An emergency
dematerialization had to be made. The Doctor’s T.A.R.D.I.S. and those that
belonged to the regenerations of Neas had been knocked off course within the
infinite dimensional corridor. Bringing them out of it required all Time Lords
at their stations – the Doctor at his, Gen at hers, and Bradlee at his. Neas
would’ve been added to that lineup, had anyone actually known where he was at
the time.
The T.A.R.D.I.S.es
successfully materialized out of the corridor.
Their passengers stepped
out onto a dark, damp rooftop within a brooding city.
“Everybody alright?” Gen
asked the group, who gave positive verification.
“What was all that nonsense about?!”
Willie griped. “I think I just lost fifty pounds from messin’ myself!”
“One of the T.A.R.D.I.S.es
disengaged from mine while we were in the corridor,” the Doctor evaluated. “If
we hadn’t dematerialized when we did, our ships would’ve been ripped part,
taking us with them.”
Bradlee surveyed the
T.A.R.D.I.S.es gathered on the bleak rooftop.
There was the big blue
police box that was the Doctor’s and the two tall black rectangular solids that
were his and Gen’s.
Only two…when there
should’ve been three, including
Neas’s.
“Wait,” Bradlee uttered.
“Where’s Neas?”
Everyone looked around,
seeing no sign of the Gladiator’s ninth regeneration among the congregation. In
her seeking for him, Gen realized another member of their party had gone
missing: “Where’s Chanley?”
“You guys don’t think it
could’ve been Neas that disengaged the T.A.R.D.I.S.es, do ya?” Fred asked.
“For what purpose?” Gen
frowned.
The Doctor considered
Fred’s theory more closely. “He wouldn’t need one, unless he was under the
influence of Regen-8.” His reference to the old Gallifreyan remedy, once
thought long forgotten, drew troubled gazes from Gen and Bradlee. “That woman I
spoke to on the phone, back in Jurassic World…she said something about doing
what Rassilon could never do: preserving the legacy of the Time Lords. Rassilon
was obsessed with perfecting the
Regen-8 formula.”
“O.K.,” Gen said, the
gears turning in her head as she figured the Doctor’s hypothesis. “So what does
that have to do with Neas?”
“Well, it wasn’t him directly she wanted – at least, I don’t
suppose,” the Doctor said. “I think she wanted one of you Gladiators
specifically for experimentation. Neas could’ve been a victim of circumstance.”
Gen sighed, feeling like
massive weight just dropped on her shoulders.
“So, Doctor, if your
deductions are correct, then we have little time to waste before the Regen-8
completely endangers all the regenerations following Neas, including…”
“Me,” Bradlee shakily
said, clasping a hand over his forehead. “I think I might be feeling the
effects of it already.”
“You’re just
psychosomatic,” the Doctor told him.
“Hey, he’s scared,” Steven
spoke in Bradlee’s defense. “There’s no need to call him names.”
“No, ‘psychosomatic’ means
it’s all in his head,” the Doctor elaborated.
“What if that’s one of the
symptoms?” Daphne alleged.
“Like, what if he could
turn on us at any second?!” Shaggy fretted.
“Then we’ll just have to
kick his butt,” Craig declared.
“Son, I know I raised you better
than to whoop a little girl’s butt,” Willie scolded.
Bradlee scoffed. “I’m not
gonna turn! And I’m not a little—”
“ENOUGH ALREADY!” Gen
roared, taking control over a conversation that managed to veer itself
off-course. “We don’t have time for What-If’s and losing our cool over
something that hasn’t even happened yet! We need to focus on our next
destination, ‘cause that’s where Neas
is gonna be!”
“Themyscira,” Jane said.
“That’s the place Chanley told us where they’re keeping Lauren – or whoever she
might be by now.”
“Only it’s not the
Themyscira of now where you need to go.”
The voice of a woman with
a mild Middle Eastern accent spoke outside the group. They all turned to see
one wearing an armored crimson breastplate, a gold belt and a dark blue leather
skirt, lined with gold, accessorized by knee-length metal boots, a harness,
bracelets, and a tiara.
Accompanying her were five
men, each adorned in their own style of armor.
The Doctor knew these
individuals by their team moniker: the Justice League. It overwhelmed him to
see such well-renown superheroes that were only fiction a few days ago, from
his perspective.
Diana Prince, a.k.a.
“Wonder Woman,” approached them with the vital information they needed for
their impending mission. “Lately, I’ve felt my history – Themysciran History –
perverted by two women who call themselves ‘LeMarier’ and ‘Missy’.”
“LeMarier,” Gen hissed the
adopted name of her twin sibling’s first regeneration. “Should’ve guessed she was involved in this.”
“As a result, my very
existence here in the present is at risk,” Diana said.
“You’re the circumstance
of a temporal paradox,” the Doctor diagnosed.
“That’s exactly what I told her,” Barry Allen,
a.k.a. “The Flash,” stated. “We’re in the possibility of losing this version of
Diana forever, if we don’t fix the problem at its source.”
“Looks like my life’s not
the only one on the line anymore,” Bradlee lamented.
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