Chapter Text
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, a giant building existed. Invisible to anyone who might pass by, it stood tall. Inside, there wasn't a single living being. It was eerily silent, a bit dusty due to lack of use. In one room, with its doors locked and no windows, five circular glass chambers stood. They reached the ceiling from the floor and were large enough for a person to stand in, with a bit of extra room to move around, but not much. Other than that, there wasn't that much else in the room. Just some chairs and wires, and tubes hanging from the ceiling connecting to the chambers.
The silence was deafening, until several loud claps of thunder resounded through the room, followed by twenty-one separate flashes of light that looked like lightening. Five of the flashes lit up inside the five glass chambers, and a second later five very confused people stood in the chambers. On the outside, sixteen other people stood disoriented at being deposited inside the strange room. When their eyes met the five people inside the chambers, there was some shocked gasps and cries of 'Doctor!' One woman, with a halo of blonde, curly hair, stepped forward with shock at the five people with their strange clothes and hands on the glass.
"Doctor...s?" She prompted, looking at them all. Four of them showed recognition and sadness at the woman, but one with big-ish ears didn't seem to know her.
"River," one of the men said. He had a big chin, floppy hair, and wore a tweed suit and bowtie.
"Doctor, what's going on?" She asked him, putting her hand on the glass where his was.
"I'm not sure. It seems we've all been dragged from our respective timelines and brought here. Not sure why, yet," he quickly explained, his old, sad eyes roaming over the many faces watching the display.
"Hang on, what's going on?" Another woman asked. She looked younger than River, with straight blonde hair and full lips. River turned to the girl when neither of the people in the chambers answered.
"These are all the Doctor. Five different regenerations of them. You're all his friends, and someone has taken us all from our timelines to bring us to this exact place. It should be impossible seeing as some of you could never be here," she explained as simply as she could.
"How can all of those be the Doc?" A man asked. He was a lot older than most of the others and had grey hair. He pointed at one of the end chambers where a blonde woman stood wearing a long grey coat and short blue trousers. She was scrunching her nose at the ceiling of the chamber.
"I presume she hasn't told you yet. The Doctor is part of a species called the Time Lords. When they're dying, they regenerate. That means they can change their entire physical body. These people in the chambers are the Doctor," River explained.
"Remember when I told you I used to be a white-haired Scotsman?" The blonde woman, the Doctor, said to the man, looking away from the ceiling. She then pointed towards a grumpy looking man in the chamber next to hers.
"No way," a girl said with black hair put up in a bun, "you weren't kiddin'."
"Nope."
"Anyway, I think we should all get introduced before figuring out how to get the Doctor's free and getting out of here," River suggested with a friendly smile. The others agreed, and started telling everyone who they were and which Doctor they travelled with. Only one of them didn’t introduce themselves, instead opting to lean against the Scottish Doctor’s chamber. She had crazy brown hair, bright blue eyes, and wore Victorian-like clothes. She looked disgusted at the entire idea of socialising with the others.
The Scottish Doctor, which the others had dubbed Twelve to make things easier, leaned against the chamber where she was. “You’re not going to introduce yourself?” He asked, speaking for the first time.
“Why should I?” She asked back, her own Scottish accent audible.
“If we’re going to get out of here, you’re going to need to know their names,” Twelve replied.
“Not really. Anyway, I know some of their names. That there’s Comic Relief,” she pointed out a bald man stood next to a black girl.
“Nardole,” Twelve corrected, rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache.
“And that’s Thing One.”
“Bill.”
“And that’s The One Whose Boyfriend I Turned into a Cyberman.”
“Her name is Clara,” Twelve sighed. “Missy, you can’t just give them nicknames.”
“I can do what I want, Mr Grumpy,” Missy grinned and gave a mock wink.
Suddenly, all the Doctor’s and Missy straightened up, looking around as if they could hear or sense something the others couldn’t. Their eyes trailed to the ceiling and for a second, there was absolute silence, until Thirteen broke it by uttering, “can you hear that?” The other Doctor’s nodded, as did Missy.
The wires connected to the chambers rattled a bit and then there was a hissing noise. White smoke filtered into the chambers, causing the Doctor’s to choke in defiance to it entering their lungs. A couple of them fell to their knees whilst the others leaned against the glass walls surrounding them, barely keeping themselves up.
“Doctor!” A redheaded woman, Amy Pond, exclaimed in shock. She ran forward and knelt in front of Eleven who was using the crook of his arm to shield his mouth and nose from the gas. “Someone do something,” she ordered of the others desperately.
River rushed over to the wires connected to the chambers and started pulling on them, hoping to disconnect them. It didn’t work, no matter how hard she tried.
Nardole sidled up to Missy, panic in her eyes. “Have you got your umbrella?” He asked, his voice squeaking.
“Do I look like I’ve got my umbrella?” She snapped with annoyance, her eyes staying glued on the Doctor’s. He backed away quickly and re-joined Bill who looked horrified at the display before them.
There was sudden silence, the room devoid of the sound of gas hissing. Not even the Doctor’s were making any noise now that the gas was gone, and they could breathe again. They stayed frozen in place, their eyes half-open and breathing heavily.
Amy turned to River who was teary eyed at the sight of her husband/wife, “what do we do, River? You and him always have a plan, so what do we do?” She demanded, tears in her own eyes. Rory stepped forward and put a hand on her upper arm in comfort.
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly, voice heavy with emotions that neither Rory nor Amy could understand.
Thirteen slumped forwards, falling to the floor in a heap with her eyes closed. Nine followed suit, joining her in the land of unconsciousness, as did Ten, then Eleven. The only one who remained conscious, was Twelve. He fought off the overwhelming sense of tiredness, knowing nothing good could come out of it.
Clara rushed forward, standing in front of his chamber, her eyes big and sad. “Don’t fight it, Doctor,” she told him. “I know you want to, I know nothing good can come from this, but you have to let it take you. Your other selves are okay, see? You’ll be fine. You’ve got us.”
Twelve nodded his head slowly, then allowed himself to fall to the floor and close his eyes.