Spinning through a dimension of swirling temporal energy, a blue box journeyed with purpose. Its lamp, flashing as it spun, was pointed forward like the prow of a ship. It looked like a London Police Box of the 1960’s but inside was a technological marvel of dimensional engineering! When one steps into the box, the first room they enter is the main control room, the first clue that the box is actually bigger on the inside! The control room, as it stood now, was a red room with gold trim. A hexagonal console with a cylinder going up and down as the machine went through the Time Vortex was placed in the center of the room. Underneath one of the panels, a woman with long, platinum blonde hair was fiddling with something and singing a tune in her native language. Oddly enough, this wasn’t the owner of the machine, but their current companion, Tysar, a Thal from New Davius. “…There we go!” she said. She then closed the panel. “That should do it!”
“Um, Tysar,” came another woman’s voice, “what are you doing?” A woman with African features and a burgundy skirt with roses hemming it and a gold headband with a large rose on its left side had entered the room. This was the owner of the machine.
“Running repairs,” replied Tysar. The owner of the machine, the Time Lord known as the Doctor, flinched at that.
“Erm, Tysar,” said the Doctor, “I don’t want you to take umbrage, but might I suggest that you leave repairs of the TARDIS console to me? I know you Thals are brilliant technicians-.”
“That’s very patronizing of you, Doctor!” protested Tysar.
“Well, the TARDIS is dimensionally temperamental, and temporal engineering isn’t exactly something Thals are studying in your native time zone, is it?”
“No, but-.”
“All right then. Well, I’m glad we got that settled.”
“There’s no need to panic!” chuckled Tysar. “I was only improving the efficiency of the components that are currently helping the TARDIS track chronal surges.”
“The wha-?” The Doctor arched an eyebrow. “Why?”
“So that we can get ahead of them and fix the problem as quickly as possible, given that the Grouping’s getting worse,” explained Tysar.
“…Ah, yes,” realized the Doctor. “Gallifrey DID say that, didn’t they? Erm, well done, Tysar.” Just then, the console beeped. “All right, yes, there’s no need to test those components.”
“I’m not,” replied Tysar. “The TARDIS has detected multiple chronal surges. And we have a reading on where their victims came from and where they’re going.”
“Excellent!” praised the Doctor. “Let’s see. …There’s three! Two of them are from 2027 and one’s from…well, how about that?”
“What?” asked Tysar.
“The last one’s from 2167,” explained the Doctor.
“2167?” asked Tysar. “Isn’t that when the Daleks were occupying Earth?”
“Yes, the last year of their occupation, and all three of our victims are from Earth,” replied the Doctor. “It looks like they’re heading to…2029, Earth, United States Eastern Seaboard…Gotham!”
“Oh no!” complained Tysar, remembering when a chronal surge plucked her from New Davius and plopped her into Gotham.
“Yes, well, you don’t have to step outside, you know,” remarked the Doctor.
“No, no,” dismissed Tysar. “We have a job to do. Let’s get to it.”
“Right!” declared the Doctor as she set the coordinates.
Gotham, a hellhole of a city in the USA, where criminals were as talked about as any public figure like an actor or a politician. Even politics weren’t safe from the crime bosses’ grasp. But the criminal underworld was NOT unopposed there. While there were police officers…there were also those of the vigilante persuasion. Right now, two criminals with clown makeup on them were outside a warehouse, guarding their boss’s newest acquisition. “…So, the boss’s partner,” said one, “you sure he’s a god?”
“I was there when the guy attacked New York,” replied the other. “He’s got the right stuff to be a god. Especially the Norse God he says he is. Although, I thought he was blonde…and supposed to still be bound with Jörmungandr’s fangs dripping venom into his eyes.”
“How do you know so much about gods?” asked the first.
“Dude, when I was a kid, it wasn’t just the Greek myths that were my hyperfixation,” answered the other. The first simply nodded, then looked around. “…What’s the matter with you?” asked the other.
“Dude, we’re guarding a rock!” protested the first. “No way will the Bat wanna waste time over a rock!”
“Yeah, but it’s the boss that has that rock,” said the other, “and ain’t no way the Bat’s gonna leave him alone. There’s too much history for that. So keep watch.”
“Yeah, well, my ma always said that idle hands were the devil’s workshop.”
“Hey, I resent that! We worked damn hard on this and so did the boss!”
“True, very true!” came a cackling voice, startling the two men. “But his mother is right in this particular instance. We’ve been idle for too long!” The speaker stepped out of the shadows to reveal a man with chalk-white skin, ruby lips, green hair, and a purple suit with coattails and a rose boutonniere. This was the Clown Prince of Crime himself, the Joker! “Pack up, boys! Our divine friend is coming to Miagani Island!”
“That ain’t far, Boss,” remarked the first as he and his friend started packing.
“Hey, Boss, do we want the Bat to know right now?” asked the other. “Because if not, we’re gonna have to take the long way.”
“So be it,” replied the Joker. “Besides, it’s good to build up anticipation!”
“…Fair enough,” agreed the other. Then…a noise filled the air. “…Hey, anyone-?”
“I hear it too,” remarked the first. “What is that? A new toy from the Bat?” The TARDIS then materialized. “…Never mind, too blue.” The other gasped.
“That’s the box those doctors appeared in during that mugging in 2027!” he explained. “They’re friends of the Bat! I say we ice them!”
“I’m not Mr. Freeze, but that sounds like a splendid idea!” agreed the Joker as he pulled out a pistol. The Doctor and Tysar then stepped out and everyone froze for a second.
“All right toots, where are them doctors?!” snarled the other.
“…Hang on, we met before,” remarked the Doctor. “I flipped you over after you wanted to have your way with that poor woman. That was before Batman knocked your leader out.”
“…Lady, you weren’t there!” snapped the other. “How could you-?”
“Maybe she’s heard about that from those other doctors,” said the first.
“No, I just changed my face,” replied the Doctor. “Now, Doctor in the house here, and-.”
“Doctor, it hurts when I do THIS!” The Joker leveled his gun at the Doctor and fired, but the Doctor twirled out of the way and poked the Joker in the eyes!
“Don’t do that,” she replied as the Joker rubbed his eyes. He recovered his vision.
“SHOOT HER! SHOOT HER!” he shouted.
“You have unbelievably thin skin, Joker,” chuckled the Doctor. She dashed to the other side of the warehouse and found a good stack of boxes. She then made it wobble.
“HEY! HEY! HEY!” protested the Joker. “BE CAREFUL WITH THAT!”
“Oh, I’m being very careful,” assured the Doctor. “See, I’m on this side and it’s all going to fall…THAT WAY!” The Doctor pushed the stack so it toppled towards the Joker and his goons. As the three criminals ran, the Doctor grabbed Tysar’s hand and fled the warehouse.
“Doctor, the TARDIS-!” argued Tysar. She then heard the TARDIS take off!
“And that’s the HADS kicking in,” said the Doctor.
“The wha-?”
“Hostile Action Displacement System,” explained the Doctor. “The TARDIS moves to a relatively safer location.”
“…And where is that?” asked Tysar.
“…Well, if I…um…” The Doctor’s eyes went wide. “…You know, there are moments where I loathe the HADS.”
“YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE THE TARDIS IS?!” yelped Tysar. Her berating was interrupted by a vehicle approaching. A streak of black with a bat motif zoomed by.
“…There we go!” said the Doctor. “Problem solved! He’s the world’s greatest detective, he can find the TARDIS!”
“Doctor, if the TARDIS vanished from this point in space-time-!”
“No, no, no, the HADS does not engage anything related to temporal navigation,” soothed the Doctor. “It only changes its point in space, not time. And even then, it’s a relatively short hop. It will still be in Gotham. And no one can get in without the key. So we’ll just wait for him to finish up his business with the Joker and-.”
“Doc?” asked a rough man’s voice. The Doctor could smell cigars and booze behind her and turned to see a short, muscular man with his hair and sideburns pulled into points.
“…Logan?!” she spluttered. “…I don’t think I was conscious after I regenerated in the school, how did you know-?”
“Apparently your scent’s still the same,” remarked Logan, the mutant known as Wolverine. “What’s going on here?”
“I’d like to know that myself,” said another voice. A metal suit then landed with gold and red colors and a blue light in its chest.
“Oh god, Stark,” groaned Wolverine.
“Hey there, Skunk Bear,” remarked the armored person, Tony Stark as Iron Man. He then saw the Doctor. “…William told me you changed into that, Doctor. Some natural cosmetic surgery?”
“Regeneration is NOT cosmetic surgery, Mr. Stark!” hissed the Doctor. “…All right, that’s two of you from 2027, now…”
“You know what’s going on?” asked Wolverine.
“You two are in Gotham of 2029,” explained Tysar. Iron Man stepped back in surprised and Wolverine looked…well, bemused.