’s supposed to.”

“There has to be some explanation,” the Ninth Doctor began pacing around the console room. “That man… he has to have the answers. He wasn’t there today just by coincidence.”

“What do you mean?” Clara crossed her arms.

“He means that the man was waiting for this to happen. He knew it would happen,” the Doctor explained.

“How could he know?” April shifted her stance.

“It means that he’s a time traveler,” the Ninth Doctor answered. “When he disappears he’s using the teleport of a vortex manipulator.”

“Cheap and nasty time travel,” the Doctor muttered.

“So there are multiple time travelers in play?” Clara asked.

“Always have been,” the Doctor moved to the console and began entering coordinates.

“Hold on,” the Ninth Doctor approached him. “What are you doing?”

“Taking us back to my TARDIS,” he replied. “There’s something I need to get.”

“Why can’t we just use my TARDIS?”

“Because you don’t have it yet,” he said, pulling down a lever. The room shuddered as the central column began moving, the pieces messing together inside the glass pillar. Lights pulsated around the room as their hurtled into the vortex.

On the street corner beside the Doctor’s TARDIS, another box began to materialize. Solidifying, it sat there for a moment before the four came out. Producing his own key, the Doctor unlocked the TARDIS and they swiftly went inside. The Ninth Doctor stopped for a moment to examine the exterior before entering also. Once inside, he stood in awe of the console room around him. The Doctor crossed his arms and smiled, leaning on the console.

“Welcome to the future.”

“You’ve redecorated,” the Ninth Doctor said. “I like it.”

The Doctor smiled broadly. “Finally.”

“So why are we here?” his predecessor then asked.

The Doctor stood there for a moment before ascending the stairs to the top deck. Rifling through some boxes he had up there, he produced a small device. Returning to the main deck, he set the device on the console and they all gathered around to look at it. To Clara, it looked like some kind of old game controller, with handles and buttons on the side and a screen in the middle.

“What is it?” April asked.

“A device I picked up a while ago. It can detect the energy signature created by a vortex manipulator,” he began fiddling with the controls.

“Couldn’t you just use the TARDIS?” Clara cocked her head towards him.

“I could,” he shrugged. “But this is mobile. I can be on the go and track time travelers.”

“Where’d you get it?” the Ninth Doctor inquired.

“Spoilers,” he replied. The earlier Doctor rolled his eyes.

“So we’ve got the tracker now,” April said. “What’s the plan?”

The Doctor interlocked his fingers and rested his chin on them. “With Oswald dead, we’re going to have to try a new approach. If history does indeed play out as it’s supposed to, that means that someone other than Oswald killed the President. We’ll have to go to Dealey Plaza to find who’s behind this. There’s no other way at this point.”

“That could damage the timeline,” the Ninth Doctor replied.

“Lee Harvey Oswald is dead,” the Doctor turned to him. “I feel the timeline’s already damaged, wouldn’t you say?”

He paused before responding. “If we do this, we’ll have to be careful.”

“Now,” he chuckled. “When have we ever done that?”

The morgue room was cold and dank. The lights was cool and low, flickering slightly. The two morgue attendants stood under one such light, with a cart between them and body covered by a sheet. One was scribbling on a clipboard, while the other was reading off the tag on the body’s exposed toe.

“…Lee Harvey Oswald. Age twenty-four. Killed by blunt force trauma from a collision with a vehicle. Damn. That’s gotta hurt.”

“Shame,” the other replied, finishing his writing. “Young guy.”

“He had a flier in his pocket for the President’s visit. I guess he ain’t gonna make it.”

“Instead he’s going to spend the night with us,” he set down his clipboard and grabbed onto the cart. The other man did the same and the two of them began wheeling the body towards an open freezer.

A moment later, the door opened and a man entered. He held his hand behind his back. He stopped and looked at the two, and they him.

“Uh, can we help you?” one of the morgue workers stepped towards him.

The man watched him for a moment before he produced what appeared to be a gun from behind his back. The two men looked in terror at it for a moment just before the new arrival opened fire. He shot two blasts of energy at them, each striking their target. Crying in pain, both men fell the ground, dead. A second later, their bodies disappeared into nothing but ash.

Walking across the room, he reached the body on the cart. Pulling back the sheet, he looked into Oswald’s dead face. Pulling out a small device, he held it over him. It spilled a red light over the corpse’s features before fading away. Pocketing it, he then stepped back and fired a blast at the body. It hit it, before it also turned to dust.

Pulling up his sleeve, he activated his vortex manipulator, and in a flash of energy, vanished.

The four of them made their way through the crowds at Dealey Plaza on November 23, 1963. They had arrived with less than half an hour until President Kennedy came rolling into view. As they traveled through time, they had agreed to a plan. The Doctor and April would go into the Texas School Box Depository, where Oswald historically had fired his fatal shots. The Ninth Doctor and Clara would remain on the ground, keeping an eye out in the crowds.

The Doctor and April split from the two of them and crossed the street towards the depository. Clara and the Ninth Doctor merged into the crowd, watching the scene. After a few moments, he stopped and looked around.

“We should split up,” he said.

“What? Why?” Clara asked. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t a good idea,” he replied sharply. “We’ll be able to cover more ground.”

Clara shrugged. “I guess so.”

“Alright. Find me if you see something,” the Ninth Doctor said before disappearing into the crowd.

She watched him go before sighing. Pulling out her sunglasses, she put them on, and turned to watch the scene. It felt weird, being here knowing what was about to soon happen here. She was a ghost. This was the part of time travel that she hated. In just a few minutes, the President would be killed right in front of her, and she couldn’t do anything to stop it.

Crossing her arms, she decided to return to her work, watching for any sign of who they were looking for.

The Doctor and April had entered the building and quickly ascended to the upper floors. The Doctor held his device in hand as they went. He hadn’t detected anything yet, but he felt that they would soon. Reaching the sixth floor, the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to unlock the door, and quietly, they slipped inside.

Crates and other miscellaneous objects littered the large room. Slowly, they wove their way through the objects, moving towards the window that Oswald used as his perch.

Ducking behind a crate, they saw a man sitting by the window. He had a long rifle in hand and was looking out onto the street. Beside him was the case, and as well as a futuristic looking pack. As they watched him, they realized that he looked exactly like Lee Harvey Oswald. Around his feet were several golden bullet shells, even though he hadn’t fired any yet.

“What’s going on?” April whispered. “How’s this possible?”

“I don’t know,” he replied, keeping his voice down. He checked his watch. “But the President is arriving.”

On the street below, President Kennedy’s motorcade was rolling into view. The crowd cheered as he appearing, waving flags and holding signs. In the motorcade, the President waved as they rolled through the crowd, smiling broadly.

In the crowd, the Ninth Doctor and Clara tensed. Checking her phone, Clara saw that it was 12:29pm, just one minute before the assassination. Looking back up, she saw the motorcade coming closer. She felt a heaviness in her chest, like a weight had been dropped. This was it. The Ninth Doctor watched the car pass by him before looking up, seeing a man with a camera photographing the scene from above. It was close now.

As Clara watched the scene, she noticed something odd up ahead on the opposite side of the street. A police officer was perched on the grassy knoll, a rifle in hand. No one else seemed to notice him, but he seemed to be aiming directly at the President. Gasping, Clara began pushing through the crowds, trying to find the Ninth Doctor.

Above, the Doctor and April moved slowly towards the man. The Doctor had the sonic screwdriver in hand, which April doubted would be able to do anything, but they kept on. They were moving as quietly as they could, not daring to make a noise.

However, as they did, April bumped into a metal can that was sitting on a crate. It fell and clattered to the ground, the noise echoing loudly throughout the room.

Whirling around, the apparent Lee Harvey Oswald turned to see them standing there. He looked on in shock for a moment before reaching into his bag and producing a non-contemporary firearm. Aiming it at them, he opened fire. Bolts of energy shot from it, forcing the two of them to dive out of the way behind a stack of crates. The blasts hit the wood, sending splinters and dust into the air.

“What are we going to do?” April said, ducking from the debris falling on them.

The Doctor tried to get up to use his sonic screwdriver, but was forced back to the ground. “I don’t know!”

Across the room, the man continued firing. These people were persistent, he had to give them that. But they were interfering with his mission, and he would kill them if he had to. Down below, the President was coming into view.

Clara finally broke through the apparent sea of people and found the Ninth Doctor. She grabbed hold of his arm and looked up at him. He looked at her in surprise.

“What’s going on-?” he said but she cut across him.

“Over there!” she pointed. “That police officer with the gun!”

He followed her finger and saw the man perched there. The Time Lord was about to move when suddenly a shot rang out. The crowd screamed and ducked as the shot was followed by another, and another. The two travelers watched in horror as they saw the fatal shot hit President Kennedy, blood shooting into the air.

Chaos broke out all around them as the civilians scrambled for safety. The motorcade sped off the street, carrying the President to safety. On the grassy knoll, they could see the badge man get up and duck out of view down a side street.

“Stay here,” the Ninth Doctor said to Clara before abruptly running off. He ran across the street towards where the assassin had gone. She tried calling after him, but he was already too far away. Running a hand through her hair, she looked up at the window on the sixth floor of the depository, where she could see bursts of light fading in and out of view.

Pulling out her phone, she dialed April.

The Doctor and April were still taking cover from the man’s gunfire. Among the shots from their attackers weapon, they heard three gunshots ring out from the street below, followed by the crowd screaming. The President had been shot, but it hadn’t been Oswald who had done it. So who had? That was something to worry about when they were out of danger.

That proved to be soon, however, as their attacker abruptly stopped firing. The Doctor and April waited a few moments before they slowly got up. Looking around, they saw that the man was gone, but the bullet shells where he had been perched still sat there.

“What the hell…” April trailed off, bewildered.

Her phone then began to ring. Pulling it out, she saw that Clara was calling. As she picked it up, the Doctor went over and scanned the area. His device was beeping, indicating that the man had used his vortex manipulator.

“Clara?” April asked. “What happened? What’s going on?”

“There was a second assassin,” Clara said on the other side. “''A guy in a police uniform. He shot Kennedy.''”

“What? Where’d he go?”

“''I don’t know. The other Doctor’s gone after him. You need to get down here, now.''”

“Alright. We’re on our way,” April said before hanging up. She then turned to the Doctor, who was looking at her.

“What’s happened?”

“We need to get down there,” she pocketed her phone. “Now.”

The Ninth Doctor chased the badge man across several streets and down several alleyways. He could still hear the sirens and cries in the distance. The man was quick, that was for sure. He was having a hard time keeping up with him, almost losing him a few times.

“Stop!” the Ninth Doctor yelled after him. “Stop at once!”

The man ignored him, continuing to run. As he ran, the man pulled up his sleeve and revealed a vortex manipulator. He began keying in a code, readying to teleport. The Ninth Doctor saw this and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. Aiming it forward, he activated it. The vortex manipulator suddenly exploded in a flash of energy. The man was thrown by the shockwave, crashing into the wall and sliding to the ground.

Immediately, the Ninth Doctor climbed on top of him and grabbed his collar, shaking him violently. The man was dazed, but was quickly brought back to his senses by the assault.

“What have you done?” the Ninth Doctor spat.

“Corrected history,” the man chuckled. “Saved history.”

“What are you talking about? You killed Kennedy, not Oswald! And Oswald is dead! Time is broken!”

“That’s not how history will see it.”

The Ninth Doctor suddenly struck the man with his fist. His mouth became bloodied.

“You killed the President! You had no right!”

“We had to!” the man protested, spitting blood up. “You disrupted the continuum. We had to intervene!”

“You can’t play god!” he struck him again.

“Oh? And you haven’t been playing god, Doctor? I know who you are. What you’ve done.”

An uncontrollable rage suddenly filled the Ninth Doctor, and roaring, he began hitting the man repeating. Blood covered his knuckles as he attacked, the man’s face becoming red and scarred. He continued his assault, showing no signs of letting up.

“Stop!” a voice rang out from behind him.

Stopping, he turned to see the future incarnation and his companions approaching. He looked at him with a cold expression while the women looked on in horror. The Ninth Doctor was breathing heavily. He looked down at the man and realized what he had done.

“Get off of him, now.”

“He killed the President,” the Ninth Doctor said.

“It doesn’t matter. This isn’t what the Doctor is supposed to do.”

“I’m not the Doctor. Not anymore.”

“But you will be. And stopping this is the first step to regaining your honor. You are the Doctor, and you always will be.”

The Ninth Doctor paused and thought about this for a moment. He then looked to the man beneath him. “This cannot stand. What he’s done – that’s unforgivable.”

“That has to be an explanation,” Clara said.

“Yes. There is. And there will be,” the Doctor began to approach the man.

The man, however, smiled. “No. There won’t.”

Pressing a button on his vortex manipulator, he suddenly disappear in a flash of light. Quickly, the Ninth Doctor got up and looked around.

“What happened?” April asked.

“I disabled the manipulator!” the Ninth Doctor looked at his sonic, inspecting it for faults. “How is that possible?”

“He’s a time agent,” the Doctor replied. “Must be. Their new manipulators can self-repair very quickly. It’s annoying.”

“So what? Where’d he go?”

“Back to his ship? He and his partner must have a ship somewhere around here.”

“Then we have to go after him!”

“If they’re time agents, I’d rather not,” the Doctor said. “If they were here, they were doing so on behalf of the agency, then they’ll have absolute jurisdiction.”

“That’s insane! You can’t back down like this!” the Ninth Doctor protested.

“That’s what happens when the Time Lords disappear,” the Doctor stepped away.

His earlier incarnation watched him with a dark expression. “So you are giving up?”

“At this point? Yes,” the Doctor replied.

“Well, I’m not,” the Ninth Doctor said before turning and walking away.

“Where’s he going?” Clara asked, watching him go.

“Probably going to go find that time agent and kill him,” he answered casually, expecting a particular brick on the wall.

The two women exchanged glances before replying in unison. “Kill him? Shouldn’t we stop him?”

Realizing what he had said, the Doctor turned to face them. “Oh. Right. Yes. Killing him would be bad. We should probably get to the TARDIS. Now.”

Together, the three of them rushed out of the alleyway back towards their TARDIS. The sirens continued to blare throughout the city.

In the time vortex, the man piloted the time ship through the swirling tunnel of purple energy. His wounds had already been treated by the equipment on board, and he had changed out of his police uniform back into his time agency uniform. He had known they would see both Doctors and the companions, but he wasn’t expecting to be assaulted by the earlier Doctor. Extra compensation for that would be needed, he thought.

Pressing a series of buttons on his console, he plotted a course back to his own time. Soon, the job would be over and he would be home for a vacation. It was a shame about Kaleb, but that was the job. He knew what he had signed up for.

Suddenly a flurry of alerts rang from around the ship. He looked around in surprise, trying to figure out what was happening. On one of the monitors, he could see an object approaching his ship through the time vortex. His eyes widened.

“Impossible-.”

Behind him, he heard a wheezing noise accompanied by gusts of wind. Turning around, he saw a large blue box materializing in the ship behind the cockpit. Grabbing a gun from the underside of a console, he pointed it at the ship.

A moment later, the door opened, and the Ninth Doctor emerged. Just as the man fired, the Time Lord used his sonic screwdriver to cause the weapon to backfire, making it explode in a spray of sparks.

“Did you think you’d get away that easily?” the Ninth Doctor growled.

“Please,” the man held up his hands. “We were just doing our job!”

“You’re definitely not going to get away with that.”

“It’s the truth!”

The Ninth Doctor began to approach him when more wheezing filled the air. Turning around, he saw another TARDIS fading into existence beside his. As it solidified, the Doctor, Clara, and April stepped out.

“What are you doing here?” the Ninth Doctor asked his successor.

“What do you think? Stopping you from doing something stupid!” the Doctor replied.

“I’m righting a wrong!”

“By committing another wrong? I know the Time War hurt you – hurt us – but this is too far. The Warrior would blush at what you’re doing.”

“Don’t say his name!” the earlier Doctor spat. “You know very well what he did!”

“But he did what he did for a reason! It was war! This is peace, and you’re trying to kill someone in cold blood! You’re the Warrior anymore. You’re the Doctor! You’re better than this!”

“We were only doing as we were told,” the time agent said.

“And what were you told?” the Ninth Doctor asked.

The man took a deep breath. “I’m Iann Mattis. My partner Kaleb Norwell and I were sent to fix a catastrophic anomaly in the continuum.”

“What was the anomaly?” the Doctor raised an eyebrow.

“You.”

“Us?” they said collectively.

Iann nodded. “Your arrival and subsequent intervention caused a chain reaction that would’ve destroyed history.”

“We only intervened because we thought you were intervening,” Clara said.

“And we were intervening because we were responding to your intervention. Your intervention led you to Lee Harvey Oswald, which led to his death. We couldn’t prevent his death, so we had to continue the circumstances that led to his death but keep history on track by having Kaleb take his place. But you further intervened, meaning that I had to be the one who assassinated the President, not Oswald.”

April held her head. “What. The. Hell.”

“He’s saying that we caused all of this,” the Ninth Doctor said. “We caused everything.”

The Doctor sighed. “We created a paradox. They’re only responding to our intervention because we tried to stop their intervention, which intervened with the course of events. An infinite loop of us stepping on each others’ toes.”

“Kaleb will now be arrested for the assassination of John F. Kennedy and be killed by Jack Ruby. History will be unchanged. Oswald will be credited with the murder, even though I’m the one who pulled the trigger,” Iann explained.

“We almost destroyed history?” Clara looked around.

The Ninth Doctor was growing visibly angry. “I can’t stop destroying things,” he said to himself. “I’m a monster. The destroyer of worlds. The bringer of darkness. Death and destruction always follow me wherever I go. Nothing I do can ever bring any good.”

“Don’t say t-,” the Doctor tried to say.

“I don’t care about the future!” he snapped. “I don’t care about anything that happens anymore! Maybe someday I’ll be the Doctor again, but for all I know, I am no one. I am a black stain on this universe, and I intend to stay out of the way.”

Without saying another word, the Doctor walked across the ship and stepped into his TARDIS. As he closed the door, he cast a loathsome look at the Doctor. The Doctor watched him with sad eyes. Closing the door, the Ninth Doctor disappeared. A moment later, the groaning of the engines returned and the TARDIS disappeared into the time vortex. They watched it go, before silence fell around them.

After a few moments, Iann spoke.

“I’m sorry Doctor, but we did what we had to do. For the timeline to remain intact. President Kennedy’s death has universal implications, as you know.”

The Doctor nodded. “I know. I just wish we weren’t involved.”

“I can relate,” Iann replied.

“No,” he shook his head. “No you can’t.”

Without saying another word, the Doctor returned to the TARDIS. The woman exchanged looks with Iann before following the Time Lord. As the door closed, the ship also began to fade away, disappearing into energy, and then nothing at all. Iann watched it go, before turning around in his chair and returning to the controls.

He was going to take a long vacation after this. And get a raise.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor was staring at the console. The two women approached him slowly.

“Doctor. None of this is your fault. You know that, right?” Clara asked.

“But it is,” he replied.

“How is it your fault? How is it any of our faults? We can’t control time,” April said.

“But that’s the thing,” he looked up at them. “I act like I can control time. I do play god. I play god with time, with space, with worlds, with people… with you two. Time Lords are supposed to be the watchers of the universe, sworn to never interfere. I could never stand it. That’s why I called myself the Doctor, because I saw the universe hurting and wanted to help. Being a Time Lord is my legacy… and it’s mine to define. So what do I do? Am I a Time Lord, who merely watches the universe unfold? Or am I the Doctor, the savior of the universe? I can’t be both. Not even if I was a good man.”

“You are a good man,” Clara stepped towards him.

“Am I, though? After what you’ve seen today? I may be the Doctor, but that does not mean I am good.”

Silence fell at these words, with the only sound between them being the groaning of the engines as the TARDIS flew further into the vortex.

Characters

 * Twelfth Doctor
 * Clara Oswald
 * April Leigh-Morgan
 * Ninth Doctor
 * Lee Harvey Oswald
 * President John F. Kennedy
 * Iann Mattis
 * Kaleb Caldwell
 * Irving Officer
 * Morgue attendants

Trivia

 * The story was inspired by the photograph of the Ninth Doctor at the Kennedy assassination in Rose.
 * Ultimately, this story does not have a traditional villain, dealing primarily with the consequences of time travel and the intervention in historical events.
 * Iann Mattis plays the role of Badge Man, who is an alleged figure cited in several conspiracy theories about the Kennedy assassination.