The Orphan in the TARDIS

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Encircle them," the nobleman bellows, "Which of you is the Doctor? The Queen of England is bewitched. I would have the Doctor's head."

Sophie snorts, "Looks like it's your lucky day, then, mate."

"I think there's three of them now," Clara's voice once again filters through the vortex.

"There's a precedent for that," the unrecognizable voice follows.

"What is that?" the Nobleman remarks, looking around for the source of the voice.

Bow tie and converse use the distraction to whip their sonic screwdrivers out from within their coats. They point them at the soldiers, standing almost back to back. Sophie just slumps onto the ground, crossing her legs in front of her. She pulls a Jelly Baby from within the small bag, leaning against the oldest Doctor's legs.

The War Doctor rolls his eyes, throwing his hands into the air. "Oh, the pointing again. They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?"

"That thing," the nobleman bellows, pointing to the time fissure, "what witchcraft is it?"

"Ah, yes," bow tie clasps his hands, clapping, "Now that you mention it, that is witchcraft." He points up at the fissure, his screwdriver in the opposite hand. "Yes, yes, yes. Witchy witchcraft." He begins to toss the sonic between his hands, while calling up into the void, "Hello? Hello in there. Excuse me. Am I talking to the wicked witch of the well?"

Quiet conversation filters through the fissure, and the oldest Doctor steps forward, Sophie falling back first onto the ground. Instead of adjusting herself, she just stretches her arms and legs out, laying spread eagle in the grass, occasionally dropping a sweet into her mouth.

"Clara?" the Time Lord calls one last time.

"Hello?" her voice questions.

"Clara, hi, hello. Hello." He claps hands again, "Would you mind telling these prattling mortals to get themselves begone?"

"What...he said," she confusedly responds.

Leaning toward the fissure, he tosses his sonic to his other hand, "Yes, tiny bit more colour." he stage whispers.

"Right. Prattling mortals, off you pop, or I'll turn you all into...frogs."

"Ooo, frogs," bow tie says, waving his hands in a vaguely spooky gesture. Converse nods, his eyes widening. Sophie tosses a Jelly Baby at his face. The Time Lord turns giving her a pointed look. She ignores his face, tossing another sweet at him.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Clara asks, sounding slightly annoyed.

"It's a timey-wimey thing."

"Timey what?" the Warrior question, looking toward his friend for guidance.

She pops up, "He said timey-wimey. I've got about as much of an idea as to what that means as you, mate."

She lays back down in the grass, while the Doctor with the pinstripe suit leans toward his younger self, "I've no idea where he picks that stuff up."

At that moment, from amongst the trees, one of the Elizabeth's steps. The soldiers standing about, upon noticing her, immediately bow.

Sophie doesn't stand, instead holding the small bag of sweets out to the royal. "Jelly Baby?" she offers.

The Queen barely spares her a glance, focusing instead on the trio of Time Lords, "You don't seem to be kneeling. How tremendously brave of you."

"Which one are you?" converse demands, pointing at her, "What happened to the other one?"

"Indisposed. Long live the Queen."

"Long live the Queen," all the soldiers say in unison.

"Arrest these men, and their servant. Take them to the Tower"

Sophie sits up looking outraged, "No chance in h*ll I'm their servant! I'm their friend, thank you very much." she angrily crosses her arms.

"That is not the Queen of England, that's an alien duplicate," the Doctor argues.

"And you can take it from him, cos he's really checked," the oldest of the Time Lord's argues.

"Oh, shut up," his younger self protests.

"Venom sacs in the tongue."

"Seriously, stop it."

"Okay, but I'm not your servant, right Doc's?" Sophie says, standing directly next to the oldest Doctor, her arms crossed.

"She isn't our servant, she's our best friend," he ruffles her hair. It seems like an idea strikes him, and he jumps, clapping, "No, hang on. The Tower. Did you say the Tower? Ah, yes, brilliant. Love the Tower," he shakes his hands in the air, a happy smile on his face, he flicks out his wrist, checking the time.""Breakfast at eight, please." He claps at the air over his head, "Will there be Wi-Fi?"

"Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?" the Warrior wanders.

"Yes." he puts his hands out beside him, "No," he claps. "I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower immediately with my co-conspirators Sandshoes and Granddad, and Lyn."

"Granddad?" the youngest of the Time Lord protests.

"They're not sandshoes."

"Yes, they are," Sophie laughs, "and thanks, at least you got near enough to my name."

"Silence. The Tower is not to be taken lightly," the Queen orders. "Very few emerge again."

"Eh," Sophie shrugs, "We'll see."

The soldiers roughly grab the three Time Lords, and the human. She keeps a tight hold on her bag of sweets, as they are roughly shoved toward the tower.

***

"Come on, you lot," the warden of the Tower of London growls at the four, "get in there."

He shoves them in, turning, and slamming the cell door behind him. "Well, I'd say that went well," Sophie smiles, flopping down onto the hay covered floor. She opens the bag of Jelly Babies still clutched in her hand. As she reaches into the paper bag, sandshoes Doctor grabs it from her hands, shoving it back in his pocket. She crosses her arms a little petulantly, "Doctor, the Doctor took my Jelly Babies."

"They're mine," the Time Lord argues. "Wait, why am I justifying myself...to myself?"

She grins, flipping her backpack off her back. Opening it, she reaches deep inside, grabbing a bag from inside. Opening the bag, she grabs a handful of popcorn, shoving it into her mouth.

The pinstripe Doctor rolls his eyes, walking away to try and find a way out.

The oldest of the Time Lords has a small piece of metal bar in his hand, scratching it against the wall. "Three of us in one cell? That's going to cause some nasty anomalies if we don't get out soon."

"What are you doing?" sandshoes asks, walking up to him.

"Getting us out."

"Really? Looks like you're just carving into the wall," Sophie states.

The War Doctor is over at the cell door, scanning it with his screwdriver.

"The sonic won't work on that," converse says, "it's too primitive."

"Shall we ask for a better quality of door so we can escape?" bow tie asks, grinning at Sophie.

"Okay, so the Queen of England is now a Zygon," pinstripe says, completely ignoring his older self, "But never mind that. Why are we all together? Why are we all here? Well, me and Chinny," he points a thumb to the older Time Lord, "we were surprised, but you came looking for us. You knew it was going to happen. Who told you?"

"Oi, Chinny?"

"I mean," Sophie starts, trying not to laugh, "You do have a chin. Although I don't think insulting yourself is helping."

Silence fills the Tower dungeon, save the scratching of metal against stone, and Sophie's chewing.