Chapter Text
Zylock. A stormy desert world with a hundred terrible legacies surrounding it. It has earned the reputation of being a destination of no return, as proven by the thousands of shipwrecks left by those who tried to navigate through the asteroids and perpetual darkness. It’s said to be where Time Lords fear to tread. And with good reason, for here lies the prison - or is it more of a lair? - of their most reviled citizen. His name was the Vamtreeian, a word that in ancient north Gallifreyan means ‘universal tyrannical overlord’. And boy oh boy did he take that meaning to hearts. For at this very moment in time, he was watching. The sight of the giant circle in the very centre of his dark, dingy and overall very scary-feeling throne room, retracted to watch the spectacle in the arena below – the sight of his brother, known as the Doctor, surrounded completely by a massive swarm of Lonely Assassins, alongside his latest young blonde companion, Ruby Sunday. His brother really did seem to have a thing for young blondes. The Vamtreeian fondly remembered all those wonderful encounters with Rose Tyler a couple of regenerations ago. But enough with the pleasantries. There was a scheme in motion, and the Vamtreeian had every intention of guaranteeing its success. His scheme being to use the Weeping Angels that populate Zylock to drain the Doctor’s energies to revitalize himself, after the ill-fated team up with the Master and Reznor, and their attempt to steal the Doctor’s identity and use it to spread chaos across the universe. Which only resulted in that body wearing out and forcing a regeneration in unsafe circumstances, which left his new body a Frankenstein. Then that one was destroyed by the Toymaker, and the Vamtreeian regenerated again, into his current body: that of an older chocolate-haired gentleman with deep set eyes and a manic grin. Oh, and there was the fact he was currently confined to his life support throne, as the sudden power drainage from that team up with the Master, coupled with the sudden loss of his new body when the Toymaker caught him cheating at cards, had left him unable to walk. Now he knows how Davros feels… Nevertheless, his devious mind could not be contained. He peered down to the sight of the Doctor dodging a blow from his lackey’s electric club while trying to maintain eye contact with every Weeping Angel at once. He gave an evil snicker.
“I think your chances of thwarting me this time are dropping exponentially, brother. Quite frankly, if you must insist upon preventing my return to full strength, you could at least make a fight out of it!” He gave a mocking yawn. “You’re boring me, Doctor.”
“Well, watching this space is a whole lot more… what’s the word? …Isolated, that’s it! …isolated than actually participating down here in person!” The Doctor’s words could not have been more accurate, as Ruby huddled tightly to his back, desperately trying to keep eye contact with the three Weeping Angels in front of her. The leading figure, a hulking dark green ogre wearing torn brown pants, continued his advance. His name was Drak. He gave a vicious laugh, knowing the Doctor wouldn’t be able to squeeze out of this one. If he moved, the Weeping Angels would get him and Ruby. If he stayed put, Drak would kill them instead. And if either of them blinked, it’s game over anyway.
“No more run-run, Doc-Tom!” Drak grunted. He pointed at them both with a sadistic smile on his face. “You – trap!” He laughed sadistically at his joke before raising his club again. This is bad news. Ruby’s already struggling to maintain eye contact, and the Doctor’s facing the wrong way to stop the Angels advancing when she inevitably has to blink.
“Now this is some sport, brother. Who will crack first, your girl or the locals? I shouldn’t doubt we’re going to find out shortly… and then the temporal energy from the lives you would have lived will flow through the Angels, right into their harnesses and grant me full mobility to conquer the universe once more. And you will not stop me, because you’ll be stranded in history without a TARDIS!” But even as the Vamtreeian began another evil laugh, he did not anticipate the sudden spectacle that was about to unfold before his eyes. A blue portal opened up, right in front of him, and to his surprise, a young redheaded woman wearing a blue and white bodysuit came flying out of it, kicking him in the stomach and giving them both an electric shock from the life support throne. The woman landed back on her feet in seconds, leaving the Vamtreeian to prop himself up in fury. “Bunnyx. I might have suspected you would find a way to interfere with my plans once again…”
“Time is a fragile thing, Vamtreeian. There are reasons why it cannot be altered for one’s sadistic amusement! Release the Doctor at once!”
“And deny myself the temporal energies necessary to complete my return to power? In essence, destroying my own plan? Ha ha ha. You always were good for a laugh. But alas, I have an… appointment to keep, and I cannot reschedule purely for your convenience. Quink?” The Vamtreeian turned to his left, towards his faithful Ood lieutenant. “Kill her.” The Ood nodded and rose his translator orb as he menacingly marched towards a retreating Bunnyx.
“My apologies for your untimely demise, Miss Kubdel, but my master depends your excruciating end. Goodbye.” He shot out his translator orb at Bunnyx, who managed to block it by opening her umbrella. It remained in motion for a few moments before Quink recalled it. “Your umbrella is an interesting contraption. I must look forward to recovering it for my master.”
“You’re going to be waiting a long time, Quink! But fighting you will have to wait. I’ve already noticed the Angels are closing in on the Doctor, I’ll have to save him first!” Quink was too slow in throwing his translator orb again, and Bunnyx escaped into another Burrow. Frustrating, but nothing too unworkable. Or rather that’s what they thought…
“Ruby, are you sure you’re overexerting your eyes, trying to avoid blinking?”
“You said not to blink! Ok, I could try winking or closing one eye and opening the other if that helps?”
“For a while it might, but it’s impossible to continually shut one eye and open the other for any period of time before closing both. It’s normally much safer to keep both eyes open than to risk it.”
“O…K… we could blindfold some perhaps…?”
“Do you really want to get close enough to a Weeping Angel to put a blindfold on them so they can’t see you blink? One wrong move and you could find yourself trying to invent the wheel or… whatever…”
“Err… oh! We could try what the Indians do to keep safe from tiger attacks and wear a human face mask on the back of our heads!”
“So the Angels would think they’d been spotted first…? Hmm… could be worth a try, but we haven’t got any human face masks, so we’re trapped…” Or so the Doctor feared for a moment, until another portal opened up right in front of them. An arm suddenly shot out and grabbed the Doctor by the jacket, pulling him in. Sensing the opportunity, Ruby followed suit. The Angels knew they were no longer being looked at and alongside Drak they rushed to attack, but the portal too quickly for even them, much to the Vamtreeian’s fury.
“Clever, Bunnyx… very clever…(!) Oh well… it just gives me more time to plan my revenge…”
(scene break)
“Woah! That was a close one! No need to thank me, Doctor, it’s just what I do!”
“Bunnyx… it’s been a while since I saw one of your kind in person. Not since my recorder days and that Yeti attack on Ben Nevis… ah, memories… So! Good to see you, Alix. Bit taller since last time I saw you, you had a growth spurt?”
“I’m a different Bunnyx to the one you usually visit, Doctor. I’m from her future. But I do remember all those adventures we’ve had so far… Daleks in New Shanghai, Cybermen on Venus, that business with the Sontarans and Slitheen at the 3024 Olympics…”
“Not to mention Autons in London, the Axons building the Great Pyramids of Giza… and I think there was something regarding the Wirrn in eighteenth century Madagascar…”
“Exactly, Doctor. We have had some fun.”
“Ok, can someone fill me in on all this, please?”
“I’ll explain later, Ruby. Firstly, let’s get Alix here back to her own time…”
(Doctor Who Theme Tune)