The Lonely Assassin

Chapter One: An Unexpected Surprise

The Doctor closed the door of the TARDIS, and walked up to the console slowly.

He was alone once again, as he was known to be.

The Doctor was usually alone. Every time he got a companion, a friend, someone he truly cared about - fate would tear them apart. Whether they walked out by choice, got taken into a parallel universe, had their mind wiped of all memories of him, or even died… he lost them all. And that was his curse.

Even his home planet, Gallifrey was gone. The Time War caused that. He destroyed both his race - the Time Lords - and the Dalek race (who seem to come back SO MANY TIMES, no matter how many times he tried to get rid of them again), committing mass genocide.

And it destroyed him inside everyday.

But he got used to not showing it.

As he approached the console, he pulled on levers and pressed buttons.

The TARDIS whizzed and banged, making many noises as it travelled through time and space. This was completely normal.

But one unexpected thud caused the TARDIS to shift to one side, taking him with it. He fell to the other side of the room, away from the control panel.

This, however was definitely not normal.

"What? What's wrong?" He talked to the machine as if it were a person - as if it could reply to him… Well, there was no reply, except for some hissing and beeping noises.

He lied there on the ground, looking up at the controls. 

"C'mon, no more trouble! We've had enough already!" He attempted to lift himself up and retrieve control.

But before he could, the TARDIS found a location and locked onto it.

London, England. December 24th, 2012.

Juliet picked up her pace as she took her evening jog.

She turned around a corner into a narrow street, and looked down at her watch for a brief moment.

8:45pm. She still had time for one more run around the block.

Then suddenly, she heard some strange, faint whirring noises.

"What on Earth.." Julie looked up slowly, not stopping her pace.

She then bumped into something, and fell to the ground.

"Ahh… my head…" Julie rubbed her head slowly and got back to her feet.

In the place of what used to be nothing, stood a blue phone box.

Her eyes widened as she placed her hands gently on the wooden police box.

"But that's impossible… there was nothing there before! How could this have possibly.."

"Hello!" A head popped out of the door.

Julie screamed and moved back.

"Oh, dear, I'm sorry. Did I give you a fright?" The man in the box stepped out and extended his hand towards her, expecting a handshake.

"Who.. who are you?" She stuttered.

"Well, I'm the Doctor," a slight grin appeared on his face.

"Doctor… Who?" Julie's left hand slowly disappeared behind her back.

"Just the Doctor." 

Julie looked at him for a moment with a serious expression.

"The Doctor?" 

"Yes, that's me… Is there a problem with that?" He asked, wondering what this young lady could possibly want with him.

"No… not at all!"

Julie hesitantly pulled out a gun from her back pocket, aiming it at The Doctor. His lips slightly parted in the shock, and he slowly raised his hands above his head.

"Well...What do you expect to do with that?" He looked her in the eye and asked an obvious question.

"For the past month, I've had one purpose. One job. One thing to do. " She took deep breaths with each pause.

"What's that, then?" He glanced down at the weapon in her hand.

Julie's speech instantly became clear and direct; she didn't pause or stutter this time.

"Kill the Doctor."