Also could be known as one of the most important interludes in the history of interludes.
Come on, guys, I wouldn't be THAT mean. ;) Of course I'll give you the interlude to satisfy you lot SLIGHTLY.
You don't even need a hint. Interlude title says it all. ;) Guess all the "debts" here, and you get a medal. After a while, I think some choices will be quite obvious.
***
Dorium walked through the door, beaming at the Headless Monks inside. "Gentlemen! Good news! My agents have procured the exact security software that you requested, the very latest upgrade. I extracted it from the memory of a Judoon trooper. Well, I say extracted . . . it was quicker to take the whole brain. And to be honest . . . " He held up the box in his hands. "I don't think he's going to miss it." One of the Monks approached to take it, but Dorium pulled back. "Uh uh uh! Small matter of payment, I think." The Monk paused, then held out a small pouch. "Delightful," Dorium grinned, taking it and handing the box over. "Oh, I do enjoy sentient money. The way it wiggles. You'll find it in the front al lobe. Should be quite easy. There's not a lot in there."
The Monks began to leave, but Dorium called out, "But all this to imprison one child?" The Monks paused again. "Oh, I know what you're up to. I hear everything in this place. I even hear rumors about whose child you've taken. But the rumors of who else you've taken? Are you mad?! You know the stories about the Doctor, and what he would do for his wife, the things that man has done! God help us if you've made him angry!"
God help them all!
***
"What the hell is she doing?" Rory shouted as the TARDIS shook and shuddered, the Doctor struggling to hang onto the console, having recovered enough of the initial shock to at least handle the piloting.
"I don't know!" the Doctor answered, frantically holding on. "I'm not even sure if it's her!"
"What do you mean, you don't know if it's her?" Jemma yelped.
"Because the last time - agh!" He staggered back, eyes flaring gold, before he straightened back up. "The last time this happened - " The TARDIS landed with a thud, and they all went flying to the floor. The Doctor groaned in pain, then looked up. "You know what . . . I'm going to stop talking."
"That bad?" Jemma asked in concern, going over to him.
"Well, there is that . . . " He looked up. "Someone get the door?"
"What, where do you think we are?" Fitz asked, going over. "Do you know where we - " He finished opening the door, then blinked, seeing the towering citadel above them. " . . . are. Are we on Asgard?" he asked, looking around.
"My guess," the Doctor grunted, standing up with Jemma's help. "Heimdall used the Bifrost. Clever Asgardian." He twisted back and forth, then headed for the door, Jemma right by his side. "So, if he brought us - " He paused, stopping practically right outside the door. "Loki?"
"Doctor," Loki acknowledged, narrowing his green eyes as he looked over his shoulder. "Where is Jessie?"
The Doctor swallowed, hard, his face pale. "He needs help," Rory said, looking at the god of mischief. "I don't know, if there's some Infinity Rock or whatever the hell they are. He needs help."
Loki seemed to notice the Doctor's predicament for the first time and did a double take. "What is this?"
" . . . Metacrisis," the Doctor answered, wincing and putting one arm over Jemma's shoulders, Jemma helping support him.
Loki's eyes widened, and he nodded quickly, stepping to the Doctor's side and helping Jemma support him. "The main hall," he told Rory and Fitz. "Straight in."
The walk to the palace was surprisingly short, given that two people were nearly dragging a third, and Rory and Fitz kept turning back to ask where they were going.
But the moment Fitz stepped into the main hall, he froze where he stood, eyes wide. Rory frowned, taken aback himself by the sheer mass of people in the room. There were at least fifteen, nearly twenty. Maybe even more. "Er . . . Fitz?" he asked, looking at him as they all turned to them. "Who's this lot?"
Fitz opened his mouth to respond, but Jemma gasped from behind them. Rory and Fitz turned, and tried to figure out who looked more stunned - the Doctor or Jemma. Jemma was looking from person to person, eyes widening with every moment. As the Doctor's dulled emerald eyes flashed over them, he started to look slightly more hopeful. "Doctor?" Rory repeated. "Who - "
"Dad?" a small voice asked, and from the midst of the group, a young blonde woman with sparkling brown eyes wearing a SHIELD catsuit and her hair in a ponytail stepped forward, eyes wide. "What happened?"
"Jenny," the Doctor whispered, and the girl ran forward, hugging him tightly. The Doctor hugged her back, closing his eyes and taking a deep, shuddering breath. "It's the Metacrisis."
"The what?!"
Rory whipped around, hearing a woman's loud voice cut through the sudden mass of people talking. They all quieted when the woman spoke, and an older ginger woman stepped forward, glaring at the Doctor. "What happened to the Aussie Wolf, Spaceman?"
" . . . not Aussie anymore," the Doctor mumbled, looking at her.
"Fine, Supergirl," the ginger rolled her eyes. "You didn't answer the question."
The Doctor took a deep breath and straightened. "She and Amy, Rory's wife - " He pointed to Rory, who raised a hand. " - were replaced with doppelgängers, called Gangers. Everything about them was the same: thoughts, appearances, even the blood bond couldn't detect anything different. The connection shorted out, and - " The Doctor let out a strangled noise, doubling over; Jemma and Jenny hurried to straighten him. "Well, you can see what that did."
"Oh, my God," the ginger whispered.
"Donna?" Rory gave a random guess, looking at her. "Donna Noble?"
"Yeah, that's me," she nodded, then turned to the others. "Who else do you know?"
"He's met Coulson, May, and Saleen," Fitz supplied, and the SHIELD agents near the back nodded.
"Um . . . " Rory looked around, somehow getting a feeling this was some kind of test. "Martha Jones," he finally pointed out the pretty black woman, wearing a white lab coat over a similar SHIELD catsuit. "Jenny was given away." He looked at the man with black hair wearing a World War II greatcoat, who had been quiet so far. "Jack Harkness?"
"Captain Jack Harkness," he corrected.
"Stop it," the Doctor sighed - along with nearly everyone in the room.
"Can't I say anything?"
The Doctor laughed, then started coughing. As Jenny turned to fuss over her father, Rory turned to the other older woman, who had short brown hair with a few teenagers with her. "Sarah Jane Smith, right? And the kids . . . " He scratched his head. "I only know Luke, I'm sorry," he apologized.
"That's all right," Sarah Jane smiled. "His friends, Clyde and Rani."
"And then you Asgardians," Rory continued, looking around. "Loki and Thor, I know." He looked at the silent four standing ready. "Which makes you lot Sif and the Warriors Three." When they all started smiling at him, he shuffled awkwardly. " . . . that was a test, wasn't it?"
"You passed with flying colors," Saleen smiled. "Jessie really did include us all."
"How did you all know?" the Doctor asked, looking up.
"Heimdall," Thor answered, looking at Loki. "And then the Tesseract began acting up . . . "
"And something just felt wrong," Martha shuddered. "I don't know what the hell it was, but it was . . . off."
The Doctor took a deep breath, then looked at Loki. "Heimdall can use the Tesseract to look through space, through time, to anywhere?"
"I believe so," Loki nodded. "He has followed you through the Vortex, even."
"We have a stalker?" Rory blinked.
"That was my reaction," Martha laughed.
The Doctor nodded. "Just to make sure, I want to ask him to send messages to different people - " He shook his head. "No, the message to a few. I want to visit some of them personally."
"Why so?" Loki tilted his head.
The Doctor looked at him, his eyes flaring dark gold. "Whoever did this, whoever took my wife," he said slowly, almost like he was spitting the words out, "made a very, very big mistake, and I intend to make them pay. You think people owe me a debt?" He laughed, a low, dark sound. "They clearly underestimated my wife."
Loki nodded. "Who to?"
***
The Doctor watched images of the New Earth skyline fly across the screen, then heard Jack walk up to his side. "Where are we?" he asked.
The Doctor looked around. "I believe I asked Heimdall to land us on Platform Three," he answered.
"You're sure the message will get out?"
"I'm not sure," the Doctor shook his head. "I know."
"That confident, eh?"
The door to the observation deck slid open, and a female voice said, "He should be."
The Doctor's shoulders relaxed, and he turned to face the alien that had just entered the room. "Jabe," he sighed in relief. "Thank you for coming."
"How could I not?" Jabe asked, stepping inside, smiling. "The plans are excellent, no?"
"I've seen the result," the Doctor nodded, gesturing to Jack. "This is Jack Harkness. He joined up with the version of me you met."
"Pleasure," Jack winked.
Jabe smiled at him, then turned to the Doctor, a worried look on her face. "The message you sent out was fairly brief, but I knew it was important. What does Bad Wolf mean?"
The Doctor took a deep breath. "Something's happened to Jessie."
Jabe's eyes widened. "Tell me everything," she urged.
The Doctor and Jack exchanged looks, then began to explain.
***
"We're not going to get stuck here and have to go back through a fireplace, will we?"
The Doctor chuckled, hearing Saleen grumble as they picked their way through tapestries hanging on the walls. "No, we won't," he promised her.
"I still don't see why we're here."
"Because I owe her one," the Doctor said truthfully, stopping at a closed door. "Well, quite possibly two." He raised a hand and knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
The Doctor opened the door and smiled at the woman turning away from her writing desk. "Hello, Reinette," he greeted with a smile. "I believe it has been some time."
Reinette's eyes widened, and she stole a quick look at Saleen, recognition sparking in her eyes. "Doctor?" she breathed, standing up.
"A bit of a new look," the Doctor spun, doing an excellent job of not collapsing, Saleen rolling her eyes at his childlike attitude. "But still me. Did I get this right? 1758?"
"Yes," Reinette nodded, a smile on her face. Her eyes flicked down to his left hand, and her smile widened, seeing the ring on his finger. "I see." Her smile flickered. "But I thought you would be - "
"The last?" the Doctor guessed. "I wish, Reinette. In the end, he never left Jessie out of his sight."
"My Bad Wolf girl," Reinette smiled. "That was the message you gave me, those two words. Bad Wolf. What did you mean?"
The Doctor looked at her sadly as he started to tell her all about it.
***
"Torchwood," the Doctor rolled his eyes, looking at the files he held. "Of course, you lot would still be around in the future."
"I'm not Torchwood," Jenny protested.
"No, but you've worked with Jack," he reminded her as they entered the maintenance facility.
"So?"
The Doctor walked up to the receptionist with a smile. "Hello! I'm the Doctor, and this is Jenny," he introduced themselves, and Jenny smiled. "We had an appointment?"
"Yes," the receptionist nodded, looking them up. "Sixth floor."
"Oof," the Doctor groaned as they entered the elevator. "Of course. Sixth floor. Let me guess, six rights, then the sixth door on the left?"
Jenny gasped, eyes wide. "That's who we're seeing?!"
"Oh, yes," the Doctor nodded.
However, the doors had barely slid open before a young woman with curly hair and wearing a tank top ran around the corner. She skidded to a stop, her eyes wide. "Doctor?" she asked, looking at the man. "You look - "
"Different?" The Doctor looked himself over as he exited the elevator. "Yes, so I've noticed." He looked up with a smile. "Scooti Manista, still working maintenance?"
"Could be worse," Scooti smiled, then nodded at Jemma, folding her arms. "Who's this?"
"Oh, my daughter," the Doctor answered. "And Jessie's."
Scooti nodded, starting to follow . . . when she blinked and stared at him. "What?"
"Did I not mention?" He raised his left hand. "We're married."
"No," Scooti shook her head. "No, your message only said Bad Wolf. What do you mean by that?"
"Are you still in contact with Zach and Ida and Mr. Jefferson?"
"Of course," Scooti snorted. "Why? What do you need?"
The Doctor's dulled emerald eyes darkened. "A debt to Jessie paid."
***
"Poppies," Martha smiled, looking at the flower wreaths here and there.
"Is Timothy Latimer here?" the Doctor asked the commanding officer.
"Yes, sir," the man nodded. "He should be in his bunks now. Shall I call for him?"
"Nah," the Doctor shook his head. "He knows we're here."
"What year is this?" Martha whispered as they went by the windows to wait.
"1919," the Doctor checked his watch. "About a year after World War I."
"I'm glad Tim survived."
"Me, too."
The door opened from outside, and a familiar face poked his head in. "Doctor!" he greeted in recognition, walking in, a familiar silver fob watch in his hand. "Martha!"
"Timothy Tim Timber!" the Doctor greeted him, shaking his hand. "You recognize me?"
"I saw you," Timothy held up the watch as he gave Martha a quick hug. "The watch reacted."
"Did it, now?" the Doctor blinked, running the watch over with his sonic screwdriver. "Well, isn't that wizard?"
"I knew it the moment you gave me her name," Timothy nodded, looking between them. "Where is she? What's happened?"
"I'd hate to put you through another," the Doctor sighed. "But we're going to war."
***
The bell above the door rang as the Doctor and Martha made their second stop in present day. "Do you think they'll remember?" Martha asked, then stopped, eyes wide.
The Doctor turned, then blinked, seeing the glass angel on the counter. "Oh, yes," he nodded, peering at it. "The Angels are something no one could forget."
"You are, too," a familiar voice said, and a blonde woman stepped out from the back. "I assume it's you, Doctor? I recognize Martha."
"Yep," the Doctor made to salute, but ended up whacking himself in the head. He stumbled back, groaning and rubbing his head, his eyes flashing dark gold.
"Ooo," Sally Nightingale hurried around the counter to help him. "That doesn't look good."
"I don't feel good, either," the Doctor mumbled.
"This is why you should leave all of this to us," Martha gave him a look.
"Leave what?" Sally shook her head. "Doctor, all you gave me to work with was the Bad Wolf's name, and nothing else. What was I supposed to think? Was I supposed to do something?"
"No," the Doctor shook his head, regaining his footing. "But we need your help, and Larry's, too."
"Anything," she replied immediately.
***
The Doctor nearly strutted through the doors of the building with Jemma, the SHIELD agent with a peculiar animal on her shoulder. As several people gave them looks, the Doctor just walked up to the receptionist's desk and leaned on it, waiting for the blonde at the computer to notice them.
It took fifteen point six eight seconds for her to. "Welcome to the Mr. Copper Foundation," the receptionist said in a dazed voice, pulling herself away from whatever she was looking at. "How can I help - " She paused when the animal on Jemma's shoulder squawked. "You?" she finished, eyes wide as she took in the raven. "Fiachra?" she breathed, standing up.
"Not quite," the Doctor shook her head as the raven flew into her hands. "Bran is directly descended from him. Your memory is sharp, Miss Peth."
Astrid looked up, tears in her eyes. "Doctor?" she asked, her voice wavering.
"Hello, Astrid," he smiled. "Have you met Jemma?"
"No," Astrid shook her head, holding out a hand to Jemma as Bran flapped to the former waitress's shoulder.
"Nice to meet you," Jemma smiled.
"I was trying to figure out what you meant," Astrid gestured to her computer, the words BAD WOLF on the screen. "I know it's her name . . . but what does it mean?"
The Doctor looked at her. "Would you like to see the rest of the crew from the Titanic again? You, and Mr. Copper?"
"Of course!" Astrid's eyes widened in delight.
"Good," he smiled tensely. "Because we need every last man we can get."
***
The Doctor took one step around the corner and paused, sighing. "Oh, of course," he mumbled, shaking his head as Donna came to his side, and she started laughing at the bemused look on his face. "Of course."
"I knew you would come," the girl in front of them said with a smile, looking much healthier than the last time they'd seen her. "Both of you."
"Of course you would," the Doctor smiled.
"Oh, come here," Donna grinned, running forward.
Evelina ran to hug Donna. "It is good to see you," she told the ginger before turning to the Doctor. "I knew it would be you," she added, walking up to him. "The only time after Vesuvius that my visions returned, and it was of you and the Bad Wolf - different versions of you. And when I started seeing her name everywhere . . . " Her smile faded. "What has happened?"
The Doctor looked at her. "We need your help."
***
The Doctor leaned back in his chair, examining his shoes as a woman with pin straight black hair was plopped in front of him, her hands cuffed behind her back. "Oh, what a reputation your have, Miss de Souza," he sighed dramatically.
"It's Lady," Christina de Souza corrected with a huff, giving him a distasteful look. "If you're some new interrogator they've hired, don't even bother. I'm waiting for a ride."
"You're so sure someone's coming for you, then?"
Christina narrowed her eyes slightly. "I got a message from them, yeah. What's it matter to you?"
The Doctor shrugged, then pulled out his sonic screwdriver and sonicked the camera in the corner. Christina gasped, sitting up straight, as his next target was her handcuffs. "Fancy a lift, Lady Christina?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Christina grinned and jumped to her feet. "I should have known!" she laughed as they ran out the door, heading for the back alley, alarms wailing behind them. "You're no interrogator!"
"Just because I'm in a hurry, I'm going to let that slide," the Doctor pointed at her. "Look, Christina, I bet my message didn't make any sense - "
"It made sense," she folded her arms, looking at him. "Bad Wolf. That's your wife's name, I got that just fine. But why?" She looked around, frowning. "And where is she?"
The Doctor looked at her. "That's what I need your help with."
***
The Doctor stood with Steve on a planet's beach, looking at the remains of a ship. "Still looks the same," the Doctor sighed.
"You say it's called the Byzantium?" Steve asked.
"Oh, yes," the Doctor nodded. "Do you know, there's a forest in there?"
Steve stared at him. "You're kidding."
"I'm not," the Doctor shook his head, then turned when he heard teleports. "Oh, here we go."
Steve turned as well to see five figures in camouflage appear, and they all hurried over. "Who are they?"
The Doctor simply saluted as the man in the lead got closer. "Bishop," he greeted.
"Doctor," Bishop Octavian saluted back.
"Clerics," the Doctor acknowledged the other four.
"Sir," they answered, snapping to attention.
"Captain Steve Rogers," Steve held out a hand.
"Bishop Octavian," Octavian shook his head.
"Bishop, I assume you received the message?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.
"Loud and clear, sir," Octavian nodded. "Bad Wolf. Tell us what you need us for, and we will do it."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Just like that?"
"With all due respect, sir," one of the Clerics - Marco, if the Doctor remembered correctly - spoke up, "if it wasn't for her, my fellow Clerics and I would not be alive. We owe her a debt."
The Doctor nodded. "And for her sake, I intend to collect."
Octavian stiffened. "What happened?"
***
The Doctor, Rory, and Loki hung out by a lamppost, watching snow fall around them. "Still hasn't changed, even after all this time," Rory remarked.
"But I do not recall the fish," Loki mused, poking a minnow in the nose.
"You wouldn't," the Doctor agreed.
"How much time has passed since we were here?" Rory wondered.
The Doctor checked his watch. "About two years."
"Oh, poor Kazran."
"Poor?" the Doctor blinked, looking at him. "What do you mean?"
"Well . . . " Rory shrugged. "You know, Abigail's condition."
The Doctor smiled, seeing a carriage pulled by a shark descending from the sky. "What condition?"
Rory's jaw dropped as Kazran and Abigail exited the carriage, both looking happy and content. "What?" he sputtered.
"Magic," Loki said simply.
"Doctor!" Abigail smiled, running over to give him a hug.
"Abigail," the Doctor greeted her warmly, then held out a hand to Kazran. "Kazran, you old miser! How've you been?"
"Never been better," Kazran chuckled. "But that message of yours was surprisingly vague."
"Did I not make it clear?" the Doctor asked, looking between them.
"All it said was Bad Wolf," Abigail shook her head. "I know that's your wife, and I know she asked you to help me," she told Loki. "But other than that . . . we're in the dark."
The Doctor looked between the two of them. "I'm calling in old debts, mine and hers," he said. "Our lives depend on it."
Abigail's eyes widened, and Kazran stepped forward. "What is it?" he asked, taking Abigail's hand. "What has happened?"
"War," Loki answered darkly. "Someone stole an extra wife, and it was not a good one to steal."
Abigail's eyes instantly narrowed. "Bad Wolf," she deduced.
"Exactly," the Doctor nodded. "And we need everyone we can get."
"What do you need?" Kazran asked.
***
Heimdall lowered his sword into the Bifrost, watching as images of Jabe, Reinette, Scooti, Timothy, Sally, Astrid, Evelina, Christina, Octavian, and Abigail flew past, along with other faintly familiar faces. "It is done," he told the Doctor as the Time Lord approached, walking better than he had been, Rory, Jack, Loki, Thor, Tony, Steve, and Coulson with him. "The message has been sent."
"Good," the Doctor nodded, folding his arms. "Now it's a matter of who else responds."
"And then what happens?" Coulson asked.
The Doctor turned, a dark glint in his eyes, his eyes no longer just green. "Ready your men, soldiers," he answered, the white blue of the Tesseract flaring, as well as the dark gold of the Metacrisis. "We're going to war."
***
And that, my friends, is where I shall leave you. :) Doctor + Tesseract = one hell of an episode coming up soon!
Come on, you all should have known that there's a reason I've been saving these people. Yeah, Jessie's got a habit of saving lives, but she's saved one hell of a lot. A few of you PMed me, asking why I was doing it. I was very vague about it, but I think you all guessed it.
So, the explanations as to why I chose to write about this lot in particular. Jabe was one of the very first aliens Jessie ever saved, and she's the only real alien I even wrote in here. Reinette's (I know, why her?) letters towards the end of her life were part of what drew the Time Lords closer together, so that's why I threw her in. Jessie saved Scooti from being a victim of the Beast, who had been giving her nightmares for a while. Latimer I think would have just known, given how he could have heard the fob watch; same for Evelina, because of her soothsaying gifts for a time. Everyone from the Titanic was saved, but Astrid was there for the Edgar Allan Poe adventure (and Bran's back!). Christina and Jessie just got along well, and I did like her a bit. Octavian and his Clerics were saved because of Jessie's mutations and her quick thinking, even though it was technically the Doctor that saved Octavian. And through Jessie, Loki healed Abigail of her sickness so she could stay with Kazran.
Good line-up, don't you think? ;)
Anyway, now your waiting begins! Feel free to check out my other books while you're waiting. But, here's a small little snippet of what's going to come after "AGMGTW."
+++
"You're late!" Thor shouted to the Doctor as they stood back to back in Sokovia, Thor hamering at the HYDRA agents, the Doctor using the Aether to blast them back.
"Are we?" the Doctor took a moment to look at his watch, sending HYDRA agents back with one hand so they could be electrocuted by Jessie, who was doing a flyby. "You said 10 am, didn't you?"
"PM!" Steve shouted over the comm. "Yesterday!"
"Ooo . . . " The Doctor winced. "Oops."
:D Oh, yeah, didn't I say this at the beginning of the book?
"Age of Ultron" will be what happened during that huge gap between "A Good Man Goes To War" and "Let's Kill Hitler." ;)
I have nothing more to say other than this:
Have fun waiting. It WILL be worth it. }:)