Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku is drowning.

Drowning on the slime flooding his lungs and fruitlessly fighting against the darkness trying to pull him further under the surface. 

He’s drowning and regretting.

Regretting not having a backbone and standing up to Katsuki or the rest of his classmates — instead only bowing his head in shame as the teacher announced his aspirations to try for UA High University. 

(He had thought that things would get better with time, that his classmates would mature and stop mocking him, and start caring about their own future, but it had been wishful thinking. The physical aspect and shoving might have stopped, but the jeers and whispers were just as cruel.) 

Regretting not having seen more of what the world had to offer — only always focused on heroes and quirks, running himself ragged with studying them. 

And yet — the only thing he can think about — the only thing he is wishing for right now as his consciousness fades to black, is a hero. 

Izuku stirs awake with a groan and rolls onto his side, pressing against the concrete as he sits up, coughing. 

“Am I in hell?” Izuku asks blearily, blinking as he tries to get his bearings.

“Not quite,” a voice hums and Izuku turns around, seeing a man standing above a green, sizzling puddle retrieving something from within it and holding… vinegar?

The man notices his gaze on the bottle and shakes it with a smile.

“Acetic acid. A bit of a gamble on my part,” he explains, as he shakes off the liquid of the thing he pulled from the sludge. “He reminded me of the Raxacoricofallapatorians. Don’t think they have another sister planet though.”

Izuku stands up, shaking his head. 

“Who are you?” he questions. “And where is the villain?”

“Oh, I’m the Doctor,” the man replies, suddenly taking out a small gadget and scanning Izuku, looking at it after a while.

“Seems I was just in time,” the Doctor adds. “Nothing major injured, just some slime in the lungs. Will be fine in a couple of days.”

“The Doctor?” Izuku asks. “Is that your hero name?”

The Doctor raises an eyebrow at Izuku, pocketing his gadget.

“I’m not a hero,” he replies, already starting to walk through the underpass.

Izuku finds himself subconsciously following the man.

“But you saved me,” Izuku says. “That’s what heroes do.”

The Doctor sighs and Izuku watches on with piqued interest as the man pulls out his gadget again, it whirring as he scans the buildings they walk past.

“I was just here at the right time, at the right place,” the Doctor refutes. “One small question: What year is it?”

Izuku frowns but answers the question easily.

“We have the year of 2308.”

“That’s strange,” the Doctor says. “The buildings are way too outdated. And I have been in Japan before, mind you! Although that had been with a different face.“ 

Izuku nods along, eyebrows knitted together.

“They look like they were stuck in time,” the Doctor continues. “You should be a lot farther than this… All over space by now.”

They turn a corner, right into a busy street, and the Doctor looks at the people with mutant quirks with wide eyes.

“I see space has come to you.” 

“No that’s just mutant quirks,” Izuku says with a sigh. “Please tell me you aren’t quirkest.”

“Quirks?” the Doctor repeats with a confused frown, pointing at a woman with insect mutations. “She’s clearly a Tritovore.”

The woman lets out an angry series of clicks at the Doctor as she walks by him, and he raises his arms in surrender.

“Sorry.”

Izuku tugs at the man’s coat.

“You can’t do things like that, it’s rude.” Izuku takes a look around. “Come on, you are attracting too much attention.”

He drags the man away from the busy street, ducking into a side street, and the Doctor seems to be lost in thought.

Before Izuku can chide him again, he speaks up.

“Those quirks,” he starts, looking Izuku in the eyes. “When did they first appear?”

“2018,” Izuku recalls, knitting his eyebrows together. “At least that’s what they say in school.”

“2018,” the Doctor muses, grabbing his own face as he squeezes his cheeks. “That’s barely after I left. Something must have gone wrong.”

“What?” Izuku questions, and the Doctor perks up like he has an idea.

“Sorry to bother, but you wouldn’t have a computer I could use?”

The Doctor walks through Izuku and his mother’s small flat without a care, Izuku shaking his head.

“I don’t get why I even trust you,” Izuku mutters as the Doctor sits down in front of the computer, once again pulling out his gadget.

“You said so yourself, I saved you,” the Doctor says, and the screen suddenly changes from black to some sort of search engine in English.

“What’s this anyway?” Izuku asks before the man can pocket his gadget again.

“Sonic screwdriver,” the man replies, tapping away on the keyboard.

“Sonic screwdriver?” Izuku repeats, only more confused, and the Doctor smiles at him.

“I know it’s cool isn’t it?” the Doctor boasts. “Although it can do more than a screwdriver. A bit of everything really.”

“That makes no sense.”

“Heard that too often,” the Doctor says before clapping. “Alright here we have it. The first quirk — in the past referred to as meta-abilites, manifested in 2018 in China with the ability to radiate light from its body. Subsequently, more meta abilities appeared all over the world, spreading over Earth.”

The Doctor leans back, looking at the screen.

“Sounds like a failed experiment to me,” he throws out and Izuku raises an eyebrow. “Or a virus.” 

“But our teachers say they just naturally appeared.”

“Never trust a history book,” the Doctor chides. “So many inaccuracies.”

Izuku only gives the man a pointed look.

“If an experiment or not, the genes must have mutated and something dormant got activated,” the Doctor theorizes. “At least it's not a horror man-eating spider again.” 

“What?” Izuku looks at the man like he has grown a second head — and at this point it wouldn’t even surprise Izuku anymore.

“Long story, maybe the Lazarus Experiment rings a bell,” the Doctor says. “So you started getting abilities, huh. What’s yours?”

Izuku lowers his head in shame.

“I don’t have one, I’m quirkless.”

“Nothing I’m not used to,” the Doctor says simply. “The human race didn‘t survive until the end of the universe with quirks…”

He trails off, shrugging his shoulders.

“Well at least they used to,” he continues. “Times seem to have changed.”

“You talk like you are not from here,” Izuku hesitantly brings up, and the Doctor only stares at him expectantly.

“Britain?” Izuku guesses, and the Doctor groans.

“Seriously?” he says. “You lot used to have more imagination than that. I’m not human.”

“And?” Izuku tilts his head, confused.

“I’m not from Earth,” the Doctor corrects himself, seeing his confusion. “I’m from another Planet.”

“And so are some of those people with supposed Quirks out there,” the Doctor continues before Izuku can get a word in. “Some species must have used the chaos of quirks appearing to integrate themselves slowly into your society.”

“If,” Izuku emphasizes the word, “you are not from Earth, what are you doing here?”

“Just passing through really,” the Doctor says. “I can’t shake the feeling there was more to that guy back then though. He was talking like he was trying to get to someone else.  And there‘s also this.“

He takes out the thing he fished from the sludge during their first meeting, at first glance some sort of mechanical part. 

The Doctor clicks his tongue, before tapping away on the keyboard again.

“What are you doing now?” Izuku questions, the Doctor looking at the screen in concentration.

“Trying if I can track if something extraterrestrial landed on Earth a few days, possibly even weeks ago, and where they would be,” the Doctor exclaims. “Right now I‘m landing on a no.”

The Doctor seems lost in thought.

“If they wanted something from here, where would they go?” the Doctor asks himself, before directing his attention to Izuku, “What are the strategic points of this city? Important buildings or landmarks?”

“There‘s UA High University?” Izuku says with uncertainty.

The Doctor unlocks his blue box and steps inside, Izuku just standing outside, blinking at it. For some reason, Izuku had found himself dragged along by the Doctor.

The door opens again and the Doctor looks out of the box, waving him inside.

“Come on, get inside,” he urges and Izuku hesitantly steps inside, eyes widening as he realizes the sheer difference in volume compared to outside.

“Is that your quirk?” Izuku asks excited. “Some kind of spatial dimension or manipulation?”

“Really haven’t heard that one yet,” the Doctor remarks, before taking off his coat and throwing it at one of the railings going up to the middle part which looks like some sort of console.

He pats it with a proud look, flicking a few levers as he rounds it. 

“No this is a TARDIS,” the Doctor explains. “Short for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. The epitome of Galifreyan technical development. We can practically go anywhere.”

“Gallifreyan?” Izuku asks. “Is that where this is from?”

“Yeah I stole it,” the Doctor remarks and Izuku only blinks, before raising an eyebrow

“If this is your sort of spacecraft, where are we going?”

The Doctor messes around with the console in the middle, peeking around the cylinder.

“UA High University like you said,” he says as he comes around to the side, pulling the big lever.

The machine in the center starts to pump and whir and the ground vibrates, almost tearing Izuku from his feet, until it suddenly stops after a few seconds.

“We can‘t just break into UA, we‘ll be detected and arrested on the spot!” Izuku complains, following the Doctor as he retrieves his coat.

The Doctor opens the door to the TARDIS, ushering Izuku outside.

“Yes we, evidently we can,” the Doctor says, opening his arms wide, the building of UA looming behind him. “If anyone asks why we here we have this.”

He searches in his coat and shows him an ID Card, saying that he is the assistant of All Might.

“You‘re the assistant of All Might?” Izuku questions, and the Doctor looks at it with a raised eyebrow.

“Apparently yeah,” he says as he pockets it again. “Psychic paper. Shows a person what they want to see.”

The Doctor takes out his sonic screwdriver, and it whirs as he scans the building. 

He snaps it into place, looking at it for a minute.

“There’s advanced non-human technology on the roof,” he says. “Let‘s go.”

They walk into the main building and Izuku is very glad that the students seem to already have their afternoon classes so they don’t get noticed.

They are about to head up the stairs when they walk past the teacher’s office and a dark haired man steps out, eying them with a bored facade.

Izuku ducks his head, hoping he doesn’t stop them, but of course, it’s not that easy.

The Doctor doesn’t seem to be bothered or worried though, as he shows the man the psychic paper when he asks what they are doing here.

“You are All Might‘s assistant?” the dark-haired man questions before his gaze lands on Izuku. “And who might that be?“

“Ehm,” the Doctor stammers slightly. “He‘s... He’s my own assistant.”

“All Might‘s assistant has his own assistant,” the dark-haired man sighs. “Why doesn‘t that surprise me. I‘m guessing you are here to discuss All Might‘s employment with Nedzu?”

The Doctor leans to Izuku, whispering.

“Who‘s Nedzu?”

“The Principal,” Izuku hisses, internally cursing himself for not giving the Doctor a rundown of UA. 

“Ah right, yes the Principal,” the Doctor exclaims, straightening again. “We‘ll be there in a moment. We have to ehm… check if the building is acceptable for All Might to work at.”

“All Might graduated from here,” Izuku mutters, and the Doctor’s smile is tight as he quietly answers.

“How am I supposed to know?”

“I‘m not paid enough for this,” the dark-haired man murmurs before shooing them away. “Alright go along.”

They pass the man and nod at him, heading up the direction of the roof.

“How do you get away with shit like that,” Izuku laments with a groan. 

“Language,” the Doctor chides. “Also, it comes with age.“

“Can you teach me?”

The Doctor gives him a side glance.

“You’ll learn it soon enough.”

Before Izuku can answer, the Doctor pushes open the doors to the roof.

The first thing Izuku sees are three students who startle out of their skins. The purple-haired student with pale skin flinches at their sight, hiding between the blonde student, who strangely reminds Izuku of All Might, and a pale-blue haired girl. 

“What are you doing here?” the blonde student asks, guarding his friend protectively.

The Doctor shows them the psychic paper.

“Here for an inspection of the building, mainly the roof,” he says, tucking it away after they all had a good look at the ID. “You‘ll have to go back to your classes now.”

The students look at each other hesitantly but nod and file out.

The Doctor doesn‘t waste any more time, door barely closing behind them, and takes out his sonic screwdriver, scanning the roof as they walk on. 

“Perception filter,” the Doctor muses as he looks at the readings. “No wonder they didn‘t notice.”

They break through the filter and get greeted by a massive sight. On half of the roof, a spaceship stands, upright, almost looking like a rocket.  At the bottom of the ship, a man is tinkering with the engines.

“Looking for this?” the Doctor calls out, holding up the mechanical part he retrieved. “From what I can tell it‘s part of the engine, probably to give enough energy to kick start them?”

The man turns to them and growls.

“How did you get that?” he questions. “And where is my brother?”

“It‘s always the families,” the Doctor sighs, before saying louder, “Met him on the way here. What planet are you from? Raxacoricofallapatorius?”

“Don‘t compare us to these defects!” the man says angrily. “We are far more evolved than they are!”

“What are you doing here then?” the Doctor questions. “Trying to steal bodies, searching for mechanical parts?”

“We crash-landed here,” the man admits before he gets down right furious. “Imagine our surprise when we pulled ourselves out of the wreck and saw other species just mingling in peace with the humans.”

He spits the last word out like it‘s a curse.

He shakes his head and connects something to the engine.

“You can keep that,” he continues. “It doesn‘t matter. I found something better anyway. Did you know that this building is connected to all major electricity lines? It must suck up tons of energy every year — maybe even every second.”

The Doctor's eyes widen. 

“You can‘t do that! You will overload the system and blow the whole planet up!” the Doctor exclaims, and the man laughs deeply.

“Exactly!” he shouts. “And then we can harvest the scraps!”

The man doesn‘t regard them anymore and climbs up his ship. 

“For not wanting to be associated with the Raxacoricofallapatorians you sure think like them!” the Doctor mutters, before turning to Izuku and throwing him his sonic screwdriver.

“Setting 9,” he tells Izuku. “Try to detach whatever he connected to the engines.”

Izuku nods and the Doctor starts climbing up after the man.

“Wait,” Izuku calls out. “What will you do?”

“Try to stop him from starting them!” the Doctor shouts back. 

Izuku fiddles with the sonic screwdriver, setting it to 9, and takes a deep breath.

“Alright here I go.”

The Doctor swings himself onto board, shaking out his hands as he takes a look around.

“You’re too late,” the man calls from where he is sitting behind the cockpit. “In 30 seconds we will start and Earth will burn!”

The Doctor lets out a sigh before he promptly knocks out the man.

“Sorry, don’t have time for that,” he says as he sits down at the console, trying to find a solution.

“Come one give me something,” he mutters to himself, eyes flying over the different displays when suddenly a warning pops up.

WARNING: LOW FUEL. DEPARTURE CANCELED. ENGINES CRITICAL.  

“Good job boy,” the Doctor praises, still tapping away on the keyboard. “Now only the engine will blow up in my face if I don‘t stop this and not the whole Earth.”

“Think Doctor,” the Doctor says to himself, biting his lips, “Think.”

He pats his coat, mentally counting through the stuff he has.

“No sonic screwdriver,” he starts, “But we have psychic paper, a ball of string, anti-radiation pills, yo-yo…”

His hands grasp something he almost had forgotten about.

“The mechanical part!” the Doctor shouts. “Of course!”

He opens up the control panel, pulling out some wires, and attaching the mechanical part.

“Please work,” the Doctor mumbles as he looks up from the floor to the display.

ENGINES STABILIZING.

He lets out a big sigh of relief, falling into himself until he remembers who he left downstairs.

He hurries down to the engines, another stone falling from his heart when he sees the green-haired boy unharmed — which makes him realize that he doesn’t even know his name yet.

The boy perks up when he sees him, raising the sonic screwdriver with a big smile.

“That was crazy!” he shouts, giddy. “You were awesome!”

“No,” the Doctor says with a small smile, “You were.”

The boy looks at him with wide eyes, looking like he wants to refute, but he shakily nods his head.

“Now that this is out of the way,” the Doctor continues. “Notice something we have forgotten about?”

“The alien still on board?” the green-haired teenager asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes!” the Doctor says before realizing what the boy said, “Wait no!”

He pauses for a bit.

“But also yes.” The Doctor shakes his head. “I actually meant your name.”

The boy flushes, standing a bit straighter as he introduces himself.

“I’m Midoriya Izuku,” he says, holding his neck sheepishly.

“Izuku then!” the Doctor says with a smile. “Now, come on. Let’s wrap things up here and then go back.”

The TARDIS whirs as they land, the Doctor opening the door to Izuku, letting him out in front of the apartment complex where he lives.

The Doctor lingers in the doorway, and Izuku hesitates before he decides to be truthful, smiling at the man.

“Thank you, Doctor,” he says. “Thank you for finally making me feel normal.”

“No, thank yo,u, the Doctor replies. “I couldn’t have done it without your help.”

Izuku smiles in response and asks the question that has been burning in his mind.

“Where will you go now?”

“Continue with what I've always done,” the Doctor says with a small smile. “Being a Doctor.”

“Alone?” Izuku asks, slightly hopeful.

“Well I have the TARDIS,” the Doctor drawls. “But yes if I must. Loads to see. People to save.”

“And still you claim to not be a hero.” Izuku shakes his head.

The Doctor gives him a small smile.

“I‘m just a madman in a box, really.”

“And does the madman need someone to travel with him?” Izuku outright asks, deciding to stop beating around the bush.

The Doctor‘s face lights up, splitting into a big smile. 

“Yes he does,” he says, clearly excited until he suddenly gets serious, staring him into the eyes. “You could get hurt.”

But Izuku only pushes past the man, leaning at the railing as the Doctor takes off his coat and steps up to the console.

“Where do we go?” he asks with a small smile instead. 

And the Doctor beams at him, pulling the lever of the TARDIS as he answers.

“Everywhere.”

“All Might‘s assistant and a building inspector you say,” Nedzu muses as he zooms onto the man‘s ID which appears blank on the camera.

“What a curious man.”

His gaze heads to the teenager next to him, inspecting his school uniform.

“Now why do you look familiar?” Nedzu continues, smiling to himself. “Midoriya Izuku. Oh how I love a good mystery.”

Chapter Text

“The Great Exhibition in 1851!” the Doctor rambles, as the TARDIS lands. “It was the first in a series of World’s Fairs, exhibitions of culture and industry. Very much inspired by the Great Exhibition of Products of the French Industry, but don’t tell that the British.”

He winks, picking up his coat and Izuku laughs out, following the man out of the door.

“It was organized by Henry Cole and Prince Albert,” the Doctor continues, closing the door behind him. “Latter by the way a very brilliant man — would love to meet him. And many other famous people attended it!”

“Won’t I stick out in my clothes?” Izuku asks as they walk out of a stall, excited tourists and people all around them — he was still wearing his Aldera Uniform. 

The Doctor gives him a quick look over, burying his hands in his pockets.

“Nah you will be fine,” he drawls. “Come on, we have things to see.”

They walk past the fountain in the middle, heading in the direction of Class X where scientific instruments are displayed.

Izuku is in awe as they pass the giant tree and exotic wildlife as well as a moving exhibit showing the entire cotton production from start to finish, head swiveling to try and take in as much as he can, but he notices that the Doctor seems curious himself, eying the exhibits with a small smile.

They stop by the raw materials and Indian exhibit — Izuku looking at the gemstones and ores while the Doctor tells him facts about them.

“The Daria-i-Noor,” the Doctor says as Izuku peers down the display. “It’s one of the rarest pale pink diamonds in the world.”

Izuku reads the plaque displaying it as the “Sea of Light.”

“During your time it should be in the Central Bank of Iran, although there are some rumors that it’s currently in a private collection within Bangladesh,” the Doctor continues. “I personally think it’s somewhere in space on the black market.”

They move on to the next display, the Doctor letting a whistle at seeing it.

“And of course the Koh-i-Noor. One of the world largest cut diamonds in the world,” the Doctor explains, excitedly. “Still as beautiful as the first time I’ve seen it. Fought a werewolf with it.”

Izuku nods along until he realizes what the man said.

“You did what?” Izuku questions, staring at the man incredulously and eying the gemstone.

“That’s a story for another time,” the Doctor says, already walking away. 

“Come on Doctor, you can’t just leave me hanging like that,” Izuku complains, catching up to the man when he suddenly stops. 

“Oh look at that,” he exclaims, putting on glasses as he looks up at the at least 4 meters big telescope. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”

“Can you even use it?” Izuku questions with a frown, and a voice speaks up next to him.

“Of course, you can!” the man says. “It’s one of the best, made here in London.”

He gives him a big smile, shaking Izuku’s hand while the Doctor hangs back.

“Charles Dickens,” he introduces himself. “You have a very interesting choice of attire — I have never seen a green so bright.”

Izuku realizes with dismay that this is 1851 and people normally don’t have natural green-colored hair — no wonder he felt like people were staring at him. And here he thought it was because he was Asian.

Izuku lets out a nervous chuckle, stumbling through his words.

“Y-yes I guess so.”

The Doctor saves him from embarrassing himself.

“Charles Dickens!” he exclaims, coming forward to shake the man’s hands. “I’m so glad to meet you! You are absolutely brilliant. I’ve read all of your works.”

Charles blinks, slightly flustered.

“Oh yes thank you,” he says, clearing his throat. “I’m glad to hear so.”

“I especially loved Christmas Carol,” the Doctor continues. “Or A Tale of Two Cities. Amazing play. I would die to hear you read out of one your stories.”

Charles chuckles.

“I’ll guess I’ll have to make a tour somewhere along the line then,” he says. “What’s the occasion for this trip today?”

The Doctor smiles, falling back to Izuku’s side.

“Oh just tourism,” the Doctor replies. “The Great Exhibition has a lot of interesting sights to offer.”

Charles nods, mirroring the Doctor’s smile.

“Indeed it does. Are you two...” Charles trails off. “Father and son?”

“Oh no we aren’t-” Izuku and the Doctor say at the same time and Charles apologizes.

“Sorry for my misconception then,” he says, slightly bowing his head. “I’ll have to go now. Until we see again.”

“Until we see again,” the Doctor mirrors, Izuku letting out a sound of shame when the man is gone.

“Would you be that embarrassed if I was your father?” the Doctor asks with a sly smile and Izuku only lightly punches him in the arm in response, glaring at him while the man keeps smiling.

“Would you believe me when I tell you that I solved a ghost mystery with him?” the Doctor decides to have mercy on Izuku and changes the topic, slightly leaning on Izuku. 

“You are joking,” Izuku groans. “Why didn’t he recognize you then?”

“Different face,” the Doctor says. “And it’s still in his future.”

“You said that before as well,” Izuku points out. “What do you mean different face?”

“It’s what we Time Lords do,” the Doctor explains as they continue to walk. “We regenerate.”

“Time Lords,” Izuku repeats. “Is that your species?”

“Sure is,” the Doctor says but doesn‘t comment on it anymore.

They come across several displayed art pieces — mostly statues out of marble but also the occasional painting or two and Izuku realizes he has never felt so content before.  

“Are there exhibits like this one in Space?” Izuku asks as he inspects a carved wooden object. “Museums and the like?”

“Oh loads,“ the Doctor answers. “My wife contacted me through one once. Had to catch her with the TARDIS.”

Izuku lets out a snort, shaking his head fondly. 

“Doctor, you say the strangest things.”

“But still you believe me,” the Doctor shoots back, smiling. “We could visit one if you‘d like.”

Izuku smiles, looking around and still seeing so many new things.

“No, I think I‘m fine with here.”

They are about to reach Class X when Izuku notices something in the corner of his eyes.

He holds the Doctor back before he can walk off, the man giving him a confused frown.

“Doctor.” Izuku points at what caught his gaze. “That isn’t from Earth, right?”

They go near the exhibit and the Doctor puts on his glasses again as he inspects it. 

It looks like some sort of mix between a radio tower and an antenna with a base made out of metal. 

“Indeed,” he murmurs as he takes out his sonic screwdriver and Izuku nervously looks around to make sure nobody notices them messing with one of the exhibits — although strangely nobody seems to really care about this particular one. 

“This seems to be some sort of transmitter,” the Doctor says when he is finished, leaning forward to press his ear against the metal box. “I can’t get a good reading on what it does though.”

A loud scream tears through the masses and they both startle, looking at each other.

“I’ll guess we will find out now,” Izuku says with wide eyes.

They run in the direction of the scream, pushing themselves through the mob that seems to have formed around the commotion.

On the ground, a hysteric woman cries over a dead man. His eyes are bloodshot and wide open, blood still trickling from his nose and mouth. 

The Doctor kneels down next to her, showing her his Psychic Paper.

“The Doctor from Scotland Yard,” he says, Izuku standing next to him, gulping at the sight of the blood. “And this is my partner Izuku. What has happened here?”

“I don’t know!” the woman cries out. “He-he just suddenly collapsed and started bleeding from everywhere!”

The Doctor takes out his screwdriver, scanning the body.

“All major arteries suddenly exploded inside of him,” the Doctor murmurs, and Izuku hesitantly crouches down as the Doctor puts on a glove and rotates the face to the side to see the nape.

“Can you see that?” the Doctor whispers to Izuku and Izuku leans forward, seeing a pinkish, red light slowly going out.

“DNA Bombs,” the Doctor explains. “Outlawed in every civilized galaxy. It destroys the foundation of the genetic code upon detonation.”

“Have you seen them before?” Izuku asks and the Doctor nods.

“Once.”

He takes a good look around, before standing up and clapping.

“Alright you lot can file out now.”

The crowds murmur amongst themselves before slowly dispersing. 

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Izuku questions quietly, but the Doctor shakes his head.

“They would only complicate things. And UNIT doesn’t exist yet,” the Doctor murmurs. “This an alien matter so it will fall onto me.”

“Us,” Izuku corrects and the Doctor nods as he covers the body with a white sheet.

Izuku meanwhile goes over to the woman, offering his condolences.

“I’m terribly sorry,” he says, offering her a shaky smile which he hopes is comforting. “Was he your husband?”

The woman sniffles, drying her tears with a handkerchief.

“Brother,” she answers,  heavily gulping and holding back another sob. “We just wanted to celebrate his birthday.”

“I’m sorry,” Izuku says again, biting his lip. “If there is anything we can do-”

The woman shakes her head and smiles and it’s terribly sad.

“That’s just how life is, isn’t it,” she says, look in her eyes far away. “We don’t know what happens.”

She stares at the ground before sighing, giving Izuku another smile.

“You go along and do your job.”

Izuku nods and leaves her behind with a heavy heart, noticing that the Doctor observed him.

“How do you deal with it?” Izuku says, suddenly feeling cold and he wraps his arms around himself. “With the guilt?”

“You did nothing wrong Izuku,” the Doctor points out, but Izuku shakes his head.

“I still wish we could have helped more,” Izuku replies, sighing as he looks at the covered body.

“We can help now,” the Doctor says, following his gaze. “Preventing more people from dying from whoever implanted that DNA bomb into that man’s neck.”

Izuku gulps, closing his eyes, shuddering one last time as he locks away the sight of the empty eyes of the dead man, but he nods.

“I want to see if I can track from where the transmitter is receiving his signals”, the Doctor says as they head back from where they came from.

“What are the chances that this is just some alien junk someone picked up and it’s unrelated?” Izuku asks as the Doctor scans it with his sonic screwdriver again.

The Doctor glances at Izuku shortly as he speaks.

“Very unlikely.”

“I figured,” Izuku sighs and the Doctor snaps his sonic screwdriver into place, staring at it until it starts to emit a low beep.

“We should get higher frequencies when we get closer to the signal,” the Doctor explains at Izuku’s questioning gaze. “Come on we have work to do.”

They follow the masses, keeping an ear out for the sounds emitting from the sonic screwdriver. They walk through the entire mall even circling back to the fountain and upstairs, when the whirring gets quicker and higher.

They look at each other with confused faces. They are standing in the middle of the hall, but there’s nowhere something could be hidden in such plain sight.

“Perception filter?” Izuku asks with a raised eyebrow, but the Doctor shakes his head.

“Doesn’t work this way,” the Doctor answers as he crouches down, touching the ground as he looks around.

“I’m picking up slight vibrations,” he murmurs but doesn’t elaborate.

He jumps up again, taking another look around before heading to one of the booths nearby, pulling out his psychic paper. 

He leans on the display table with different furs and high-quality leather, slightly disturbing them and showing the slightly annoyed vendor it as he speaks.

“I‘m the Doctor from Scotland Yard,” the Doctor says, pocketing the psychic paper after the man had gotten a good look at it. “Do you know where we can find who is in charge here?”

“Well Prince Albert is normally not around, he has other matters to attend to, but most of the time you can find Mister Cole in his office next to the India Exhibits at the South Entrance,” the vendor explains, taking a drag of his cigar. “Is this connected to the rumors that there has been a murder?”

“We are looking into it,” the Doctor says simply before nodding. “Thank you.”

The vendor simply nods, breathing out the smoke and Izuku lets himself get dragged into a conversation with him about different types of furs, the man letting him feel the pieces he has, Izuku relishing in their softness. In his time most furs were produced artificially, mainly through quirks although there was a question if those were really to be considered artificial.

By the time Izuku realizes the Doctor has gone ahead without him, he can’t see him anywhere anymore and he politely excuses himself before hurrying into the direction of the South Entrance past the Crystal Fountain.

Thankfully Izuku finds the man just as he knocks on the office with the plaque "Cole", latter not even waiting for an answer as he enters, already raising his psychic paper.

Izuku barely holds back from letting a groan at the man’s manners. 

“We are from Scotland Yard,” the Doctor says again. “We are gonna need the building plans and layouts of the Crystal Palace.”

Henry Cole looks up from the papers he had been overlooking, eyebrows knitted together as he answers. 

“That was quick,” he says, putting them away. “I thought we sent someone to the police only a few minutes ago.”

“We were in the area,” the Doctor claims, technically not even lying and Henry hums before he looks through his drawers.

“Let me see,” he says. “I should have a copy of Paxton‘s plans somewhere here.”

He rummages around in it for a while until he seems to find what he is searching for, pulling out several scrolls.

The Doctor quickly takes them, not caring that he is probably disturbing the man as he rolls them out on directly his desk, staring at the floor plan. 

“How do you get down to the basement?” the Doctor questions Henry who has leaned back in his chair, apparently used to eccentric people.

“There isn’t one,” Henry claims, crossing his arms. “There are only maintenance shafts going down into the catacombs and sewers.”

Izuku and the Doctor look at each other before the Doctor rolls the building plans back up, thanking the man before they head back out. 

“I saw some stairs drawn into the floor plan,” the Doctor says. “With luck, we will find the maintenance shafts there.”

“If we wade through human waste today I‘m gonna wipe it off on the TARDIS,” Izuku grumbles and the Doctor shoots him a pointed look.

“If you do that, she is gonna dump you into a real wasteland,” the Doctor counters.

They enter the hallway to the stairs and the Doctor lets out a triumphant sound when they see a flight of stairs heading down, while Izuku shoots the man a strange look. 

“She?” he questions, but he never hears the Doctor‘s answer because before they can venture downstairs a woman suddenly runs up the stairs, clearly hysterical.  

She almost trips over her feet and the Doctor sprints forward to steady her.

“I-I saw something,” she gasps out, eyes wide, grasping the Doctor by his arms. “Down there-there was this big machine and a-a monster!”

However before she can say more she suddenly seizes and one after another blood starts flowing from her mouth, nose, and eyes and she crumbles into herself. 

The Doctor catches her before she can fall to the ground, cradling her into his arms. 

“I‘ve got you,” he murmurs. “I‘ve got you.”

She chokes on her blood, tears streaming down her face, which mix into a pinkish color. 

“I don’t want to die,” she sobs. 

The Doctor wipes the blood from her face, pressing his lips together as he closes his eyes.

“I‘m sorry,” he only says. 

She takes a shaky last breath before she stills and Izuku can only watch in horror.

The Doctor closes her eyes softly, kissing her hair as he whispers, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you.”

He carefully lowers her to the ground, shaking his head at Izuku. 

“Down there,” Izuku repeats what the woman had said before she died, trying to distract himself as he takes a deep breath. “Seems like we were right.”

“Yes,” the Doctor says, tearing his gaze away from the woman. “Let‘s quickly go before more people can die.”

Izuku nods and casts one last gaze at the woman before shaking his head.

At the end of the stairs is an opened old hatch and they climb down the metal bars. 

It’s completely dark and the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver whirs as they walk through the tunnel, providing their only light. The longer they walk the higher the frequency becomes until it’s so high-pitched it almost hurts their ears.

The Doctor turns the tracking off, but still keeps his sonic out, it acting as their torch and flashlight.

“It must be close to here,” he murmurs and they walk cautiously forward.

They reach the end of the tunnel, and the Doctor whistles, impressed, staring down at the spacecraft.

“That’s impressive,” he says, inspecting it and walking closer to it.

“How did they get it down here?” Izuku questions and the Doctor messes with something on the outside of the ship.

“Good question,” the Doctor replies, slightly distracted until he lets out a triumphant noise, the spacecraft opening in front of their eyes and lighting up the space around them. 

They step inside it, the Doctor’s eyes flying over the interior and console.

“I think we know the reason why both of them got targeted. They saw something they shouldn’t have had,” the Doctor says as they head deeper inside of it, pocketing his sonic screwdriver.

“Eliminating witnesses,” Izuku adds and the Doctor nods grimly.

“But why the transmitter?” the Doctor questions. “They should have a remote control, they don’t need the transmitter for that.”

“Exceptionally well-put Doctor,” someone exclaims behind them, stepping out of the shadows. “Unless of course, we need to cover a wider range.”

The Doctor's eyes widen in horror as they stare at the humanoid man with dry, bumpy skin.

“You did not,” the Doctor slightly growls.

“Oh indeed I did,” he says, mocking. “Who will stop me? You? Or your green-haired boy here?”

The man laughs deeply and the Doctor bristles.

“Oh you just made a very big mistake,” the Doctor spits out, “Nobody insults my companions or tries to invade Earth under my watch.”

“It’s too late Doctor,” the man says, holding up a remote control. “Every minute now, everyone who purchased a ticket to the Great Exhibition will fall and then we have control over all Britian. And from there the whole world!”

The Doctor glares at him, raising his chin.

“And everybody who ever said that to me failed,” the Doctor claims. “I’m giving you one last chance. Stop this.”

“Never,” the man replies, narrowing his eyes.

“Then so be it,” the Doctor says, frying the man’s remote control in his hand with his sonic screwdriver before turning around and directing it at the console.

“What are you doing?” the man demands to know, anger written on his face as he holds his slightly burned hand, but the Doctor only smiles as alarms start blaring around them.

“Saving Earth.”

Then the Doctor runs out of the spacecraft, Izuku following him.

“What did you do?” Izuku asks, while they climb the ladder up.

“Activated the automated destruction,” he says hurrying through the crowd. “While he’s busy deactivating it, I’m thinking about a plan. Give me a minute.”

“We don’t have a minute,” Izuku hisses, slightly out of breath when they stop in front of the transmitter, the sonic screwdriver whirring as the Doctor scans it with a frown.

“I can’t stop it transmitting,” the Doctor says, shaking his sonic screwdriver and slapping it against his hand. “The controls are deadlocked.”

“But,” he realizes with wide eyes. “I can change the signal.”

He tears open a panel of the transmitter, messing around with the cables until he pulls something out, connecting his sonic screwdriver with it.

And not a second too late as suddenly an electric wave gets sent out from the transmitter, people all around them stopping and crying out in pain as they hold their necks. But as soon as it comes, it’s gone, people shaking their heads and staring at each other in confusion.

“Gave them a bit of an electric shock,” the Doctor says with a smile. “Deactivates and removes the bomb.”

Izuku lets out a big sigh of relief and Izuku and the Doctor smile at each other, but before he can relax a huge shock wave tears through the ground, making him stumble.

The Doctor and Izuku look at each other before they run back underground.

When they arrive, there’s only smoke and destroyed metal parts left and the Doctor picks up one of the blackened pieces, sighing as he closes his eyes, slowly lowering it to the ground again.

“What will happen now?” Izuku asks they watch the corpses, covered in white sheets, get transported away — the real police must have finally arrived.

“Oh they will write it off as a mass hallucination,” the Doctor replies, pressing his lips together. “The murders will be freak accidents.”

“And no one will know what you did,” Izuku murmurs somberly.

“That’s what we do,” the Doctor replies. “Without hope, without reward, without witness.”

“Does it get easier?” Izuku questions and the Doctor looks at him with a neutral face.

“Does what get easier?” he asks.

“Watching people die?”

“Never,” the Doctor says. “It should never get easier. For your sake, I hope it never gets easier for you.”

“Why?” Izuku looks the Doctor in the eyes, but the man averts his gaze, opening the TARDIS.

“Because that means you traveled too long with me,” he answers tiredly.

Izuku takes a deep breath and looks one last time at the Exhibition before also stepping inside the TARDIS. 

Chapter Text

“How about we go into the future this time, shall we?” the Doctor muses as he already starts tapping in the coordinates. “There’s a few options to pick from…Space World, the Festival of Ghana, maybe even Hedgewick‘s Word Wonders, but I think I know a good one!”

He pulls the lever of the TARDIS, it whirring and the ground trembling as they dematerialize and materialize at their next target. 

The Doctor gives Izuku an intriguing smile, straightening his coat as Izuku follows him with a curious face, opening the doors and turning around before they can properly show what‘s behind him. 

“The biggest mall in the universe!” he reveals with a big gesture.

“Doctor,“ Izuku says hesitantly. “It‘s empty...”

The Doctor swivels around, staring at the empty mall with wide eyes, Izuku eying a few papers flying to the ground.

“Wait what!?” the Doctor exclaims, hurrying back to the console and pulling the display to him to re-check the coordinates and time. 

“This makes no sense,” he says as he stares at it, confirming the data. “We are definitely in the right place. And it‘s not even a closed day!”

Izuku meanwhile already stepped out, taking a look around the mall. They have materialized next to a bench in front of a fountain and he thinks he can see the exit in the distance. 

He picks up the papers on the ground just as the Doctor also gets out, closing the door behind him. 

“Look at these,” Izuku calls out to the man, showing him the flyer. “Advertisement for a new shop opening.”

The Doctor frowns as he looks at it.

“January 2nd,” he reads out loud. “It can‘t be too long since everyone just disappeared then. We have the 4th.”

“Maybe they are having a maintenance day?” Izuku prompts and the Doctor shakes his head as he scans around with his sonic screwdriver.

“I would get at least some signals or indications that there are other humanoid life forms here,” he refutes. “But just us.”

“Was it abandoned then?” Izuku asks, and the Doctor hums.

“If the TARDIS brought us here at this moment it’s more likely something happened.”

“I was afraid you were gonna say something like that,” Izuku sighs.

“I told you it was gonna be dangerous,” the Doctor reminds and Izuku rolls his eyes.

“Doctor we met while I was almost killed,” he answers. “I think I know in what danger I am. I’m prepared for it.”

The Doctor sends him a look.

“I really hope you are,” he says as they start walking around in the mall. 

It‘s eerie seeing the shops filled with various items but with no one in them. One or two times he gets startled by the mannequins in the shop windows, thinking someone is watching them. 

By the time they find a graphic showing them where they are — and it‘s to Izuku‘s horror that they apparently only crossed a small section of the mall — Izuku is on high alert, jumping at every minuscule sound. 

He thinks he prefers a more straightforward mystery even if that would mean seeing people get hurt.

“Ah, that‘s what I‘ve been looking for,” the Doctor exclaims with excitement, stepping up to a sort of electrical info panel which the Doctor hacks with his sonic screwdriver.

“Nothing,” he says as he looks through the information with a concentrated face. “No distress call, no sign of closing, nothing.”

“What happened here?” he murmurs to himself, staring at the display for a bit longer before he turns it off. 

“What if nothing really happened?” Izuku asks slightly hopeful as they start moving further into the mall again. 

Before the Doctor can answer the entire ground and mall shakes, making them stumble before it stills again. 

“See?” the Doctor simply says and Izuku groans.

“You really shouldn’t gloat about that.”

But the Doctor doesn’t listen to him, running ahead with his sonic screwdriver in hand as he tries to find the epicenter of whatever caused the ground to tremble under their feet. 

Soon they bump into the centerpiece of the mall, a big tube stretching to the ceiling with energy pulsing through it.

The Doctor puts a hand on the glass separating the pure energy from the outside.

“This must have been with what they have been powering the mall,” the Doctor remarks, walking around it and inspecting the energy inside. 

“It’s beautiful,” Izuku says, staring at the flowing arcs of energy and the Doctor nods.

They look at it for a few more moments, both captivated until the Doctor’s gaze heads to the bottom and he notices something.

He crouches down near the tube, staring at the floor.

“Cracks,” he says, running over the lines with his finger.

“Here are even more,” Izuku says, stepping around the tube before taking a few steps back to see it from a farther distance. 

From the tube a spiderweb of cracks is spreading through the floor, each crack bigger than the other. 

“Is it the energy?” Izuku asks, still looking at the fractures with a frown.

The Doctor shakes his head as he scans the energy in the tube.

“It’s not concentrated enough for that,” he replies as he stares at the readings. “This looks more like the ground is collapsing or falling into itself.”

“An earthquake?” Izuku guesses, but the Doctor is still looking at his sonic screwdriver, lost in thought.

“Doctor?” Izuku calls out, slightly concerned and the Doctor shakes his head, pocketing his sonic screwdriver.

“It’s hard to tell,” the Doctor finally answers. “It could also be a structural problem.”

“You never told me,” Izuku says. “But where is this mall even? Which planet are we on?”

The Doctor hums, burying his hands into his pockets.

“This mall was built on a newly formed planet,” he recalls. “Some corporation bought it for cheap and only placed the mall on top of it.”

“A whole planet for a mall?” Izuku frowns. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to place other tourist attractions on it?”

The Doctor shrugs with a neutral face.

“It’s a big mall,” he remarks. “At its peak, it was able to fill more than thousands of different species.”

“It feels so lifeless now...” Izuku says, looking around him and trying to imagine the masses that normally pass through the mall. It’s harder than expected.

“Does this always happen?” Izuku asks as they pass the tube to go further into the mall. “Finding mysteries everywhere you go? Do you ever get to relax?”

The Doctor sends Izuku a puzzled look.

“This is me relaxing,” he says simply and Izuku is about to laugh until he realizes the man is serious.

“Doctor,” Izuku starts, voice slightly trembling, “Have you ever-”

Before he can finish his sentence the ground suddenly opens up under him, swallowing him into darkness.

Izuku lets out a groan, being reminded of when he first met the Doctor as regains consciousness. His limbs ache as he stumbles to his feet, his ears ringing. When he touches the painful throb at the back of his head his hand comes back red.

“Izuku!” his brain finally starts registering the sounds around him. “Can you hear me?”

The Doctor’s voice seems to echo from around the walls. 

“I’m here!” he weakly shouts back and the Doctor seems to have heard him when he answers him.

“You fell down!” he explains, still echoing. “I’m trying to find another way down, can you see anything down there?”

Izuku shakes his head, seeing pitch blackness beside the faint light flooding from above until he notices that the Doctor won’t be able to see him.

“No it’s too dark!” he calls out and a minute later something falls to the ground. Izuku grasps it a moment later, squinting at it until he realizes what he is holding.

“Setting 203!” the Doctor yells. “Stay where you are, I’m gonna try the staff or maintenance rooms.”

Izuku puts the numbers into the sonic screwdriver, it softly whirring as it starts to emit a blue light.

He inspects his surroundings, noticing that he fell into some kind of industrial tunnel with several wires and pipes lining the walls. There’s broken concrete and tiles all around him and he is suddenly very glad that he wasn’t buried by them when he fell down.

“Why would a mall need underground tunnels?” Izuku murmurs to himself as he looks right and left, ignoring the Doctor’s command as he ventures into one direction. 

It feels like forever until he finally finds something, glad to see the door open since the Doctor isn’t there to open it. 

There are papers and files littering the entire floor and it seems like someone left in a hurry, searching for something in the mess. Izuku picks up one of them, blinking at the numbers describing tests and experiments in some sort of report. 

What the hell have they been doing down here?

He sits down in the office chair, putting the paper on the desk when he notices scrawled handwriting hiding beneath a stack of reports.

He carefully picks it out of the tower, frowning when he realizes it’s a disregarded letter.

He’s about to read it when suddenly a hand clasps down his shoulder and he almost jumps out of the seat, turning around and letting out a sigh of relief when he recognizes the Doctor.

He gives Izuku a raised eyebrow.

“I told you to stay put,” he complains until he notices what Izuku is holding in his grasp, slightly crumpled now.

Izuku holds it out to the Doctor.

“I found it hidden under a bunch of papers,” Izuku explains, frowning when the Doctor’s gaze seems to darken. “What does it say?”

The Doctor hands it back to Izuku.

“See for yourself.”

There are a lot of lines crossed out, the person clearly having difficulties putting down their thoughts but a few phrases are repeated again.

‘I’m sorry,’ ‘I didn’t know,’ and lastly, ‘We should have known.’

“We should have known,” Izuku reads out loud. “What does that mean?”

But the Doctor doesn’t answer, looking through the stack of papers Izuku had disregarded.

“How did you get down here so fast?” Izuku asks him instead. “And why did you know where I went?”

“Went back and got a rope from the TARDIS,” the Doctor says, glancing shortly at him. “And you left footsteps in the dust.”

“And here I thought it would be a lot more complex,” Izuku says with a laugh before handing the man back his sonic screwdriver. “You lost that.”

The Doctor gives him a look at that but pockets it without a comment as they leave the room.

“Shouldn’t we head back?” Izuku questions as they venture deeper into the tunnels instead of returning to where Izuku fell through.

“We are already here,” the Doctor answers. “Might as well check it out.”

“It’s definitely strange that’s for sure,” Izuku agrees. “Do you think-”

Something slams into Izuku from the side, pinning him against the wall and the smell of ozone fills the air as Izuku chokes on his spit. Lightning and energy dance and coil around his skin but surprisingly not hurting Izuku.

“Izuku!” the Doctor calls out, but Izuku raises his hand, stopping him.

“I don’t think it wants to hurt me,” Izuku says, slightly gulping against the sizzling energy and tentatively reaching out.

His fingers brush against it and it’s cool against his skin. He looks up to the Doctor who is watching him with wonder as the energy seems to caress his skin.

Then before Izuku can question the man if it’s some kind of alien organism, it vanishes, only leaving behind a slight tingle.

“I had a feeling,” the Doctor says with a sigh. “And this only confirms it…”

“Confirms what?” Izuku questions with a frown and the man closes his eyes, taking out his screwdriver worldlessly and it pulsing with energy as they follow it even further into the tunnels until they come across a door.

“When I was back in the TARDIS I checked who bought the planet again,” the Doctor finally speaks up. “I should have known the name was familiar.”

An awful feeling spreads in Izuku’s gut as the man unlocks the door.

They step inside a viewing platform adjoining a few labs and Izuku's gaze lands on what lies behind the window. 

It’s the same energy that had been flowing through the tube above, only tightly knitted together in a ball. Above it the same tube sits, extracting the energy from it.

The Doctor puts a hand on the glass, looking down at it solemnly.

“It’s the planet’s core,” he eventually says. “And it’s alive.”

“How can a planet be alive?” Izuku asks, walking up next to the Doctor.

“Every planet is alive,” the Doctor says. “It’s just a matter of if we notice it or not.”

“The tube,” Izuku realizes with a gulp.

“They sucked up its life force,” the Doctor confirms. “Converting into usable energy for maintaining the mall.”

“That’s... horrible,” Izuku brings out, remembering how gentle the energy had been with him.

“And now the planet is crumbling into itself,” the Doctor adds and Izuku grows pale. 

A spark of energy flows to the glass, looking like it caresses the man's hand through it. 

“The Human Race never learns,” the Doctor growls. “Everything they don’t understand they use for their own gain. A living sun for fuel. The last of its species for a ship. And now another living organism for energy.”

“How do we help,” Izuku asks, stepping up to the glass and noticing how the core seems to grow and glow weaker.

“We can’t,” the Doctor says, looking defeated. “It’s dying. It already started.”

“But it can’t end like this,” Izuku chokes out. “We can’t let it end like this!”

The Doctor squeezes his eyes together.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers and Izuku holds back his tears as he understands. “It’s too late.”

Izuku leans his forehead against the glass and the ground shakes again as the energy pulses.

“Come on,” the Doctor says gently. “Let’s at least give it a proper farewell.”

And Izuku lets his tears fall as they hopelessly watch the planet die from the TARDIS.

“You said the human race did this before”, Izuku brings up quietly, the Doctor staring at the console.

“Yes,” he answers just as quietly.

“Why?” Izuku asks, frustrated. “How can they look at something so beautiful and just want to tear it apart?”

“Ignorance,” the Doctor replies. “Selfishness. Multiple reasons. Sometimes I ask myself if they even have a real reason.”

The Doctor presses his lips together.

“And when they are faced with the consequences, they just run away,” the Doctor says. “You saw what happened with the mall. Sure the visitors didn’t know but the staff? They used and then abandoned it.”

Izuku gulps, feeling ashamed of his own race.

“If we hadn’t come it would have died alone,” the Doctor continues, brushing over the console. “The TARDIS heard its cry of pain. Its cry for help. It just wanted someone to be there.”

“Can’t we change it from happening?” Izuku begs. “Go back in the past, stop them from killing it?”

The Doctor sighs and shakes his head.

“We can’t,” he says. “We saw it happen. Now it’s a fixed point in time.”

“But-”

“We can’t,” the Doctor emphasizes, eyes tired. “I tried once. Never again. You can’t change history.”

“Doctor, ”Izuku says and the man looks up at Izuku, “I’m sorry.”

The man smiles and it’s sad as he turns away.

“I’m too.”

Izuku hugs the man from behind, resting his head on his shoulder.

“Will you ever tell me what happened?” he asks quietly and he notices the Doctor slightly stiffening.

“I made a mistake,” the Doctor replies, barely a whisper. “It’s not good for me to travel alone... Nobody to keep me in check. I realize that now.”

“Is that why you let me travel with you?” Izuku tries to understand and the man nods.

“You remind me of why I’m doing this,” he says. “Because under a billion of people, there is someone like you... Someone kind and clever.”

“I feel like you’ve said this before,” Izuku wetly chuckles and Izuku can tell the man is smiling from his voice.

“Maybe once or twice,” he admits. “It’s still the truth. I keep meeting so many amazing people. You make it worth it.”

“Where are they now?” Izuku hesitantly asks and the Doctor sucks in a breath.

“Some leave me,” he explains. “Some I leave behind. Some forget me. Some even die.”

The Doctor turns around, breaking their hug and facing Izuku.

“So are you sure that this is the future you want?” he asks seriously, not letting Izuku look away.

“Has anyone ever said no?” Izuku asks instead and the Doctor gulps, shaking his head.

“Then I’m not gonna be the first one to do so,” he says.

“You are gonna change,” the Doctor warns. “You won’t be the same.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” Izuku questions. “We change all the time. As long as we remember who we used to be… we will be fine.”

“You’re right,” the Doctor answers with a small but genuine smile and he suddenly raises his hand, opening it.

Izuku watches on as the key dangles from the man’s fingers.

“Your TARDIS key,” the man says. “Welcome officially on board.”

“I won’t disappoint you,” Izuku answers, carefully taking it into his hands before pulling it over his head, the key resting slightly above his heart.

“Good,” the Doctor answers with a smile before stepping back to the console and looking at Izuku.

“Time for another adventure?” he questions and Izuku smiles back.

“Always.”

Chapter Text

“How do I look?” Izuku asks, twirling around when he comes up the stairs. 

He’s wearing a dark grey dress shirt with a black vest over it with black and red heavy boots, as well as a forearm guard and a few straps running over his chest and waist.

“Looks good to me,” the Doctor says simply, hands buried in his pockets.

“Do you ever change your clothes?” Izuku asks with a raised eyebrow — the man is still wearing the same outfit Izuku had met him in.

“What’s wrong with my coat?” the man asks with a frown and Izuku sighs.

“Doctor we are about to set foot on a steampunk-themed ship in space,” Izuku reminds. “I’m even surprised you had something in the wardrobe I could wear.”

“And you look good!” the Doctor repeats. “Can we go now?”

Izuku shakes his head fondly, heading for the door when the Doctor stops in front of it, turning around to Izuku with a smile.

“Time to have fun?” the Doctor asks and Izuku raises his eyebrow.

“That‘s what you said the last three times and in all of them we got chased by alien lifeforms,” Izuku says and the Doctor groans as he opens the door.

“How was I supposed to know that the rock was their queen?” the Doctor complains. “And the thing with the Chaplin wasn‘t even my fault!”

“Sure Doctor,” Izuku replies sarcastically, but he smiles as they step out of the TARDIS and into the crowd, all dressed up as the theme.

They walk past a waiter and the Doctor helps himself some nibbles and champagne, offering Izuku some who shakes his head in response.

“I’ll be back in a second,” the Doctor says, disappearing without waiting for Izuku to answer with glass in hand.

Izuku shakes his head fondly, smiling to himself and rolling his eyes before walking up to one of the windows, staring out of it. 

No matter how often the Doctor brings him to space, he will never lose the awe of it.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” a voice remarks next to him, and Izuku startles, turning to the man who gives him a small smile. He’s wearing an old military coat with a black dress shirt.

“Here alone?” he asks, clearly curious as he leans on a pillar, but Izuku shakes his head, refuting, “I’m traveling with someone.”

“Ah I did that a few times,” the man replies with a slight smile, clearly reminiscing for a moment before he seems to remember something, “What’s your name?”

“Izuku!” someone calls and Izuku instantly turns, alert, seeing the Doctor heading for him.

As soon as the man gets in earshot, he starts whispering to him.

“I checked the records,” he starts and Izuku groans, muttering, “Of course you did.”

“And there is something wrong on this ship,” he continues not letting Izuku deter him. “They closed off an entire floor of suites and they are not letting anyone through.”

“And you want to check it out,” Izuku sighs, but the Doctor smiles, flashing his psychic paper before quickly pocketing it.

“Way ahead of you,” he says. “Apparently someone influential rented out the whole floor and had been using a suite alone. One of the personnel wanted to check in on them, but the door was closed and they were not found anywhere.”

Izuku raises an eyebrow, now listening more closely.

“I offered to help them open it since they don’t have secondary keys,” the Doctor continues. “But I wanted to wait for you-”

A loud cough interrupts them and Izuku notices with horror that he completely forgot about the man who talked to him. 

Both of their gazes head to the man and he gives them an awkward smile.

“Doctor,” he says, crossing his arms. “So he’s with you. How come you always pick up the pretty ones?”

“You were flirting with me?” Izuku realizes, surprised before shaking his head, focusing on another detail, “You two know each other?!”

The Doctor scratches his nape, clearly uncomfortable before introducing the man.

“Captain Jack Harkness,” he says with a sigh before pointing at the man. “And you stop it!”

The man raises his hands in mock surrender but smiles as the Doctor shakes his head.

“So just like the good old times?” Jack asks as they head in the direction of the suite and Izuku's eyes widen.

“You traveled with the Doctor?” Izuku questions, eager to find out more about the Doctor’s past.

“I not only traveled with him, I was practically a companion,” Jack explains, slightly boasting. “He abandoned me though.”

The Doctor lets out a sigh.

“Can you let that go? We went to the Year 100 trillion because of you,” the Doctor says. “Besides you wanted to stay on Earth after... all that. What are you even doing here?”

Jack’s smile is a bit tight.

“Just taking a vacation,” he says. “Needed a bit of a break from humanity.”

“No offense,” Jack directs to Izuku who just shrugs and they stop in front of the closed-down floor, the Doctor nodding at the guards in front of them who let them through after some short skeptical gazes.

“I apologize for the long wait,” the Doctor tells the obviously sweating butler and the pilot of the ship, who nods in response. 

The Doctor takes out his sonic screwdriver, opening the door with a short click and the captain sighs.

“Thank you for your help Doctor,” he says. “I think we will have it from here.”

The butler knocks on the door, opening the door with a hesitant, “Madame?”

“On whom are we betting this is?” Jack whispers to Izuku. “Some royal from another planet?”

“Stop abusing your privileges as a time traveler,” the Doctor chides as he walks up to Izuku and Jack, pocketing his sonic screwdriver.

Before he can get to them however a horrified scream reaches their ears, the Doctor instantly spinning around and following the captain into the open room, Izuku and Jack sharing a glance before doing so as well.

On the floor a woman lays in a puddle of her own blood, the butler crying over her.

“How could something like this happen?” he sobs.

The Doctor jumps on the bed, scanning the room.

“No obvious way to get in besides the door,” he says, stepping down from the bed before Izuku can scold him for it. “But it was locked.”

His wide-eyed, clearly excited gaze heads to Izuku.

“The locked room mystery!” he says with wonder. “Absolutely brilliant!”

“No this is a disaster!”, the butler cries out, suddenly standing up and poking a finger into the Doctor’s chest. “It was you wasn’t it! That’s why you could open the door so easily!”

The Doctor slightly raises his hands.

“Sorry mate, but I arrived less than 10 minutes ago,” the Doctor says, his gaze heading to the corpse. “I don’t even know who that is.”

“Our last pit stop was 2 hours ago!” the butler points out. “How can you have arrived 10 minutes ago?”

The Doctor gulps, before wincing.

“Yeah we didn’t come through the conventional methods.”

The captain of the ship finally steps in, narrowing his eyes at the Doctor and also at Izuku and Jack, drawing a gun.

“Who are you people?”

The Doctor sighs, rolling his eyes.

“Why do you lot always have guns?” he complains. “Come on, please put that away. Hasn’t enough violence happened in this room?”

The captain presses his lips together before reluctantly putting the gun away, the butler shooting them dirty looks.

The Doctor slowly lowers his hands.

“I didn’t lie,” he says. “I’m the Doctor and I really just want to help.”

The captain’s gaze heads from the Doctor to Izuku who stammers.

“He-He does help people,” he says with an awkward smile. “He’s good at that.”

“I can also attest that,” Jack supplies (un)helpfully and the Doctor shoots them grateful smiles as the captain lets out a deep sigh.

“Alright if it wasn’t you, who was it then?”

“That’s for us to find out,” the Doctor says as he crouches down, inspecting the dead woman. “Who was she?”

“You were being serious,” the captain realizes, obviously confused. “That’s Vrisral — Queen of Mirath.”

“Told you so,” Jack whispers to Izuku and Izuku pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Not the time,” he hisses to the man. 

“Any enemies?” the Doctor follows up, and the butler answers, although he clearly still doesn’t trust them.

“Just the usual,” he says. “Although there have been a few angry citizens that we allowed some human colonies to escape to our planet and settle there.”

The Doctor hums, inspecting the wounds.

“Looks like she was killed by a sonic blaster,” the Doctor remarks, his gaze for a moment heading to Jack. “Haven’t seen that in a while.”

The Doctor stands up, turning to the captain.

“Keep us updated if you find out anything on your own,” he says. “We’ll go investigate.”

The captain frowns but nods, however warning them.

“Be subtle,” he says. “We don’t want mass panic on the ship.”

The Doctor nods and they head out of the room, the Doctor turning to Jack as soon as they are a sizable distance away.

“Just double checking,” the Doctor’s gaze is serious. “But that murder wasn’t you, right”

“Do you really think so little of me?” Jack answers, narrowing his eyes and the Doctor sighs.

“I’m just being cautious,” he replies. “I destroyed the factories in Villengard. There aren’t many on the market.”

“What’s so special about sonic blasters?” Izuku questions and the Doctor licks his lips.

“They leave a square pattern,” he explains. “And both Jack and my wife used them.”

“Stormcage also used them,” Jack adds. 

“Stormcage?” Izuku repeats with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s the most secure prison in the entire universe,” the Doctor replies. “Except for my wife, she always broke out of it.”

Izuku just blinks and decides to stop asking or else he will only get even more confused.

“Right,” Izuku says. “Shouldn’t we focus on something else?”

The Doctor nods, getting serious again.

“I can reconfigure my sonic screwdriver to scan for a sonic blaster”, he says. “But the range is gonna be short so we’ll have to find the person without alerting them.”

“Can’t we just send Jack in, I feel like he is the person to flirt with everything that has feet?” Izuku only half-jokes and Jack sends him a betrayed look.

“Are you sure you haven’t been telling stories about me?” Jack asks the Doctor who rolls his eyes with a smile.

“You wish.”

They weave their way through the crowd, the Doctor holding his sonic screwdriver in hand, eyes flitting over the people present.

Izuku instantly notices that they are getting too much attention, gazes heading to the Doctor’s right hand when they get close enough to hear its low whirring, so Izuku reaches out and grasps it, hiding the sonic screwdriver between their hands.

“You are attracting too much attention,” Izuku whispers at the Doctor’s questioning gaze. 

The Doctor nods and Izuku lets go, the Doctor hiding it in his sleeves instead.

“Shouldn’t we split up?” Jack asks quietly. “Cover more ground?”

“We would look even more suspicious than we do now,” Izuku says, “Besides the Doctor is the only one with a sonic screwdriver.”

The Doctor is about to speak up when he freezes, Izuku and Jack pausing alongside him.

“It’s close,” he says and Izuku gulps, getting closer to the Doctor to cover him as he tries to pinpoint where they need to go.

He rotates in a circle, Izuku stepping with him until he stops suddenly, and both their gazes head to the lone woman leaning on a table, drinking a cocktail. She winks at them before she bolts, gracefully flipping over the crowd as they scramble after her. 

“This is new,” Izuku huffs out as they run, dodging the crowd as best as they can. “Normally we are the ones being chased. Can’t say I like it.”

They turn the corner, finally people thinning out and the Doctor raises his sonic screwdriver to close the doors in front of the woman, but she only pulls out her sonic blaster and blasts through them.

“At least we now know we got the right person,” Jack says as they run through the square hole.

They turn another corner, meeting a dead end and the woman twirls around to face them.

“Dead end!” Jack calls out, as they come to a stop, before winking, “How about we go out for drinks instead of running?”

The woman narrows her eyes at him, weapon drawn before her gaze heads to the Doctor, who’s going up to her.

“Alright,” the Doctor says, stopping and raising his arms. “I don’t suppose you could just-”

But she doesn’t listen to him, arm snapping into Izuku and Jack’s direction and shooting Jack square in the chest before pointing the gun down, falling through the ground.

Jack lets out a loud wheeze, looking down at the gaping hole in his chest before he falls over. 

Izuku instantly kneels down, cradling Jack’s face in his lap, fingers trembling as he brushes the hair off the man’s forehead. 

“Not a bad sight to die to,” the man croaks out with a slight smile before his eyes flutter close.

“Doctor!” Izuku gasps out, looking up to the man, but he is already chasing after the killer, jumping down the hole.

Izuku lets out a curse before following suit — promising himself to come back later. 

He almost twists his ankle as he lands, scrambling to catch up and barely seeing the Doctor’s coat rounding the corner. 

He lets out a loud curse, urging himself to run faster, finally regrouping with the Doctor when he bursts into what seems to be the cockpit of the ship, the Doctor in a stand-off with the attacker.

He has his hands raised, speaking lowly.

“I only want to know where you got that weapon from and why you killed that woman.”

The woman laughs and it’s ugly.

“Haven’t you figured it out already, Doctor?”

The Doctor frowns, eyebrows knitted together.

“How do you know my name?”

“Everybody knows your name, warrior,” she spits out, suddenly clicking a button, causing red alarms to blare before she disappears. 

The Doctor hurries to the spot she was in, sonic screwdriver scanning.

“Transmat,” he curses as he looks at the data. “I can’t intercept it, she must have had it planned.”

“Doctor we have other things to worry about,” Izuku hisses, pointing up to the displays.

SELF-DESTRUCT INITIATED.

The Doctor turns to the controls, directing his sonic screwdriver at it.

“It’s deadlocked,” the Doctor says with a hiss. “We’ll have to deactivate it manually.”

His head swivels around the cockpit, landing on three raised displays, heading to one of them and directing Izuku to the other.

“Doctor we need three people to override the controls!” Izuku realizes in hysterics as pulls his own lever.

“Good that we have three then,” a voice says and Izuku turns to it, seeing Jack standing next to the last of the levers.

“Sorry, should have told you,” he says at Izuku‘s wide, unbelieving stare. “I‘m immortal. Was one of the old Doctor‘s companions — Rose‘s fault.”

“Jack, not the time!” the Doctor calls out and Jack lets out a short apology before pulling the lever, all of them slumping in relief when the timer and the alarm stop.

The Doctor instantly goes back to the controls, Jack and Izuku following him — Izuku still reeling from seeing Jack alive.

“What are you doing?” Jack asks, leaning at the cockpit. 

“Extracting the coordinates of her transmat,” the Doctor explains as he looks at his sonic screwdriver. “She will not get away with this.”

The Doctor grasps Jack’s left arm, revealing a device attached to his wrist. 

Jack seems to realize what the man is trying to do, eyes widening.

“Doctor no!” he cries out, but it’s too late as the Doctor already directs his sonic screwdriver at the device, Jack barely managing to put a hand on Izuku as they get transported.

They stumble as they arrive, Izuku’s head swimming as they find themselves in the middle of a desert.

“We could have used the TARDIS,” Jack groans as he staggers to his feet.

“And lose her trail?” the Doctor counters, sonic screwdriver whirring. “I rather not take the chance.”

“I thought you hated traveling with a vortex manipulator,” Jack sighs and the Doctor glances at it still displayed on Jack‘s wrist.

“I can admit it has some benefits.”

“Oh now suddenly it does,” Jack grumbles as the Doctor starts walking in a direction, Jack directing his attention to Izuku.

“You alright?” he asks as they follow the Doctor. “First time is a bit rough.”

“Is that how you travel all the time?” Izuku asks incredulously.

“If I had a choice I would rather travel with the TARDIS as well, but beggars can’t be choosers,” Jack replies. “You get used to it.”

“No thank you,” Izuku answers, serious and Jack laughs out.

“You would have gotten along with Rose,” he says with a sort of melancholy.

“You said that name before,” Izuku says hesitantly. “Who was she?”

But Jack just smiles, a bit of sadness edged into his face.

“That’s not for me to tell.” 

They hurry to catch up with the Doctor, walking over a sand dune when the man stops on top of it, and Izuku and Jack are finally able to reach him, standing next to him.

Izuku is about to ask why they stopped when his gaze heads down.

Slightly buried beneath the sand seems to be what once has been an entire city, with only ruins left now. 

“What has happened here?” Izuku asks as they walk down the dune, approaching the remains of the city.

“The more important question is which planet are we on?” Jack adds as he stares at the broken and blackened walls. 

“War,” the Doctor indirectly answers Izuku's first question as they walk through the wreckage. “Or what’s left of it.”

Izuku gulps, looking at the debris and trying to imagine what the city must have looked like. He fails. 

Izuku has seen the catastrophes war can leave behind on Earth before. But always in pictures, videos, or history books. They didn‘t prepare him for the feeling that overcame him as they stood in the middle of what he imagined to have been an entire society once.

Izuku never knew he could feel such immense heartbreak and grief for people — for a species he never had known. 

They walk through something which might have been a great hall or a temple or church once and suddenly Izuku understands why humans are so adamant about recording history — it‘s so that traditions and cultures can live on.

He will never know what people here did for Christmas or weddings or even birthdays. If they celebrated alone or along the masses, sharing their joy. Which rituals did they have? He wishes he could ask.

Although… his gaze heads to the Doctor. They do have a chance to see it for themselves, don't they? 

“He will say no,” Jack says quietly like he can read Izuku‘s thoughts. “He doesn‘t like to meddle in things.”

“He‘s meddling in things as we speak,” Izuku replies with a frown.

“Yes, but not by his own choice,” Jack answers, burying his hands in his pockets. “He just goes wherever the TARDIS brings him.”

“He never gets to relax, does?” Izuku brings up, staring at the Doctor‘s back. “Always saving people, running from one adventure to the next.”

“I think he sees this as relaxing,” Jack snorts softly and Izuku sighs.

“He told me that once too,” Izuku answers. “But I just can‘t imagine it…”

“I mean don‘t get me wrong,” Izuku barrels on before Jack can say something. “It‘s fun. And enriching even though it‘s scary sometimes, but relaxing…”

Izuku trails off, breathing in shakily.

Jack hums, mulling over his words.

“I think it‘s because you are with him,” he eventually settles on. “Sure he goes on solo adventures all the time, but he always seems lighter when he has someone with him.”

“He said to me once that we are the reminders of why he keeps doing this,” Izuku admits.

“That does seem like something he would say,” Jack says with a smile. 

“Have you known the Doctor for a while?” Izuku questions, changing the subject.

“Yes,” Jack says. “It‘s been over 100 years for me although I can imagine it‘s been more than that for him. Haven‘t spent the majority with him though.”

“You said the Doctor abandoned you,” Izuku remembers. “What did you do all this time then?”

“Worked for Torchwood Cardiff,” he answers. “We were the ones who helped when the Doctor couldn‘t come.”

“Were?” Izuku asks and Jack sighs.

“Got disbanded a while ago,” he says. “A lot of things happened.”

The man looks away and Izuku decides to not push any further, leaving the man alone for a bit and rejoining the Doctor in front.

“Finished with your conversation?” the man asks with a raised eyebrow. “Was it at least enlightening?”

“A bit,” Izuku answers. “What are we looking for?”

“Anything that gives me an idea of where we are,” he says as they come to a standstill in what might have been the center of the city.

“Why would she bring us here?” Jack remarks, coming to a stop next to the Doctor’s left side. 

“Not us,” the Doctor murmurs with a frown. “Me.”

The Doctor crouches down, taking a bit of sand into his hand, revealing stone underneath as he lets it trickle through his palm.

With a frown the man brushes away the thin layer of sand, revealing a name. He narrows his eyes as he stands up and uncovers more of the ground as he scoots away the sand with his shoes, revealing even more names.

“We should leave,” Jack says uncomfortably as they stare down at the array of names and Izuku comes to a terrible realization.

“You just came here,” a voice announces and their gazes head to the woman they had met on the ship, looking down at them. “At least pay your respects.”

They are standing on top of a mass grave. 

The Doctor’s gaze hardens but before he can speak up, the woman continues.

“How does it feel, Doctor,” his name sounds mocking in her mouth. “Standing among the graves of the people you have wronged?”

The Doctor narrows his eyes at her.

“I remember all the people I’ve wronged,” he replies. “This is not one of those places.”

The woman laughs and it’s ugly.

“So you don’t remember,” she says. “But what did I expect? Time Lords have always been self-absorbed, only caring for their own people. We are just on a long list of forgotten victims in the Time War.”

Izuku glances at the Doctor, noticing how stiff his shoulders are at the mention of his own species and the so-called “Time War”.

“But you are even worse than them,” she adds, tone taking on a venomous edge. “The one who ended it all.”

The Doctor doesn’t answer, lowering his gaze.

“You are so vicious that even your own race is afraid of you, Doctor,” the woman says and the Doctor freezes.

“Oh yes we heard the rumors,” she says in a fake sweet voice. “How many years did you spend in that confession dial? Four billion years?”

“Four and a half,” the Doctor corrects and Izuku feels sick as the man narrows his eyes at her. “Who told you that”

It’s not a question. 

“Look at how self-righteous he is behaving,” she spits, more directed at Jack and Izuku rather than the Doctor. “Commanding me.”

“You are one to speak considering you killed two people just to lure us here,” Izuku defends the Doctor and the woman scoffs as she stares down at Jack, who raises his chin, glaring at her.

“One of them hardly counted.”

“So you are a hypocrite too,” Izuku scowls, balling his fists, but she doesn’t answer him, gaze heading back to the Doctor.

“Feeling so guilty that you have to let your companions speak for you?” she mocks with a sharp smile.

“Maybe,” the Doctor answers, surprising them all with how tired he sounds.

Even the woman gulps, keeping her mouth shut.

“I lived over 400 years of my life believing I killed my own species to save the universe,” the Doctor adds. “I carry more guilt than you could imagine.”

He closes his eyes for a moment, breathing out. 

“Doctor,” he continues. “It’s not just a title. It’s a promise.”

“A promise for what?” she finally finds her voice again, but the anger seems to have faded from it.

“Never be cruel, and never be cowardly, and if you ever are, always make amends,” the Doctor explains, holding out a hand to a woman. “So let me make amends.”

Izuku holds his breath as she stares down the man’s hand, hesitance written on her face.

“You can’t bring them back...” she says, more of a statement than a question and the Doctor shakes his head, confirming.

“No.”

She still takes his hand.

“You didn’t have to do this,” Izuku says as they watch from the TARDIS as Krisia — she had finally told them her name after accepting the Doctor’s offer — watches from the hill in awe.

“I wanted to see it too,” the Doctor only replies as his gaze heads over the city in the distance, busy with life — it’s breathtakingly beautiful.

Kids are running through the streets, laughing as they play with each other and the market is lively, merchants calling out to try different foods or buy different items. 

“Is it true?” Izuku doesn’t have to specify and the Doctor lets out a deep sigh.

“All of it,” he replies, simply.

“How...” he doesn’t finish his sentence, but he has a feeling the Doctor knows what he is asking.

How did you not go insane?

The Doctor laughs, but it’s mirthless.

“I was already a bit insane before that,” he says, heading back into the TARDIS, Izuku following suit after a moment, letting Krisia have a few seconds for herself.

“I’ll handle things from here,” Jack says when they land back on the spaceship, “You lot go ahead.”

“Are you sure you will be fine?”, Izuku asks, gaze heading to Krisia who worldlessly accepts the handcuffs put on her wrists by the captain of the ship, the Doctor talking to him. 

“I handled the aftermath more times I can count,” Jack laughs, sort of bittersweet. “I will be fine.”

He smiles at Izuku before hugging him, and Izuku easily reciprocates. 

“Take care of yourself,” he whispers into his ear, before letting go and winking at him.

“And also take care of the Doctor for me.”

“Roger that Captain,” Izuku jokes, smiling when Jack chuckles.

“Don’t feed his ego please,” the Doctor says as he returns to Izuku’s side, the both of them staring down at each other before he smiles and opens his arms.

They hug, Jack clapping the man’s back before he lets go. 

“Don’t lose him,” Jack says, pointing at Izuku who raises an eyebrow. “He’s a good one.”

The Doctor nods, smiling.

“And he’s pretty,” Jack adds, the Doctor groaning.

“Stop it.”

Jack laughs, crossing his arms, his smile melting into something more serious.

“Promise me to be careful.”

They share a glance, something passing between them that Izuku can’t understand.

“I’ll try my best,” the Doctor eventually answers and Jack nods.

“That’s all I’m asking for.”

Jack’s gaze heads back to Izuku.

“And you!” he says, Izuku stiffening as he anticipates what he will say, “Just stay the way you are.”

Izuku lets out a sigh of relief, smiling.

“Goodbye Jack,” he only says in response and Jack smiles.

“Goodbye Izuku,” he says, once again nodding at the Doctor, before saluting. “Doctor.”

The Doctor lets out a grumble at the gesture but doesn’t comment, nodding back before they step back into the TARDIS.

The Doctor seems solemn as he takes off his coat and throws it on the railing, Izuku softly closing the door behind him. He steps up to the console, seemingly lost in thought.

“It was kind of you,” Izuku breaks the silence, the Doctor slightly startling. “Letting her see her home city one last time.”

“It was the right thing to do, that’s all,” the Doctor evades, before tapping away, putting in new coordinates.

“I think it’s time for your own personal home visit,” the Doctor says, before smiling. “Fancy a trip back to Earth?”

“Only if you come along,” Izuku answers and the Doctor’s voice has a strange tone to it as he answers with a smile. 

“As long as I can.”

Chapter Text

“10 minutes after we defeated the alien at UA,” the Doctor says with a smile, leaning at the doorframe.

“I love this bloody thing,” Izuku says to the TARDIS, smiling at it before blinking. “Oh my god I’m becoming British.”

The Doctor snorts and closes the TARDIS behind him as they walk up to the apartment complex, picking up a disregarded newspaper.

“You don’t have to come in, you know?” Izuku reminds when the Doctor takes a sharp breath.

Izuku instantly turns to the man, regarding him with concern as he takes out his glasses, peering at the newspaper.

“What’s wrong?”

The man wordlessly turns it around so Izuku can read the date.

February 26th, Year 2309. Almost 10 months later than when Izuku and the Doctor first met.

“Not again,” the man pinches the bridge of his nose, shooting the TARDIS a dirty look.

“What do you mean, not again?” Izuku questions, “Has something like this happened before?”

“A long long time ago,” the Doctor says, dragging a hand down his face. “I wasn‘t even wearing this face then.”

“Wait my mom!” Izuk realizes, hurrying up the stairs to their apartment, not paying attention to whether the Doctor follows him or not. 

He’s in front of their apartment door and shakily takes out his keys, struggling to open the door for a moment until he finally manages.

“Mitsuki?” his mother’s voice flows out of the kitchen and Izuku can hear her steps coming near. “Did you forget-”

His mother steps inside the hallway and drops the cup of tea she had been nursing, it shattering on the floor as she stares at him like she has seen a ghost.

“Izuku?” she gasps out and Izuku nods, throat dry.

She almost steps into the shards in her hurry to get to him and hugs him, tears streaming down her face.

“I’m here,” Izuku murmurs, breathing in deeply. “I’m here.”

He holds her until she calms down, sending her into the living room as he cleans up the shards with a dustpan. As soon as he returns to her side, she pulls him onto the couch, holding him for a moment like she still can’t believe that he is here.

“Where were you? I thought you were dead!” his mother finally asks. “The police just told me you ran off but I knew you would never do that!”

The Doctor suddenly pokes his head out of the kitchen.

“Actually he kind of did.”

“Doctor!” Izuku hisses, but the man is already back in the kitchen.

“Is that who was with you?!” his mother asks, aghast and Izuku winces.

“Sorry, it was kind of unintentional.”

“Unintentional?” his mother repeats, clearly angry. “You were gone for 10 months! Don‘t tell me you couldn’t have called or texted me at least once?!”

Izuku opens his mouth to retort when the Doctor pokes his head out of the kitchen again.

“Actually, he could have, but I forgot to reconfigure his phone.”

“Doctor!” Izuku facepalms. “You are not helping. What are you even doing back there?!”

The Doctor suddenly reappears with some kind of device in his hands, throwing it at Izuku who easily catches it, looking it over with a critical eye.

“Slight perception filter for your hair, making sure you don’t stand out in those earlier years...” he trails off, seemingly finally remembering what he is interrupting while Izuku tries to sink into the coach, pinching the bridge of his nose as he pockets the device.

He holds out a hand to his mother, introducing himself with an apologetic smile.

“I‘m the Doctor.”

“Is that who you are friends with nowadays?” his mother ignores the man’s hand, turning to Izuku and he can see that she is tired. “I understand that you had trouble finding friends in the past but at least find someone your own age.”

Izuku gulps, ashamed and he averts his eyes.

“Will you at least stay now?” his mother asks desperately and Izuku still doesn’t meet her gaze. “Will you?”

“I can’t,” Izuku bursts out. “I can’t, Mom. Traveling with the Doctor… it’s so much more than I could ever have here. If you would just travel with us once you would understand!”

His mother bites her lips and shakes her head.

“No,” she says, sighing. “I have things here. Coworkers who supported me while you were gone. Mitsuki and Katsuki! Did you ever think about what you were leaving behind?”

Izuku’s laugh is dry as he answers.

“What? A job in a run-down store, trying to keep myself afloat because no university or high-respecting job accepted me because I’m quirkless?” Izuku says. “Is that what you want for me?”

His mother shrinks back, tears filling her eyes.

“With the Doctor, I can at least be someone,” Izuku continues. “More than just a weakling or a worthless Deku... I can be someone!”

Izuku tears up, balling his fists.

“Can’t you just be happy for me?”

His mother doesn’t answer and Izuku lets out a tired chuckle.

“Right,” he says. “Doctor we can go, I don’t need anything here anymore.”

But before Izuku can step out of the living room his mother speaks up.

“You‘ve changed Izuku,” her voice breaks, “You‘ve changed.”

Izuku freezes and his gaze finds the Doctor, and he knows both of them are recalling the conversation they had before he gave Izuku the TARDIS key.

Izuku finds it through the fabric of his shirt, gripping it tightly.

“No,“ he says, “I just finally grew up.”

“Now that we are here,” the Doctor says and Izuku is glad that the man doesn’t speak about what happened with his mother. “Reckon we want to check this out?”

He shows Izuku the newspaper he had picked up earlier, the front page telling people that today is the entrance exam for UA. 

“It‘s not a public event Doctor.”

“We went there once,” he reminds. “We can do it again.”

Izuku lets out a groan before he relents.

“Alright fine,” he says. “You are such a child sometimes. UA used to be my dream university.”

The Doctor gives him a look. 

“What changed?”

“What do you mean what changed?” Izuku asks, confused. 

“You said 'used to.‘ So what changed?” the Doctor explains.

“I realized that there are more things this world has to offer,” Izuku says quietly, not meeting the Doctor‘s eyes. “You should know why.“

“Tell me about UA,” the Doctor changes the subject. “It‘s a university right?”

“It used to be a high school until like 5 years ago,” Izuku says. “But yeah it’s a university now. The biggest in all of Japan actually. Only the top percent get in.”

“What made you so interested in going there?” the Doctor asks and Izuku shuffles on his feet.

“It‘s where the best heroes are born,” he decides to say. “And where you get your hero license.”

The Doctor scoffs.

“You don‘t need a piece of paper to help people.”

“Well you would know everything about that, wouldn‘t you?”

The Doctor gives him a look but doesn‘t protest for once. 

“Give me your phone instead,” he says and Izuku raises an eyebrow but complies, settling down his phone on the man‘s palm.

He turns it on before getting out his sonic screwdriver, it whirring as he directs it at the display.

It doesn‘t take him more than a few seconds before he hands it back.

“You now have a network everywhere in the universe,” the Doctor explains. “And I added the TARDIS‘s number.”

“The TARDIS has a number?” Izuku says as they walk up to the object in question.

The Doctor pats the outside before he opens the outside panel, revealing a phone.

“You think that‘s only for decoration?”

“You are not being serious,” Izuku gasps and the Doctor laughs.

“Come on try it out,” he challenges and Izuku goes into his contacts, dialing the saved number for the TARDIS.

Barely a split second later the phone rings and the Doctor picks it up with a smile.

“Hello,” he says, echoing from both his phone and next to him. 

Izuku hangs up with a smile, shaking his head in disbelief. 

“You don‘t get many calls do you?” Izuku guesses. “Or else it wouldn’t be outside. A bit impractical if you are in outer space.”

“I did want to reroute it inside,” the Doctor says with a shrug. “I always got distracted though.”

“You do get easily distracted,” Izuku agrees as they step into the TARDIS. “I don’t think I mind though.”

“Not gonna get tired of me so easily?” the Doctor teases with a well-meaning smirk and Izuku shakes his head, laughing.

“Never,” he answers and means it wholeheartedly. 

“I don’t think I’m gonna get ever tired of this sound either,” Izuku says as they land, the TARDIS whirring as they materialize. 

“It is the best,” the Doctor affirms, patting the console before picking up his coat and following Izuku outside.

“This is different,” Izuku states as he looks around. They seem to be in some kind of underground tunnel — and wow how this seems to be turning out to be some kind of pattern. 

The harsh fluorescent lights flicker as the Doctor closes the door to the TARDIS.

“We definitely are in the right coordinates,” the Doctor says and Izuku raises an eyebrow.

“Are you sure the TARDIS just hasn’t dumped us somewhere again?”

“Don’t badmouth her,” the Doctor defends. “We are where we need to be.”

“Right,” Izuku says and they pick a direction to go into. 

It doesn’t take them long to find something which isn’t right. 

The Doctor crouches down at the electric panel which is half-open and slightly smoking. The wires look like they have been chewed through.

He reaches inside and pulls something out which is fried and broken. 

“Oh no this is bad,” the Doctor says as he inspects the mite out of technology and Izuku sighs.

“What is it today? Cyborgs from space?”

The Doctor raises his eyebrows.

“Not too far off,” he replies, “Cybermen. They are cybernetically augmented humanoids.”

“So basically cyborgs,” Izuku summarizes before groaning. “You knew something was gonna happen.”

“One of the biggest events in your history?” the Doctor drawls with a sniff. “And the TARDIS brought us here? Yeah.”

“I hate you,” Izuku says, but the Doctor smiles, replying in a sing-song as he scans the mite with the sonic screwdriver.

“No, you don’t.”

Izuku rolls his eyes but doesn’t refute it, lips twitching.

“Connection to the hive got severed when he got fried by the electricity,” the Doctor says, putting the mite down, and looking closer inside the panel. “Now where did our little buddy come from?”

Izuku also crouches down looking around until his gaze reaches some kind of air shaft or vent whose cover is broken through.

“I’m guessing through here.”

The Doctor hums as he removes the lid, sticking his head inside. His voice echoes inside it as he speaks.

“Oh those are really spacious.”

And Izuku instantly knows what will follow.

“Doctor, wait no!” Izuku calls out, but the man has already crawled inside.

He drags a hand down his face, deciding to stay put until the man ultimately comes back — in comparison to the Doctor he does not have a liking for squeezing himself into tight spaces.

Izuku is just covering the vent again when steps draw near and he freezes, slowly standing up.

“Oh dear!” someone exclaims. “How did you get lost down here? Are you one of the examinees?”

Izuku turns around, gulping when he sees Ectoplasm, his words getting stuck in his throat. 

“Come on, I‘ll get you out of here,” he adds, leading Izuku away from the air shaft, “You are lucky I found you, the orientation for the physical exam will start in a few minutes.”

“The exam hasn‘t started yet?” Izuku bursts out with wide eyes and Ectoplasm regards him with a frown.

“Did you not hear the announcement?” he asks. “They had to postpone it for a few hours because of technical difficulties. How long have you been lost down here?”

His mind wanders to the electric mite he and the Doctor found. Technical difficulties indeed.

“It was hard to keep track of the time,” Izuku decides to answer, and Ectoplasm hums.

“Well I’m glad I found you in time,” he says as they step up to an elevator, holding some kind of ID against the display and it blinks green.

They drive up quietly and Ectoplasm deposits him with another clone of his, explaining the situation before asking his name which he hesitantly gives. 

He goes through the list and it‘s with horror, but also luck that Izuku realizes that he submitted all the work for applying to UA when his last year in high school started and before he met the Doctor.

Contrary to the Doctor he doesn’t have psychic paper on hand to bullshit his way through situations like these. 

“Ah yes, Izuku Midoriya,” he says, “Number 223. You normally have to sit with your school and district, but I‘ll let you sit with the homeschooled kids since you are almost late.”

Izuku thanks the man, internally sweating as he sits down quietly, thankfully in one of the top rows as the packages get handed out. His gaze heads over the other examinees and he ducks his head when he recognizes a familiar mob of blonde spiked hair. 

He lets the entire presentation wash over, mentally checked out. It’s only the other students heading out that make him realize that it’s over, casting a short glance at the packet they received and cursing under his breath as he gets forced to leave his seat. 

Unfortunately, the stream of people means that he will stand out if he doesn’t head with them to the buses, so he grips the slight perception filter the Doctor has given him and hopes for the best.

Against all odds, he arrives on the right bus and they head out without Katsuki even catching a glimpse of him — the boy would be sure to make a scene of him disappearing and he is not ready to explain to Pro Heroes how he got here without actually administering for the written exam in the first place. 

As soon as they arrive at the exam site, Izuku deems it safe enough, so he heads to the side, pulling out his phone and ringing the Doctor or to be more precise the TARDIS, impatiently tapping his foot.

“Pick up you bloody idiot,” Izuku curses, difficulties keeping his volume low, “Of course it‘s fucking Cybermen and I‘m stuck near a fake city filled with killer robots. What else?”

“Excuse me!” a stern voice interrupts and Izuku shortly glances at them — a blue-haired boy with glasses. “You are distracting other applicants. If you want to be a hero-”

“Shut up,” Izuku snaps. “Just shut up. I‘m having a really bad day and I‘m tempted to punch someone in the face if he doesn’t pick up right now.”

The last few words he says through clenched teeth. 

He ignores whether the boy heeds his advice or not, continuing his rant.

“I’m not even supposed to be here, but no,” he throws his hands up in the air, contemplating throwing his phone at the ground. 

“If I‘m gonna get alive out for here I‘m so gonna kick his arse,” Izuku curses. “He‘s gonna regenerate by the time I‘m finished with-”

The call finally goes through.

“Doctor!” Izuku hisses before the man can speak a word. “Didn’t you ask yourself where I am?”

“I thought you could manage on your own,” the Doctor answers. “The more important matter is that we need to get to one of the testing sites and deactivate their robots. The Cybermen want to hijack them.”

“You are kidding me,” Izuku groans. “I‘m at one of them.”

“That‘s perfect!” the Doctor exclaims. “I‘m gonna send you the code to shut them down as well as a general blueprint of the mock city, just activate it and hold it to one of the interfaces. I‘m gonna try to find the Cybermen‘s ship to deactivate any other of their army they have hidden.”

“Why can‘t we just use the TARDIS?” Izuku asks, desperately.

“You're already there and I need to stop the Cybermen from carrying out their next step.”

“Alright... fine,” Izuku agrees rather reluctantly. “But I get to choose where we go next after this.”

“Yes okay,” the Doctor easily agrees.

“And you teach me how to fly the TARDIS,” Izuku adds.

“I can‘t do that!” the Doctor says and Izuku can practically hear the frown in the man’s voice.

“Yes you can,” Izuku hisses. “Or else you move your stupid ass here and do it yourself.”

“Okay, okay I‘ll teach you how to fly the TARDIS,” the Doctor promises with a sigh and Izuku promptly hangs up.

Izuku squares his shoulders, his gaze basically smoldering as he stomps his way to the front.

Unbeknownst to him the rest of the students give him a wide berth, even the student with the glasses although he looks at Izuku with a frown. 

“Alright let‘s go you fuckers,” he mutters under his breath just as the start gets announced, instantly running through before it’s properly opened and ducking into a side street to evade the main chaos.

He opens the blueprint on his phone, following it closely and thankfully being able to evade most of the robots by sticking close to the borders of the mock city. 

Soon he finds the warehouse where most of the robots are stored, a steady stream of them trickling out of it.

Thankfully their coding leaves him alone as long as he stays close enough in the radius of the warehouse and he dips inside, but instead of finding an army of UA’s exam robots, he finds deactivated humanoid robots. 

Cybermen.

He hesitantly goes up to them, inspecting them and their surroundings. There must be a way how they got transported here… 

But before he can do more they suddenly activate and Izuku lets out a curse as they instantly start targeting him, Izuku rolling out of the shooting path of a beam until he notices some sort of console. Out of desperation, he touches it.

A second later he appears in the middle of a spaceship in a corridor and someone almost runs into him.

“Izuku!” the Doctor exclaims, holding him by his shoulders. “What are you doing here?!”

“I just touched the interface!” he answers and mechanical footsteps come near.

They look at each other with panic, both shouting, “Run!”

“I thought you were gonna stop the Cybermen on their ship,” Izuku gasps out as they run, turning a corner.

“I materialized right into the heart of their army,” the Doctor answers. “They parked just above orbit. I thought I sent you to deactivate the UA robots?”

“Stumbled into an army of Cybermen,” Izuku says as they run into a dead end. “Any ideas?”

“Down,” he shouts, pulling out a sonic blaster and sending them downwards.

“You kept that?” Izuku says with disbelief as the Doctor sends out another sonic wave, reverting the ceiling to its original state — recognizing it as the one Krisia used.

“I meant to throw it out,” he replies and they walk through the ship. “Now I’m kind of glad I kept it.”

The Doctor stops in front of an interface, hacking into it with his sonic screwdriver.

“That’s their program for the UA robots and the Cybermen that got activated stopped at least,” he murmurs. “Send out an electric pulse. They should be all deactivated now.”

“What did you even find at the end of that air shaft?” Izuku questions, and the Doctor hums.

“Same thing as you probably did,” he answers, tapping away on the interface. “Found a hidden teleporter and an army of Cybermen. I was able to deactivate them before they could awaken though. Managed to find out their plan by hacking into their hive mind.”

“What’s the Cybermen's next step anyway?” Izuku asks and the Doctor's face is serious.

“Upgrading the human race to be like them.”

The Doctor steps away from the display and red alarms start blaring around them.

“You activated the auto self-destruct,” Izuku says with a sigh and the Doctor smiles.

“You know it.”

But before Izuku can ask him how he plans to get back to the TARDIS they suddenly get surrounded by Cybermen from both sides.

“Doctor how much time do we have?” Izuku asks, slightly hysterically.

“About 30 seconds,” he answers and Izuku lets out a curse.

“I may have a very stupid idea, but you are gonna need to trust me,” the Doctor says after a few seconds and Izuku frantically looks around as the Cybermen come closer.

“Just do it.”

The Doctor grasps Izuku before directing the sonic blaster at the floor once again and they fall into deep space just as the Cybermen shoot at them. He quickly lets go of it before switching to his sonic screwdriver and grasping Izuku’s TARDIS Key from around his neck. A few seconds later the TARDIS materializes underneath them, the doors opening to welcome them.

They land harshly, Izuku letting out a groan as the doors close behind them and the TARDIS flies away as the ship outside explodes. 

Both of them roll on the floor, turning to each other before their gazes meet and they both burst out in laughter. 

“We are insane,” Izuku wheezes out, still lying down. 

The Doctor stands up, offering a hand to Izuku with a smile.

“Time for some lessons?”

Izuku blinks at the man, staring at his hand before he realizes what he means, grasping it.

“You were being serious!”

“I promised, didn’t I?” the Doctor replies, leading Izuku to console with a smile, leaning at it.

“Where do we go next, Captain?”

And Izuku smiles and goes up to the display.

“I just know the place.”

“Pre-quirk sources claim they are Cybermen,” Powerloader explains as they stare at the metal men. “I always thought they were myths. I never thought I would ever see one, much less a whole army of them.”

“Keep a few of them to study and get rid of the rest,” Nedzu orders. “And don‘t let the Commission get wind of this.”

Powerloader nods and Nedzu stares at the video footage of Midoriya and the man stepping out of a blue box.

“I want to follow this lead on my own.”

Chapter Text

“Come on I wasn’t too bad,” Izuku says as they step out of the TARDIS. “I only crashed twice-”

Izuku’s next words stop in his throat as he and the Doctor get surrounded by people in space suits, guns pointed at their heads. 

Both of them raise their hands, staring at the group for a moment, both Izuku and the Doctor noticing the way their arms are shaking and their eyes are haunted.

“They haven’t said anything,” a man with dark hair to the side hisses into the group. “Why haven’t they said anything, they always say something.”

Izuku’s eyebrows raise above his hairline and he and the Doctor share a glance.

The woman in front narrows her eyes before she walks forward, pressing her gun lightly into Izuku’s stomach and her eyes widen.

“They are real,” she gasps out, stumbling back and lowering her gun, the rest hesitantly following. “How can they be real?!”

That’s the moment the Doctor decides to finally speak up.

“Yes hello we are real,” he says, the group flinching at the sound of his voice. “We intercepted your distress signal, what’s going on here?”

“Are you sure they are real, we haven’t sent out a distress signal?” the man from earlier directs to the woman. “Maybe they are finally changing things up.”

“I can show you some identification papers-” the Doctor starts reaching into his coat and the man raises his gun, the Doctor freezing in his movements. “Or not.”

“I send it out,” a small voice exclaims from behind the group and the woman and man turn to the young man who winces at their expressions. “I know you said we shouldn’t, but I just couldn’t sit around and wait to go insane.”

“If you really are real, why does your ship look like that?” the dark-haired man questions, turning back to the Doctor.

“Cloaking device got stuck a while back,” the Doctor drawls with a shrug. “I never bothered to fix it.”

“Is that what really happened?” Izuku asks, not really bothering to lower his voice, slightly leaning to the Doctor. “I thought it was just your weird taste in design.”

“Oh, come on!” the Doctor exclaims with slight annoyance. “Don’t pretend you don’t like it.”

Izuku shrugs, letting out a non-communal sound. 

“I can admit it has a certain aesthetic to it,” he says. “If you like the British.”

Before the Doctor can answer a snort draws their attention away, the woman in front holding back a laugh.

“Sorry,” she laughs, the rest following. “It has been a while since we had something to laugh about.”

The Doctor and Izuku exchange relieved glances, atmosphere finally a bit lighter and the crew stores away their guns properly.

“Captain Kaeda,” the woman introduces herself, before nodding at the rest of the group. “We are what’s left of the crew.”

The Doctor shakes her hand and Izuku does as well and they lead them to their current room of operations, clearly cautious on their way back.

“What has happened to rest?” the Doctor asks. “Alien life form on the ship?”

“We are not sure,” Kaeda says. “As far as we know it could be anything.”

“It’s hard to describe if you haven’t experienced it yourself,” the man who had questioned them — Ilkari — explains. “But whoever or whatever it is shows you those visions and you can’t tell fake from reality.”

“Hallucinations,” the Doctor concludes with a frown, and Kaeda nods.

“We don’t know the trigger for them,” she adds. “Sometimes they are the same for everyone, sometimes they are entirely individual.”

The Doctor hums, thinking.

“When you saw us you said ‘They haven’t said anything’?” the Doctor questions. “Why’s that?”

The crew share a few glances.

“No matter which visions, one thing is always constant,” Ellan — the younger man — says. “They always try to convince you to come with themselves.”

“And what if you do?” the Doctor asks with a frown and Ellan shakes his head.

“They die.”

“Do you have video recordings of their deaths?” the Doctor follows up and Kaeda nods.

“Partially,” she says as she taps away on the keyboard, a hologram appearing in the middle playing the clip..“The camera feed always cuts off just before their actual death though.”

They watch as a woman raises her gun, shouting at thin air.

The Doctor leans forward, but the camera angle doesn‘t give him the option to read her lips.

“Do we have sound?”

Kaeda wordlessly turns it on.

“Who are you?” the woman in the clips demands to know. “What do you want?”

She pauses, seemingly listening to something before she gasps out a name.

“Jason!”

“That was her son,” Kaeda provides context as the woman drops her gun and runs forward.

A moment later the camera cuts to the static and then she is dead on the floor. 

The Doctor frowns, replaying the clip but muting the sound.

“Are there any physical indications for when someone is caught in a hallucination?” he asks looking away from the clip.

“Not as far as we could tell, no,” Kaeda claims. “It’s a bit hard to tell in the panic though.”

The Doctor nods, dragging a hand down his face before stepping away, directing Izuku to him.

“What do you think?”

“Could be a virus,” Izuku says. “A gas, an alien life form. The possibilities are endless.”

“Okay let‘s go through the possibilities then,” the Doctor directs. “If it‘s a virus or a gas who would kill them and why?”

“Revenge?”, Izuku prompts. “Profit? Competition? A statement?”

The Doctor turns to the crew, speaking up. 

“What are you guys transporting?”

“How did you know?” Ilkari says with a raised eyebrow. 

“Guns,” the Doctor says. “People only ever have those if they are protecting something.”

Kaeda shares a glance with Ilkari before nodding.

“Follow me.”

They follow her out of the room and she leads them through the ship, visibly tense and one hand on her gun at all times.

Finally, they walk up to a secured room, Kaeda typing in a code before it opens the door.

The Doctor takes a look around.

“A bit far from your current base of operations,” he remarks as he steps up to the transport boxes.

“If you look at what’s in there you’ll know why we didn’t move anything,” Kaeda replies and the Doctor raises his eyebrow before following her advice, clicking open one of the cases.

Inside a tube filled with pale blue liquid sits in, completely encased in protective material.

“What are you those?” Izuku questions as the man carefully picks it up.

“Energy cells,” he replies, inspecting it for a moment before putting it back into the case and directing his attention to Kaeda.

“I’m guessing all of those are energy cells,” he says and Kaeda nods.

The Doctor drags a hand down his face.

“You could power several planets with his,” the Doctor points out, before trailing off. “Or start a war with it.”

“If it makes you better we are not allowed to touch any of it,” Kaeda says with a huff. “Weren‘t even allowed to inspect it. There’s a reason we left it to be here.”

“And they let you set off without a technician on board?”

“We had some but..” she shrugs helplessly and the Doctor sighs.

“They died,” he finishes for her. “Should have figured that.”

“Who knows that you are transporting this?”

“Like you said those are dangerous in the wrong hands,” she says. “Pretty much only our crew, the company we work for and our buyer knew about this.”

“I’m having a bad feeling about this, ” the Doctor murmurs as they walk back. “If someone wanted those energy cells why are they doing this with this method?”

“You think the hallucinations are not connected to their cargo?” Izuku asks, and the Doctor hums.

“There are way more efficient ways to rob a ship,” the Doctor replies. “This isn’t it.”

Before Izuku can reply a scream tears through the air and they share a glance, running in the direction of it.

Kaeda is already ahead of them, storming into a room directly adjoined to their base room.

Fleya — the other woman in their crew is kneeling above the body of Ellan, sobbing.

“He just went to get our lunch packs,” she chokes out. “He took too long so I went to check up on him and he- he was in the middle of it.”

“I tried to stop him, but he didn’t listen to me,” she continues, frantically. “And then-”

She holds back a sob.

“He raised his gun to his head and shot himself.”

Kaeda hugs Fleya, taking her out of the room as she breaks down, the Doctor crouching down next to the body.

“They don’t just die, they commit suicide,” the Doctor realizes. “But why?“

He stares down at the body with a frown.

“If this is some kind of creature, what do they gain from it?”

He picks up the gun from the dead’s man hands, inspecting it.

“Their guns use an electric charge,” he says. “No wonder nobody realized.”

“Maybe it steals their remaining life force before manipulating them into killing themselves,” Izuku throws out. “Our body produces a lot of energy to keep us alive.”

The Doctor closes the man’s dead eyes, standing up.

“You may have a point,” he says as they step out of the room, going back into the base room, Kaeda still comforting Fleya with Ilkari at her side.

“I want to look at the recordings again,” the Doctor says. “We are missing something.”

Izuku nods and the Doctor brings up the recording again. 

“You go to the TARDIS,” he directs. “I want you to run a check on other life forms and see if the database can identify it. Think you can do it?”

Izuku nods and the Doctor throws his sonic screwdriver at Izuku which he easily catches.

“You are gonna need it,” he adds. “Setting 14.”

Izuku pauses for a moment, staring at the sonic screwdriver with a frown.

“This is not just a ploy to get me out of danger, right?” Izuku questions and the Doctor gives him a raised eyebrow.

“Just come back when you are done.”

“Got it,” he replies, gripping the sonic screwdriver before leaving the room and heading for the TARDIS.

He lets out a small sigh of relief when he sees the TARDIS still standing where they left her, lock clicking as he inserts his key, going inside.

He steps up to the console, tapping it with a smile.

“Alright you are gonna need to work with me,” he murmurs as he steps up to the display, setting the sonic screwdriver to the required setting and letting the TARDIS do its work.

After a few moments, the scan is done and Izuku stares at the data, trying to decode it.

“4 humanoid life forms,” Izuku reads out loud. “That’s Kaeda, Ilkari, Fleya, and the Doctor.”

His eyes fly to the next line. 

“And other life forms...” he trails off. “One. Just one.”

He reruns the scan, but they show the same results. How can a single life form be responsible for so much death? But even more important is it even aware of the damage it is doing?

“I really need to force a phone on the Doctor when we are done with this,” Izuku curses as he hurries out of the TARDIS.

He’s barely two steps outside when the Doctor comes towards Izuku.

“There you are!” he calls out.

“I was barely gone for a few minutes,” Izuku points out with a raised eyebrow. “What happened with I can manage on my own?”

“I never refuted that!” the Doctor says, raising his hands apologetically. “It’s not just safe here, we should go back to the TARDIS.”

“Stop being silly Doctor,” Izuku says. “I did the scan like you said, it only detected one other life form beside us.”

“Interesting,” the Doctor replies a bit too quickly. “TARDIS?”

Izuku crosses his arms and frowns.

“Do you need to check if I did it correctly or not?” Izuku asks. “You are acting weird, Do-”

“Izuku!” a voice shouts and Izuku turns, seeing… another Doctor approaching him.

“Doctor?” Izuku says, confused, looking between the two. “But you are already here.”

“Izuku,” the second Doctor once again repeats, hands outstretched. “That’s not me. Please come here.”

Izuku narrows his eyes.

“That’s exactly what the fake would want.”

The first Doctor touches Izuku on the shoulder.

“We really should head to the TARDIS.”

The second Doctor frowns.

“What is he telling you?” he questions and Izuku scoffs.

“Why should I tell you?”

The second Doctor lets out a groan.

“Izuku please for once in your life stop being so stubborn,” he begs. “Just think carefully. Would I really do whatever he is asking of you?”

Izuku eyes wander to the first Doctor who looks at him expectantly, gulping.

“Why do we need to go to the TARDIS?” Izuku questions the first Doctor and he sighs.

“I already told you,” he repeats. “It’s not safe.”

“Show me that it’s you,” Izuku demands from the first Doctor and he pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Fine,” he replies, before grabbing into his coat and taking out things.

“Psychic paper, yo-yo,” he says, shaking them in front of Izuku’s face. “What else-”

He stops and lets out a triumphant noise as he grasps something.

“Sonic screwdriver!” he says, proudly showing it to Izuku. “Nobody else has the same model as me.”

And something in Izuku's right hand almost burns. Izuku tightens his hand around it.

“You are not the Doctor,” Izuku spits out. “The Doctor would never leave people to die if he could prevent it. And most importantly, he gave me his sonic screwdriver before he sent me to the TARDIS!”

Izuku turns to the second Doctor — the real Doctor, stepping up to him and taking his hand, the hallucination melting away.

He exhales shakily, letting out the breath he didn’t know he was holding, and buries his head into the Doctor’s shoulder.

The Doctor grips him tightly.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t think about the danger of letting you go alone.”

Izuku laughs out, slightly wetly.

“He didn’t apologize,” he remembers. “Rubbish hallucination.”

“Well they used your memory to construct the hallucination — you must subconsciously see me like that,” the Doctor teases until he realizes what he said.

“Our memories,” he gasps out. “That‘s what we were missing.”

“Back in the recording they knew to show the woman her son and they knew to show you me,” he continues. “They are using it to extract information — the hallucination is just a by-product of it.”

“Information on the code to the cargo,” Izuku adds and the Doctor nods.

They hurry back to the base room, the Doctor heading up to Kaeda.

“Who has the code to the cargo room?”

“Just me and Ilkari, why?” she says, confused.

“So not anyone else beforehand either. Not the technicians?”

“No, they thought it was safer that way,” she explains. “We don‘t know how to handle them without blowing them up so we get the code, the technicians do so they don‘t.”

She frowns.

“What has the code got to do with what‘s happening?”

“We are thinking they are using the hallucination to find out the code,” the Doctor says. “Extracting information through accessing your memories. And when they don‘t have what they need…”

He trails off and Kaeda sighs.

“They make them kill themselves to cover the tracks.”

“Exactly,” the Doctor agrees. 

“It‘s just one life form though,” Izuku says. “I scanned twice. The TARDIS is sure we are only dealing with one other life form besides us.”

“Then we need to set a trap.” the Doctor concludes

“Why does it have to be me,” Izuku sighs and the Doctor gives him an apologetic smile as he secures Izuku so he can‘t move as easily.

“They already targeted you,” he says. “It‘s clear that they think you know something.”

“And do I?” Izuku asks, slightly desperate.

“You saw how Kaeda put in the code,” the Doctor explains. “You may not remember it consciously, but if they look at the memories they will have the code.”

“My current theory is that they are only able to extract concrete information from the memories if you give consent by going with them,” the Doctor adds. “So as long as you can‘t physically move you will be fine.”

Izuku holds out the sonic screwdriver to the Doctor.

“Shouldn‘t you take it back?”

“No you keep it,” the Doctor says. “It‘s unlikely it will fall for the trick twice, but you can still scan to see if it’s truly me.”

Izuku nods and grips the sonic screwdriver before putting it in his pocket, the restraints giving him barely enough leeway to do so.

“Why haven’t they tried targeting you yet?” Izuku brings up and the Doctor chuckles.

“Got too many memories,” he says. “Their head would explode.”

“Would they really?” Izuku questions.

“I lived over 2000 years Izuku,” the Doctor replies, shaking his head. “That‘s a lot of lifetimes.”

The Doctor finishes binding Izuku to the chair.

“All set,” he says, stepping back. “You remember the plan?”

Izuku holds back from rolling his eyes.

“Wait for the hallucinations and distract them long enough so you can figure things out,” Izuku says. “I guess we worked with worse plans before.”

The Doctor points at Izuku.

“All my plans are great.”

“Sure Doctor,” Izuku replies and both their lips twitch.

The Doctor nods at Izuku for one last time, before leaving him alone, the door sliding close behind him.

Izuku breathes out shakily. He can do this. 

Barely a minute later something in the atmosphere shifts and Izuku hears footsteps drawing near. 

“Izuku?” a familiar voice calls and Izuku closes his eyes.

“Oh this is cruel,” he murmurs.

Is that what happened to the others who didn’t willingly go along? They’ve gone insane in the end?

When he opens his eyes his mother is standing before him, eyes filled with tears.

“Oh my poor baby,” she chokes out. “Look at what they did to you!”

Izuku averts his eyes, gulping.

But the hallucination of his mother steps up to him, touching his cheek and he can’t help the flinch it draws from him. 

He knows she isn’t there but it feels so real — those same hands which caressed his skin and soothed his wounds and pains a thousand times before. They are warm.

“Please look at me”, she begs and Izuku obliges, eyes filling with tears.

“Come on stop playing this silly game of heroes and just come with me,” his mother says. “You know the Doctor is dangerous.”

Izuku clenches his fists, closing his eyes.

“Stop this.”

“He will lead you into death!” she continues, desperate. 

“I said stop it!” Izuku shouts and his mother flinches back.

Her expression morphs into something scornful and it’s so foreign to Izuku on his mother’s face that it helps him remember that it’s just a hallucination.

“Stop it,” he repeats, more quietly this time and his mother steps away.

A moment later the hallucination melts away, revealing familiar blonde hair.

“Hey Deku,” he says cruelly. “Heard you are playing hero?”

Izuku closes his eyes, steeling himself. He can do this. 

“How does it hide from us?” Kaeda asks as they watch Izuku make contact with the hallucination.

“The bigger question is how do I deactivate it and make it reveal itself,” the Doctor says as he taps away on the display, one eye on the transmission.

“Did you already scan for cloaking devices and perception filters?” Ilkari asks and the Doctor snips his fingers, pointing at the man.

“You just got upgraded to my new favourite.”

“I thought your favourite is Izuku,” Ilkari replies, slightly amused.

“Right,” the Doctor says with a sniff, as he reconfigures the ship’s scanner. “You get second place.”

“He doesn’t even try to hide his bias,” Ilkari murmurs as he leans at the console next to Kaeda, but it’s clear that he is joking, trying to bring light into the situation.

The scan finishes, showing the presence of another life form in the room with Izuku as well as a cloaking device.

He glances at the screen, slightly panicking when he sees Izuku getting more and more agitated by the second.

He quickly sends out an electric pulse which should disrupt all cloaking devices, not even waiting for it to drop as he runs to Izuku.

The doors barely open and he can make out a creature lurking over Izuku, hands gripped around his temple

“Get away from him!” the Doctor snarls and the creature hisses, jumping back from the boy, who is slumped in his seat.

The Doctor instantly goes to Izuku’s side, checking him over.

“What did you do to him?” he questions and the creature’s speech is slurred.

“Nothing,” it jeers. “I could not extract what I needed.”

“Leave,” the Doctor responds, narrowing his eyes. “Now.”

The creature hisses once again, before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

A second later Izuku stirs awake, blinking wearily up the Doctor, who is still holding him.

“I’m never doing that again,” Izuku breathes out, holding his head. “Never.”

“I sure hope not,” the Doctor says with relief.

“Where did it go?” Izuku asks, sitting up properly with the Doctor’s help.

The Doctor scans the leftover energy signature from where the creature had been standing.

“Short-term teleportation,” he replies. “Was probably on stand-by so it could make a fast escape with the cargo if they got the code.”

“We’ll take it from here if you give us the coordinates of that ship,” a voice interrupts. “They will not go unpunished.”

The Doctor nods, thanking Kaeda, Ilkari, and Fleya who have entered the room as he helps Izuku stand, whose head is still hurting.

“I feel like I got hit by a sledgehammer.”

“It tried to force its way in when it got revealed,” the Doctor explains. “You gonna need to take it easy for a bit. No steering the TARDIS for you.”

Izuku half-heartedly glares at the man.

“Doctor there’s about a hundred more things I would rather do now than try to coerce the TARDIS,” he says, clutching his head. “I’ll pass.”

The Doctor turns to the trio.

“Anywhere we should drop you off?” the Doctor asks but Kaeda shakes her head.

They look at each other and smile.

“I think we’ll be fine from now on.”

The Doctor nods and they go back up to the TARDIS.

“How did they not cave in?” Izuku asks quietly as Kaeda, Ilkari, and Fleya wave to them, Izuku waving back, head still drumming.

“Willpower and luck,” the Doctor says as they step inside. “Mostly luck.”

Izuku closes the TARDIS behind him, slumping into the seat by the console with a relieved sigh.

“It also shows that only seeing glimpses of a memory is not enough to portray someone accurately,” the Doctor continues. “Who did they show you?”

“My mother,” Izuku answers, closing his eyes and leaning back. “And my childhood friend.”

“Ah... childhood friends,” the Doctor muses. “They are always difficult.”

Izuku opens his right eye slightly, just to glimpse at the man.

“You have a childhood friend?”

“It’s a bit complicated,” the Doctor replies and Izuku laughs.

“It always is,” he trails off, repeating to himself, “It always is...”

Chapter Text

“I thought we wanted to go to Florana,” Izuku says as they step out of the TARDIS, it becoming increasingly clear that they were in fact not on the beach planet as Izuku looks at the urban environment. 

Izuku settles his sunglasses on top of his hairline and the Doctor closes the TARDIS behind him.

“Something must have pulled the TARDIS in,” the Doctor says and Izuku lets out a sigh.

“Of course it did,” he grumbles.

Before the Doctor can reply a large shock wave makes the ground tremble and subsequently they hear explosions ripple through the air. 

“And of course, something is happening,” Izuku adds, shaking his head but follows the Doctor through the streets. 

Izuku almost runs into the Doctor when he suddenly stops, peering out of an alleyway. 

The streets and buildings are on fire and civilians are fleeing from the scene while gunshots ring out. A group of armed men — clearly human but not the police or military are surveying the scene.

Both Izuku and the Doctor duck their heads as another explosion makes the ground tremble.

“This doesn‘t look like an alien invasion,” Izuku says with a dry throat, pocketing his sunglasses and the Doctor shakes his head.

“No, it doesn’t,” he agrees quietly.

Before Izuku can suggest they head back and try their luck with the TARDIS again, two men in dark clothes run past them, one with white hair and the other with salmon-colored hair, the former doing a double-take at them.

“What are you guys standing around there, we have to move!” he calls, and Izuku and the Doctor share a glance before following them. 

They weave through the streets easily, the two men not even flinching at the sounds of fighting that surround them.

The white-haired man looks over Izuku’s hair critically.

“I hope that hair is dyed.” 

Izuku raises his eyebrow, confused.

“Is yours?”

The man presses his lips together.

“No, but it doesn‘t matter for them.” 

“Who is them?” the Doctor asks. “And why are we running?” 

The white-haired man frowns as they stop, the salmon-haired man scouting out the area, Izuku a bit out of breath.

“You are not from here,” he says and it’s more a statement than a question, his gaze heading to Izuku. “Although you look Japanese to me.”

“We are from Britain,” the Doctor lies and the white-haired man gives him an appraising nod.

“Your Japanese is good,” he compliments before getting serious. “Then it doesn’t surprise me that you don’t know.”

He looks around before lowering his voice.

“Government is keeping it under wraps.”

“We have to move,” the salmon-haired man urges and the whited-haired man nods, both of them leading them through the streets again. 

A few moments later they duck into a side street into an abandoned building, both the men finally slowing down.

The white-haired man lets out a sigh of relief as they venture deeper into the building.

“We should be safe for now.”

“What is happening out there?” the Doctor questions, frowning.

“Anti-meta group is protesting.” The white-haired man shrugs. “Nothing new.”

“And your government lets them?” the Doctor asks and the salmon-haired man scoffs.

“They fund them,” he says. “For them, we are freaks that need to be eradicated. Anyone who stands out and could possibly have a meta ability gets gunned down.”

He nods at Izuku.

“Like you,” he adds. “You have one?”

Izuku shakes his head with a frown.

“They wouldn’t believe you,” he claims, as he ducks under a dirty curtain. “You can be glad we saw you before they did.”

They walk into a room full of other people with slight mutations. 

“It’s worse in Asia because the meta abilities originated here,” the white-haired man adds. “Researchers think it will take almost half a century before meta abilities pass on to Europe and America.”

His gaze heads to the Doctor.

“You lot have meta abilities there yet?” he asks and the Doctor licks his lips.

“It’s been a while since I visited Britain,” he only replies and the white-haired man sighs, shaking his head.

“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “Point is that it’s not safe here. You two can sit down with the others, we’ll be back in a second.”

The Doctor leans to Izuku.

“You know anything about this?” he asks, and Izuku grimaces.

“If it’s my guess we are in the beginnings of the first Quirk War,” Izuku says. “Why isn’t my perception filter working?”

“They are observing their surroundings too closely, identifying and searching for things,” the Doctor replies. “Makes the perception filter useless.”

“You have any idea why the TARDIS brought us here yet?” Izuku asks and the Doctor shakes his head.

“Not yet,” he says. “But I’m sure we will find out soon.”

“Won’t it be hard to search for other terrestrial things considering the whole appearance of quirks?” Izuku points out. “They will write off strange things because of it.”

The Doctor presses his lips together.

“You have a point,” he agrees. “But I could build something to search for strange energy readings.”

Izuku raises his eyebrow, but before he can reply a series of suppressed coughs divert his attention.

His gaze snaps to the white-haired man who is covering his mouth, blood flowing from it and Izuku and the Doctor instantly hurry to his side.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” the white-haired man croaks out, voice muffled.

“It’s not fine,” the salmon-haired man hisses out. “This is the second time this week.”

The Doctor takes out a stethoscope and his glasses, frowning as he listens to the man’s heartbeat as they sit him down, blood still trickling from his mouth.

“This is happening more often?”

“Yes.” The salmon-haired man’s gaze is dark. “Ever since we left that bastard's house.”

“Kudou!” the white-haired man chides but Kudou only shakes his head.

“You know I’m right Yoichi,” he says. “You were always sick in that house. It wouldn’t surprise me if he poisoned you so you would crawl back.”

Both Izuku and the Doctor share a concerned glance at that and finally, Yoichi stops coughing, wiping the blood from his hand and face with a tissue.

“A relative?” the Doctor prompts and Kudou crosses his arms in front of his chest.

“His brother,” he says. 

Yoichi sighs but starts explaining.

“We are twins, but he always had been protective of me,” he says. “But lately he has gotten worse. He is so much angrier. Some days I can’t even recognize him.”

Yoichi closes his eyes, leaning back at the wall.

“Sometimes it feels like my brother got replaced by someone else.” Yoichi sighs.

“Did your brother ever transform into a big, red, bumpy alien?” the Doctor prompts.

Yoichi shoots him a strange look.

“No,” he says, slightly hesitant.

The Doctor shrugs.

“Well there goes my guess.” 

Izuku leans to the Doctor.

“Big red, bumpy alien?” he repeats with a raised eyebrow and the Doctor nods.

“Zygons,” he whispers. “They are able to copy someone else's appearance and memories. Mostly peaceful, however. You lot negotiated a peace treaty, allowing 8 million disguised zygons to live on Earth around this time actually.” 

Izuku blinks at the information, digesting it.

“8 million,” he echoes, eyes wide.

“Most of them are centralized in London, although I‘m sure there‘s at least a few here in Japan,” the Doctor explains. “It wouldn’t surprise me if you lot forgot it in all the chaos with the quirks. I should check up on the Osgoods later and see that everything is handled well.” 

Izuku blinks before shaking his head and directing his attention back to Yoichi and Kudou. 

“And you think he is capable of poisoning you?” Izuku follows up and Yoichi's face falls.

“A few years ago, I would have said no without any hesitation,” he answers. “But these days…”

He trails off, drawing into himself and Kudou wraps his arms around the smaller man.

“Even if he did we have no way of finding out,” Kudou adds.

Izuku’s gaze heads to the Doctor who shrugs.

“I could try.”

Yoichi and Kudou drop more equipment near the Doctor’s feet who has already started assembling stuff into some sort of machine. 

“You think that will work?” Yoichi asks Izuku and he smiles.

“He has a knack for stuff like that.”

“Who are you guys even?” Yoichi questions, baffled and shaking his head.

“The Doctor,” the Doctor pipes up, wires in his mouth and voice slightly muffled as he fiddles with something, jerking his head slightly in the direction of Izuku, “And Izuku.”

Izuku nods at that.

“What he said.”

“But what are you doing here?” Yoichi asks with a frown. “You didn’t even know what is happening here.”

“Oh we are just passing by,” the Doctor replies, finishing up his machine and it’s only then that Izuku realizes what he built.

“You did not seriously build a microscope out of scrap,” Izuku pinches the bridge of his nose and the Doctor beams.

“No, I built something even better.”

Izuku shakes his head fondly, used to the man’s antics, but he can see that Yoichi and Kudou seem impressed.

The Doctor holds out a hand in the direction of Yoichi.

“Gonna need some blood of you for this to work.”

Yoichi nods and a few seconds later the Doctor is looking through his make-shaft microscope at it. 

“Izuku come here,” he says absentmindedly, and Izuku shifts so he sits right next to him, the Doctor moving away so Izuku can peer through it, a hand settled on his shoulder. 

“Can you see that?” he whispers and Izuku looks at what appears to be red blood cells.

But instantly he sees something that shouldn’t be there. Among them, there seems to be a viscous green pulsing slime.

Izuku nods at the man.

“It’s something other terrestrial, I’m sure of it,” the Doctor murmurs. “But I can’t analyze what planet it’s from unless we get back to the TARDIS.”

“But why would a human from this time have other terrestrial cells in his blood?” Izuku shoots back and the Doctor exhales through his nose, lips pressed together.

“That’s for us to find out.” 

“What’s wrong with him?” Kudou asks with a frown.

“I need to run some more tests,” the Doctor says. “But you were right, although I would rather call it an infection rather than poisoning.”

“So it’s nothing natural?” Kudou follows up and the Doctor and Izuku share a glance.

“Definitely not.”

“I knew it,” Kudou says through his clenched teeth.

The Doctor frowns.

“That doesn’t mean it had to have been Yoichi’s brother,” the Doctor says, but Kudou shakes his head.

“He got sick after we left, that’s not a coincidence.”

“I believe you,” the Doctor placates. “But this...”

The Doctor looks at Izuku and he nods.

“It’s not from Earth.”

“How can something be not from Earth?” Yoichi asks, confused and the Doctor sighs.

“How can you suddenly develop meta abilities?” the man shoots back. “Fact is that it’s other terrestrial, and if we don’t find a solution it will kill you.”

Yoichi flinches back and Kudou narrows his eyes at both of them, standing protectively in front of the smaller man.

“Can you find one?” is the only thing he asks and the Doctor nods.

“Yes, but Izuku and I need to go back to the TARDIS.”

Kudou frowns but nods.

“I’ll come with you,” he says. “If you go out there alone, you will likely get found.”

“Thank you,” the Doctor says as he picks up his jacket, Izuku standing up. 

“I will be back soon,” Kudou says to Yoichi but the Doctor interrupts.

“Actually I rather would have him come with us,” he says. “In case I already have something in the TARDIS we can at least administer it directly.”

Kudou nods and they head out.

But they are barely two streets over when they get ambushed, guns pointed at their heads.

The leader regards them with suspicion, his gaze heading to Izuku’s hair.

“You have a meta ability, boy?” he barks out in a harsh tone. 

“No,” Izuku brings out with a gulp, arms raised. 

The man narrows his eyes.

“Take them,” he orders. “He’s lying.”

The other men from the group grip them by their arms, pushing them forward.

“Told you they wouldn’t believe us,” Kudou mutters under his breath as they get lead through the streets.

“Yes I can see that,” the Doctor replies just as quietly. 

“Well, do you have a plan?” Kudou hisses, and the Doctor hums.

“I will have.”

“How do you deal with him?” Kudou turns to Izuku, and Izuku hums, eerily similar to the Doctor.

“You get used to it.”

“Oh my god you are just as bad as he is,” Kudou complains. “It‘s like watching father and son.”

“Kudou you are not helping either,” Yoichi says, saving Izuku and the Doctor from reacting to that comment, and he pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Quiet back there!” the leader shouts from the front and they all go quiet. 

But only a moment later, Izuku walks closer to the Doctor, leaning toward him.

“How far along are we with the plan?” he whispers.

“Well, they wrongly identified us as meta,” the Doctor murmurs. “You, because of your hair. And as soon as they examine me they’ll find I have two hearts. We can’t convince them otherwise.”

“How come this is the moment I find out you have two hearts?” Izuku mutters.

“How come you are able to cope with one?” the Doctor shoots back. “Something is weird though. If this is an anti-meta group, why haven’t they killed us yet?”

“They need something from us,” Izuku realizes.

“Exactly,” the Doctor says. “And we’ll gonna have to give it to them.”

They finally stop, entering a house. The leader leads them through the hallway and through a room, which looks like a makeshift hospital or patient room.

In it are some people sitting on beds, staring blankly at the wall while a few of them are coughing, blood flowing from their mouths.

When they exit, entering some kind of office, the leader turns to them again. 

“Listen up you stupid metas,” he curses. “We know what you’ve done.”

Kudou narrows his eyes at the man, spitting at him.

“We haven’t done anything.”

“I’ll cut your throat you stupid son of a-”

“It’s about the patients, isn’t it,” the Doctor interrupts, standing sideways so he can glance into the other room while still keeping the man in his field of vision.

“You think this is the work of a meta?” the Doctor continues, burying his hands in his pockets.

“What else?” the man spits out. “Everything has gone worse ever since they appeared.”

“Well, why would the metas attack their own people?” the Doctor says, and like on command Yoichi crumbles into himself, eyes bulging as he starts coughing out blood again. 

Kudou instantly crouches next to him, cursing as he presses a tissue into Yoichi’s hands.

“You know something about this?” the leader demands to know, eyebrows knitted together.

“Maybe,” the Doctor answers. “When did they first get sick?”

“All around 2 weeks ago,” the leader reluctantly tells. 

“Kudou?” the Doctor calls and the man replies through clenched teeth.

“2 weeks ago.”

“Same symptoms and all started around the same time,” the Doctor says, gaze heading to Kudou. “Still thinking Yoichi’s brother is behind this?”

“No,” Kudou sighs out, Yoichi’s cough getting weaker again.

“If you want me to help you, you are gonna have to let me get some equipment,” the Doctor addresses the leader.

“Alright, lead us there,” the leader relents, his gaze heading to one of his people. “Give the white-haired boy a bed, I‘m not about to let someone sick follow us.” 

One of the men nods and leads Yoichi into the hospital room, the Doctor following and leading them out and through the streets.

Thankfully it doesn’t take them long to locate the TARDIS and the Doctor steps up to it, unlocking it.

“When you talked about your TARDIS, I thought you meant a hospital of some sort,” Kodou says. “Not a… blue box.” 

“It‘s not just some blue box,” the Doctor answers as he enters the TARDIS, Izuku following without hesitation.

Kudou and the leader look at each other before following suit.

The Doctor takes off his coat, throwing it on the railing before heading downstairs.

“Give me a minute, I‘m sure I can find it,” he shouts as he heads into a side room, soon bits and pieces flying out of there.

“Oh my god it‘s bigger on the inside than the outside,” the leader gasps out, finally lowering the gun he still had been holding. 

Kudou also seems in awe, looking around the TARDIS. 

“Heard that Izuku?” the Doctor calls out. “That‘s the reaction you should have had.”

“You are just mad I didn’t feed your ego,” Izuku shouts back.

The Doctor reappears with some machine, patting it reassuringly.

“The med-bot 7237,” the Doctor explains. “It‘s able to detect any infections or diseases and spit out the formula for the cure right for us.”

“You definitely stole that, didn‘t you,” Izuku murmurs but the Doctor just smiles, shaking it.

“Let‘s go.”

They head back to the building, the Doctor inputting a blood sample before turning to the leader again as the machine runs.

“You don‘t have any doctors,” the Doctor points out. “I thought the government was on your side?”

The leader scoffs.

“The government is on no one‘s side,” he replies. “It‘s just right for them if we tear each other apart.”

The machine dings before the Doctor can reply, the man staring at the results for a moment.

“Alright I‘m gonna need a few things,” he starts before listing out things for the leader, the rest of the people, and Kudou to find.

“That‘s not how I imagined our vacation to go,” Izuku murmurs as he hands the man one of the glass containers, which he pours into the solution, boiling it. 

“Why not?,” the Doctor says as he mixes something with concentration. “We are saving people. Thought that was your dream job.” 

“It was,” Izuku sighs, leaning back as he watches the man work. “But don‘t you ever just want to sit back and do nothing?”

The Doctor gives him a side glance.

“Do I really need to answer that question?”

Izuku rolls his eyes but shakes his head.

“I guess not, no,” he says. “We really should test you for ADHD.”

“Why do people keep telling me that?” the Doctor sighs, finishing up the cure.

Izuku raises an eyebrow.

“You got told that before?” he questions as the man stands up, calling the leader over to him.

“Yes,” he says, a bit distracted as he stares at the blue-ish solution through the glass. “Clara said so.”

“Clara?” Izuku asks but gets interrupted when the leader heads to them.

“This the cure?” he asks with a frown and the Doctor nods.

“Yes it should battle the infection and they should be without symptoms in a day.” 

“Thank you,” the leader says and the Doctor smiles.

“Thank me when they are healthy,” he answers, nodding at the man who goes away to distribute the cure to everyone who is sick.

The Doctor pockets his glasses before putting on his coat again, smiling at Izuku.

“Alright, our job here is done,” he says, clapping. “Let‘s go.”

“How can you be so sure that everything will work out alright?” Izuku asks, shaking his head fondly.

The man taps his head.

“I just know,” he replies. “But I guess we‘ll find out if the TARDIS lets us leave or not.”

But before they are able to step out of the building, Kudou and Yoichi catch up with them.

“Wait, where are you guys going?” Kudou asks.

Izuku puts on his sunglasses, pushing them back to his hairline.

“To our next adventure,” he replies, sharing a smile with the Doctor.

“You two really aren‘t from here,” Yoichi says with a smile, shaking his head. 

Then he surprisingly hugs them both. 

“Thank you Doctor,” he says, Kudou echoing the sentiment, his gaze heading to Izuku as he nods. “And Izuku. We will never forget you.”

“Likewise,” the Doctor answers with a smile and they say goodbye before Izuku and the Doctor head back to the TARDIS. 

“We never got to find out why they had those cells in their blood,” Izuku murmurs as they step into the TARDIS.

“The important thing is that we managed to help them,” the Doctor replies and Izuku nods as the man takes off his coat. 

“Well then,” the Doctor calls out, putting in a few coordinates, before stepping to the lever. “To the next adventure?”

“To the next adventure,” Izuku repeats with a smile as the man pulls the lever. 

> BIOLOGICAL SCAN COMPLETED

> 2 SETS OF BIOLOGICAL COMPONENTS FOUND

> TYPE A

  > CELL TYPE: BLOOD CELL - TYPE O-

  > PLANET OF ORIGIN:  C-Z-456378-D-C-D-C/42-K

>TYPE B

 >CELL TYPE: UNKNOWN

 >PLANET OF ORIGIN: D5-GAMMA-Z-ALPHA

>END OF REPORT

Chapter Text

Izuku leans at the console.

“So where did the TARDIS bring us this time?”

“The TARDIS?” the Doctor looks up from where he had been staring at the display with a concentrated face. “Not me?”

“You had that look again,” Izuku counters. “The one where the TARDIS did what she wanted again.”

The Doctor lets out a huff through his nose.

“She brought us to Earth,” the Doctor says, continuing when Izuku just gives him a raised eyebrow.  “Japan, your present time.”

“Please don‘t let it be Cybermen again,” Izuku sighs as the Doctor opens the door of the TARDIS, knocking into an empty bucket and sending it flying to the floor. 

“Well this is underwhelming,” Izuku remarks as he closes the door of the TARDIS and stares at the shelves full of cleaning supplies. “We are in a supply closet.”

The Doctor already heads to the door leading outside, pulling out his sonic screwdriver. 

Izuku turns around to face the TARDIS, blinking at it when he notices that it isn’t actually taking up too much space in the room.

“A spacious supply closet,” Izuku corrects just as the Doctor gets the door open.

Izuku follows the man and they find themselves in a concrete hall.

Off in the distance, Izuku can hear muffled cheers and the Doctor steps up to the wall, setting a hand on the concrete as the building slightly shakes and the roaring gets louder.

“I think we are in a stadium,” he says as the crowd gets quieter.

Izuku knits his eyebrows together. There aren’t many events nowadays that are held in a stadium and would draw so many people.

“What day did the TARDIS say it is?”

“May 7th,” the Doctor replies and Izuku nods.

“That makes sense,” Izuku says, surprising the Doctor before explaining. “Every year around May UA holds its annual Sports Festival.”

“Well two times a coincidence,” the Doctor says with a raised eyebrow. “But three times…”

He trails off, looking at Izuku with a frown.

“Three times is a pattern,” Izuku finishes for the man and he nods. 

“Sounds like we are in the middle of it,” the Doctor muses as they walk down the corridor. 

“That means we will at least not get spotted and questioned,” Izuku replies, but the Doctor pulls out his psychic paper, waving it at Izuku. 

“You forget we have this.”

“One day it’s not going to work and we will be in shit,” Izuku sighs and the Doctor gives him a look, pocketing the psychic paper again. 

Before the man can answer him, footsteps draw near and Izuku pinches the bridge of his nose, the Doctor perking up next to him.

“Here we go again,” Izuku mutters, staring at the ceiling for a moment, steeling himself.

Two students turn the corner, wearing their sports festival uniforms, whispering to each other. 

When they see them, the blonde-haired student steps in front of his ginger-haired classmate, narrowing his eyes at them.

“Are you allowed down here?” he questions. 

“Eh we work for UA,” the Doctor comes up, showing them the psychic paper. 

“Aren’t every staff of UA heroes?” the other student asks with a raised eyebrow. “How come we haven’t heard of you?”

“That’s because we are...” the Doctor trails off, clearly struggling 

“We are underground heroes,” Izuku decides to step in and the Doctor points at Izuku.

“Yes we do underground stuff,” the Doctor adds unhelpfully. 

“Doctor,” Izuku groans quietly, but the students seem to accept it, although they shoot them strange looks. 

They bow slightly, saying goodbye before passing them and Izuku hears the start of their next conversation before they disappear out of sight.

“Didn’t the green-haired one look a bit too young-”

“A father-son duo maybe-“

“That was way too close.” Izuku drags a hand down his face, following the Doctor as they move further through the corridor. 

“But it worked.” The Doctor smiles and Izuku rolls his eyes.

“Yes you win,” he says sarcastically, although a bit fondly.

They pass a flight of stairs and Izuku can hear voices filtering through.

“Has anyone seen Uraraka?” a voice asks. “She has not come back from her match.”

“Dude give her time, she just lost,” another voice answers and the rest is lost as they continue on.

Izuku doesn’t get to ponder on that conversation for too long however when they hear a panicked voice calling out.

He and the Doctor share a glance before hurrying in the direction, finding a hysterical woman.

When she sees them she sobs.

“Oh god please help me,” she cries. “I know I’m not supposed to be down here, but my little boy, he ran ahead of me and now I can’t find him anywhere.”

“Don’t worry, we will help you,” Izuku tries to calm her down, elbowing the Doctor who seems distracted. “Right, Doctor?”

The man tears himself out of his thoughts but nods.

“Of course,” he replies. “We just came from the other direction so we should head into this one.”

The mother nods shakily and follows them as they venture deeper into the stadium. 

A few minutes later when Izuku is about to give up, the corridors seemingly stretching forever, they hear whispers and the mother perks up, instantly running in the direction of it and disappearing behind the rounded corner.

Before Izuku can hurry after her, the Doctor holds onto his arm, eyebrows knitted together.

“Stay close to me,” he warns, “Something isn’t right.”

They also turn the corner and Izuku calls out for the woman.

“Madam?” he tries, but he can’t see her anywhere.

How far could she have gotten in this short amount of time?

Izuku is about to take a few more steps forward when the Doctor stops him, gnawing at his lip.

“I need to test something,” he says before pulling out a piece of string and depositing it on the ground before they continue on, Izuku still calling out for the mother and her son.

They barely have walked 5 steps, rounding another corridor when Izuku notices what is wrong.

The piece of string is still on the floor in front of them.

“We have been looping the same corridor for the past 10 minutes,” the Doctor says, picking it up and wrapping it around his fingers. 

“This reeks of some sort of perception filter,” Izuku murmurs. 

“Whatever it is hiding, we must be close to it,” the Doctor concludes, taking out his sonic screwdriver and scanning the walls. 

He stares at the readings with a frown, before raising the sonic screwdriver again, it whirring softly.

“Follow me closely,” the Doctor directs. “I think we should at least manage to get out of the loop.”

Izuku nods and sticks close as they walk forward.

He knows that they have broken out of it when a new set of footsteps draws near.

The Doctor lowers his sonic screwdriver but stops Izuku from taking another step.

But he doesn’t even need to because Izuku freezes when he sees the face rounding the corner.

“Deku,” Katsuki hisses. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Izuku gulps against the knot in his throat. 

“First Round Face and then Blondie and Pigtails from Class-B disappear to knows where, and now you are here,” he continues. “You are not even allowed in this part of the stadium.” 

“You don‘t seem to be surprised that I‘m alive,” Izuku changes the subject and Katsuki minutely flinches. “Mom informed you then?”

Katsuki's gaze heads toward the Doctor who is watching the situation with his arms crossed.

“This the psycho you were running off with then?”

“The psycho has a name,” the Doctor politely interrupts with a fake smile. 

“A name,” Katsuki scoffs. “In what world is ‘Doctor‘ a name?“

“It‘s the only name you‘ll need”, the Doctor replies, narrowing his eyes before Izuku can say anything. “And when I save everyone in this stadium, it’s the one you will remember.” 

“When you save everyone?” Katsuki echoes, glaring at the man. “Stop playing the hero when there isn’t even anything wrong.”

Katsuki's gaze heads back to Izuku and his smirk is cruel and bitter.

“Is that why you went with him?” Katsuki asks mockingly. “Because he lets you pretend to be a hero?”

The sand-haired boy sneers when Izuku doesn’t answer and gives the Doctor a hand sign to not speak up.

“This is stupid,” he says, shaking his head. “Go and do whatever, I don’t care.”

He buries his hands in his pockets before walking away and it’s only then that Izuku heaves in a stuttering breath.

“You know he is wrong, right?” the Doctor finally speaks up. “You have saved Earth countless times and several other civilizations and people. You have done more than he could ever hope for.”

Izuku breathes out and smiles at the man, eyes crinkling.

“I know,” he says and finds that he isn’t even lying to himself. “But thank you.”

The Doctor nods, but Izuku can see that he is relieved.

“Now then,” the Doctor drawls and smiles. “Back to saving Earth?”

“Back to saving Earth,” Izuku reassures and the Doctor beams before getting serious. 

“A map would be nice,” the Doctor muses. “If we can see in which areas it tries to misdirect our attention we can narrow it down to where it‘s hiding.”

“Can‘t you just triangulate where the perception filter is coming from?”

“It‘s not a standard perception filter,” the Doctor explains, gripping his own face. “It‘s almost like the rooms and hallways are shifting, the misdirection is seamless.”

The Doctor raises his sonic screwdriver, scanning for something before walking forward and randomly stopping at one of the walls, pocketing his sonic screwdriver, and inspecting it.

He brushes over the wall with his fingers, seemingly feeling for something until he finds it, pushing forward until a display with a keyboard rotates out of the wall.

The Doctor shoots Izuku a smile and Izuku just fondly shakes his head, leaning against the wall as he watches the Doctor hack into the system. 

“Oh look at that!” the Doctor exclaims, tapping away. “They got a self-destruct option!”

The screen flashes, displaying a big red button with the words “AUTO DESTRUCT” on it. 

“Doctor,” Izuku chides gently and the Doctor gives him a look.

“Come on, let me have a little bit of fun,” he half-heartedly complains before he swipes it away and a map appears.

Izuku pushes away slightly from the wall to see it more clearly as the Doctor inspects it.

He points at a point on the map.

“We should be around here,” he says. “And the TARDIS...”

His finger moves to the opposite side of the stadium.

“Should be here,” he ends and Izuku nods.

“Which means it’s somewhere between the students and civilian stands since we are in the heroes and staff area right now,” the Doctor says. 

“We definitely passed the students' stands on our way,” Izuku adds. “I heard them talk and some students passed us as well.”

The Doctor nods, taking out a marker.

“And we passed part of the civilian stands before we met the mother and she disappeared on us,” he states, taking off the cap of the marker. “Which means it must be right here.”

The marker squeaks as the Doctor outlines the area on the display and Izuku blinks, slightly in disbelief.

“Did you just seriously use a permanent marker on a technical screen?”

The Doctor rolls his eyes.

“It‘s not permanent,” he leans forward, blowing air on it and part of the marker disappears. “See?” 

“The ink corrodes when it comes in contact with air, so it would have disappeared on its own after a while,” the Doctor explains, adding more as Izuku leans forward, making Izuku flinch back. “Slightly radioactive to you though, so don’t touch it. The Scottish Galactic Empire sued the inventor when they found out.” 

“Did they win?” Izuku asks, slightly amused and the Doctor mirrors his smile.

“Of course they did,” he says. “They don’t seek independence everywhere they go for nothing.”

Before Izuku can answer heavy footsteps draw near and both of them look at each other before turning around, Izuku hissing curses under his breath as he recognizes who is walking up to them.

“I got a notification that our database has been hacked into,” the man slightly slouching and, wearing a yellow helmet — who Izuku places as Powerloader calls out. “Who are you people? Villains?”

“Oh they are getting good,” the Doctor murmurs to Izuku. “Seems like we are not the only ones realizing a pattern.”

The Doctor takes out his psychic paper before answering the hero.

“We are underground heroes,” he boldly lies. 

“Nice try,” Powerloader answers, crossing his arms over his bare chest. “You told Eraser you are All Might‘s assistant months ago.”

The Doctor leans to Izuku.

“Eraser?” he asks and Izuku bites his lips.

“Probably the one we met with the Not-Raxacoricofallapatorians,” Izuku supplies, and the Doctor lets out a hum. “I should have known he looked familiar.” 

“Ah right,” the Doctor says. “That makes me remember that I never got an answer for what planet he was from-”

“Are you finished?” Powerloader interrupts impatiently. 

“This is the annoying part about not being in London,” the Doctor says, still ignoring the hero. “At least I could say there I‘m part of UNIT and I wouldn‘t even be lying.”

“I‘m not sure if UNIT even exists anymore,” Izuku says.

“It makes you wonder though how they handle alien crisis nowadays,” the Doctor contemplates.

“If they even handle them,” Izuku answers. “They might not even recognize them as such.”

The Doctor sniffs slightly.

“Yeah I can see that.” 

Izuku holds back a snort, remembering the hero still staring at them in disbelief and jerking his head at him to get the Doctor‘s attention back on track.

“Oh yes!” the Doctor exclaims, holding out a hand to the man who the hero seems to shake more out of confusion and habit, smiling. “Sorry, I‘m the Doctor and that‘s Izuku.”

Izuku gives a short wave before returning his attention to the display, studying the building layout when it suddenly starts blurring and screening out.

“Doctor,” Izuku calls and the man turns to Izuku, not listening to a word Powerloader says, eyebrows raising.

“It’s like there’s some sort of interference,” the Doctor murmurs, scanning the glitched screen again. 

Powerloader comes to their side, frown on his face which only deepens when he notices the rest marker on the screen, his gaze heading to the pen still in the Doctor‘s hand.

“Did you draw on the display?” he demands to know, trying to wipe it away with his fingers, ignoring the Doctor‘s alarmed, “Wait, don‘t touch it!”

Powerloader picks up part of the ink on his fingertips, rubbing it against each other before sniffing it. 

“The consistency and smell is weird”, he says before blowing air on his fingers, the stain disappearing, “And it disintegrates when it comes in contact with air”

He turns to the Doctor, interest piqued.

“Did you invent this?”

The Doctor snorts, shaking his head.

“I sure hope not,” the Doctor says, before nodding at Powerloader‘s now bare fingers. “You should know it is radioactive.” 

Like on command, the man falls over, fainting. 

“Doctor!” Izuku gasps out and the Doctor shrugs.

“I warned him!” the Doctor defends himself before crouching down, scanning the hero. “He will be fine. It just acted faster because it was able to seep through his skin. As long as he doesn‘t swallow it, he won‘t die.”

The Doctor stands up, blowing away the rest of the marker on the display.

“Not taking any chances for that.” 

“Why do you even carry this with you?” Izuku asks, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I found it in the junkyard,” the Doctor says. “Seemed handy at the time.”

“Why doesn‘t that surprise me,” Izuku murmurs with a fond head shake. 

The Doctor steps over the unconscious hero before turning to Izuku with a smile, holding out his arm.

“Care for a walk?”

Izuku shakes his head with a laugh.

“You are taking this way too lightly,” he half-heartedly complains but follows the man nevertheless.

They backtrack their path, trying to find more clues on where the alien life form could be hiding. 

“I told you the psychic paper won‘t work all the time,” Izuku can‘t help but say and the Doctor gives him a look.

“You just jinxed us,” he claims, slightly sniffing.

Before Izuku can answer hushed, indecipherable whispers flow through the air.

“Can you hear that?” the Doctor questions, eyebrows knitted together and Izuku nods, realizing something else as he sees his breath. 

“Doctor,” Izuku says slowly. “Isn't it suddenly colder as well?”

The Doctor lets out a slow breath, starting at the forming mist for a moment and the whispers still. 

“We must be closer than I realized,” he muses. 

And as they walk forward Izuku instantly notices the air getting colder and colder the more they progress. 

“This part of the stadium looks different,” the Doctor remarks as the smooth concrete suddenly transitions to dirty, dark concrete with cables and pipes running along it. “It‘s almost like we got teleported away.”

“It’s always the tunnels isn’t it,” Izuku sighs, rubbing his arms to warm them up.

The Doctor glances at him before taking off his coat and sliding it over Izuku’s shoulders, studying him for a moment.

“Have you gotten taller?” he asks and Izuku gives him a quiet thanks, before raising an eyebrow at the man.

“Don’t think so?”

“Hm,” the Doctor says. “Must have been my imagination then.”

They stop in front of a locked door and the Doctor lets out an excited shout.

“Love a closed door!” he says, stepping up to it and opening it with the sonic screwdriver, letting Izuku go in first.

Parts of the wall and floor are frozen over and Izuku treads carefully, making sure to not slip as they head further into the room.

“No wonder it’s cold,” the Doctor says as they come across several big icicles.

The Doctor steps up to them, lightly knocking against them with his fist with a frown, before pulling out his sonic screwdriver

Izuku also goes closer to one of them, brushing over the upper part and flinching back when suddenly a pair of blue-gray eyes stare back at him. 

He takes a few steps back at the same time the Doctor reveals the frozen person inside the icicle he had been inspecting, Izuku gulping when he meets familiar maroon eyes. 

“I guess we found where they all disappeared to,” the Doctor says as he uncovers even more faces. There's the mother they had been helping, as well as the ginger-haired classmate and another brown-haired student, but also a young buy which Izuku suspects was the boy the mother had been searching for.

“Are they dead?” Izuku asks hesitantly and slightly scared.

The Doctor shakes his head.

“It’s like they were put in stasis,” he explains, frowning. “But what for?”

Izuku steps past the icicles, eyes widening at what he is seeing.

Almost encased by the ice is a weak animal-like alien, struggling to breathe. Its colorful fur is matted by dirt and one of its horns is cracked.

“Doctor,” he calls out and the man is at his side a moment later.

He lets out a gasp and goes closer, hands ghosting over the creature, which coos softly.

“Is it hurt?” Izuku asks, concerned and the Doctor touches its beak hesitantly, closing his eyes.

“It is,” he replies after a few seconds, letting go and breathing in deeply. “I‘m so sorry.”

“They had been drawing energy from the atmosphere to send out a distress signal for its own species,” the man explains, face full of grief.

“The whispers,” Izuku realizes and the Doctor nods as he sighs.

“They are the last of their kind,” the Doctor murmurs softly. “I know their species. They all died hundreds of years ago.”

Izuku gulps and draws near, settling a hand near the ice.

“They had been calling for help but no one answered,” the Doctor continues, brushing over its fur-like feathers. 

“Until us,” Izuku says and the Doctor nods.

“Until us.”

“Can we help it?” Izuku questions, tentatively reaching out to caress their feather coat.

The Doctor sadly shakes his head.

“Only the blood of their own species would help it,” he says, taking in a breath,. “It has healing abilities to them.”

The creature coos again and the Doctor nods.

“They have found their peace knowing that they weren’t abandoned,” he speaks for it. “They know that we could use the TARDIS to travel back and help, but they don‘t want us to.”

“How did it end up here?” Izuku asks and the Doctor sighs.

“Like the Krafayis they had the ability to travel through the universe but something went wrong and they got stranded here,” the Doctor explains. “They got hurt in the process.”

“What about the perception filter?” Izuku asks, and the Doctor hums.

“Their ability to travel bends space. By repeatedly sending out those messages the space all around it got messed up. It had no chance to recover,” he says. “Leading to us walking in a circle for several minutes and getting to this part of the stadium.”  

A coo from the creature interrupts the man before he can say more and he smiles sadly as he brushes over the fur of it.

Then suddenly their horns start to glow and the ice around them starts to melt and crack.

And the creature’s eyes flutter close.

“They used up their last energy to redo their damage,” the Doctor murmurs, kissing the creature’s fur as they draw their last breath. 

Izuku closes his eyes, holding back tears but just nods mutely.

They go back to where the icicles had been and the Doctor scans the unconscious but now melted people and students.

“They should wake up in a few hours on their own,” he says and Izuku tears his gaze away from Katsuki's still face as he nods.

They leave the people to be, trusting them to find their own way out or to call for help if they can't and head back to the TARDIS.

The Doctor shrugs off his coat, lazily throwing on the railing as they head in before he rounds the console, clicking a few of the levers and Izuku hesitates for a second.

“Do you sometimes wish you could have done the same?” Izuku questions and he knows he doesn’t need to specify what he means when the Doctor stiffens.

“I made a promise,” the Doctor reminds.

“I know… but did you ever wonder?”

“It was my punishment,” the Doctor says. “I had to live on.” 

“But you never destroyed them.”

“I thought I did,” the Doctor counters. “That was enough.”

“It wasn’t fair,” Izuku murmurs and the Doctor takes a sharp breath.

“I know.”

“What did you think of him?” Nedzu asks as they watch Powerloader faint on the video. 

“He‘s just like the records indicate,” the man himself answers. “Clearly intelligent, but strange. Although you could say that about most of my own students.”

Nedzu hums as he stares at the slightly faded photograph of the Doctor standing at his own built microscope with Izuku Midoriya staring through it.

“I would love to play a chess match with him.”

Chapter Text

“I thought it was my turn to pick somewhere to go?” Izuku asks as the Doctor rounds the console and flicks a few buttons after their last adventure, already inputting new coordinates. 

The man gives him an apologetic smile.

“Sorry something has come up,” he says, showing him the psychic paper which is displaying a message telling them to come to some coordinates. “There’s only a few people who are able to send me messages through the psychic paper. And I recognize that handwriting everywhere.” 

“You can receive messages through the psychic paper?” Izuku questions. “How does that work?” 

“Now that you say it, I don’t really know,” the Doctor muses before pulling the lever, the TARDIS whirring as it first dematerializes and then materializes. 

“And you just respond to them?” Izuku asks, shaking his head fondly.

“Occasionally,” the Doctor says as he opens the TARDIS door, holding it open for Izuku to slip outside before it falls close.

“Who are you?” Izuku laughs, taking a quick look around, noticing that they are in some kind of spaceship. “Batman?”

The Doctor raises an eyebrow at Izuku.

“Am I supposed to get that reference?”

“You are not being serious right now,” Izuku says with wide eyes, “What about Superman?”

“Oh I know that one”, the Doctor exclaims, “Still believe it’s ridiculous no one can tell Clark Kent and Superman are the same person.”

“How can you know about Superman but not Batman,” Izuku half-heartedly complains as they walk up to a door, the Doctor opening it with the sonic screwdriver.

“Believe me you don’t want to know the story behind that.”

“That means that I exactly want to know what happened and you know what.” Izuku raises a finger in the man’s direction and he laughs.

“Another time,” the Doctor promises. “We are here for something, remember?”

“Rather someone,” Izuku says and raises his chin at the woman with curly hair sitting at a desk, pouring over some papers. 

The Doctor seems to recognize her though because his face brightens. 

“River,” the Doctor calls and she looks up, eyes widening after a few moments.

“Doctor!” she exclaims with wonder, clearly checking out the Doctor with a smirk on her face. “Haven‘t seen this face in person yet.”

The Doctor shows her the psychic paper.

“No kisses?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

River laughs.

“I‘ll make sure to include them next time.” 

Her gaze lands on Izuku.

“You picked up a new stray.”

“Is that what we call them now?” 

“I do,” she says, before pulling out a blue book resembling the TARDIS and looking through it. “Where are we at now?”

But the Doctor doesn‘t answer, just smiling at her, melancholic and fondly at the same time. 

River looks up at the man when she notices him not saying anything, blinking before shaking her head and closing the book. 

“Nevermind,” she replies. “Thanks for coming.”

“Always,” the Doctor answers softly, before clapping, rubbing his hands together. “What do you have in store for us this time?”

“I need you to take a look at something,” she says, leaning back and handing the Doctor a few of the papers she had been brooding over. 

The Doctor frowns as he looks at them.

“Oh those are bad,” he says, lips pressed together in a thin line.

“I got contacted to investigate the cause for it,” River explains. “I told them I’m only an archaeologist, but they wouldn’t budge, they even offered me a lot of money.”

The Doctor hums leaning at the desk, still staring at the papers while River turns to Izuku, clearly curious.

She reaches out her hand to Izuku, introducing herself.

“I’m Professor River Song,” she says, smiling. “How did you meet the Doctor?”

“Izuku,” Izuku answers shortly, taking her hand. “He saved me from an alien.”

River rolls her eyes, laughing.

“What did I expect,” she says fondly. “It’s his specialty after all.”

Izuku also laughs.

“That it is,” he agrees with a small smile before the Doctor directs his attention back to them.

“Where did you get these samples from?”

River goes over to the wall of the spaceship, activating something and revealing that they are parked on a planet, overviewing a large lake surrounded by structures and buildings.

The Doctor pushes himself from the desk, going near the window, staring through it.

“When did they first notice something is wrong?”

“Residents starting fainting around a few weeks ago,” River says. “They found out that all of them got into contact with the water and drank from it.”

“Interesting,” the Doctor muses, before turning to Izuku. “Let’s go take a look.”

Izuku nods and they head out of the room but before they can cross the door, River calls out for them.

“Pretty boy!”

The Doctor turns to River instantly, catching the thing she throws at him slightly perplexed and watching it over.

“Contact me when you find something.”

The Doctor nods and pockets the device.

“Who is she?” Izuku asks when they are far enough that River won’t hear them and the Doctor glances at him with a raised eyebrow.

“She told you, didn’t she?”

“No I mean what is she to you,” Izuku corrects and the Doctor gulps heavily.

“My wife,” he admits after a while.

“You always talked about your wife like she… died,” Izuku says, trailing off. 

The Doctor sighs.

“She did,” he says. “It just hasn‘t happened for her yet.”

“When?” Izuku asks hesitantly.

“She still has more than 24 years to come,” the Doctor says. “Only I won‘t be there when she dies… Or at least not the me she knows.”

Izuku frowns. 

“She was right… I was so young back then,” he continues. “More than 1000 years and so afraid…”

He trails off before shaking his head.

“We never meet in the right order.”

“You love her,” Izuku states and the Doctor smiles sadly.

“I do.”

“Are you gonna be okay?” Izuku can’t help but ask. 

“I said goodbye a long time ago,” the Doctor says. “It’s fine.”

Izuku nods and doesn’t press anymore.

They step out of the spaceship and Izuku takes a look around as they walk in the direction of the river.

“Which planet are we on?” Izuku questions and the Doctor licks his finger before raising it in the air.

“Somewhere to the South of the Mutter's Spiral,” the Doctor replies. “So at least not too far from Earth.”

“And with ‘not too far’ you mean?” Izuku inquires.

“Only about half a hundred thousand light years,” the Doctor answers and Izuku sighs.

“Right.” 

They arrive at the shore and the Doctor crouches down as he watches the quiet water, picking up a bit of the gravel and letting it trickle through his fingers. 

Then he takes out a vial of his own, carefully taking a sample of the water without touching it.

“I want to analyze it in the TARDIS myself,” the Doctor says. “And we need to get the suits.”

“You want to get into there?” Izuku realizes aghast. “Didn’t River say people died?”

“They fainted,” the Doctor corrects, standing up. “It will be fine.”

“When you said it would be fine, I was hoping the suits would be a bit… more modern,” Izuku remarks as he takes the primitive helmet the man hands him after they have returned to the TARDIS and the man had put the vial to be analyzed. 

“Come on they are perfectly capable,” the Doctor says. “I used them before.”

Izuku mournfully looks at the nice orange space suits hanging on the wall, jerking his chin at them.

“Can’t we use them?”

“We are going underwater, not into deep space,” the Doctor chides and Izuku holds back a groan but relents as he climbs into the suit.

“We are basically in space though.”

“You can’t call every planet besides Earth space,” the Doctor sounds amused as he steps into the suit himself. “For the people here Earth would be space.”

“Which century is this from?” Izuku grumbles as they walk back to the river, steps stiff. “The 17th?”

“19th Century,” the Doctor corrects, before putting on his helmet, his next words getting muffled. “Let’s get started.”

And Izuku puts on his own helmet before following the man into the water with mild dread.

“Stay close to me,” the Doctor says, voice barely audible. “Sound doesn’t travel far underwater.”

“I think that might be the suits,” Izuku remarks and the Doctor turns to Izuku with a muffled, “What?”

Izuku only shakes his head with a fond smile. 

They wade through the slightly muddy water, keeping a lookout for anything out of the ordinary. But the only thing Izuku can see so far is some sea plants and small fish who curiously peck their suits and look like nothing Izuku has ever seen before — reminding him that he is once again on an alien planet. It’s still strange how quickly he seemed to have adapted to expecting even the impossible. Although with the way quirks worked, he guesses it wasn’t that much of a surprise. 

The ground dips and suddenly they stare down a rift, a crack in the middle of the sea floor, too deep for the light to reach and illuminate what’s down there.

The Doctor gives him a hand sign and he instantly knows what he wants from him as Izuku gathers up the rope tying them to above and providing them with oxygen before handing it to the man who bounds them around a rock and secures them in place. 

“Is this safe?” Izuku asks, as the man turns to him, but he only looks at him with a confused face, clearly not hearing him well enough.

“Is this safe?” he repeats himself, raising his voice and almost screaming, but the Doctor just tilts his head and that‘s when Izuku decides to give up, shaking his head to tell him to go on. The man thankfully understands that much. 

“You know what, we‘ll find out,” Izuku murmurs to himself as he grips his part of the rope and follows the Doctor as they start their climb down, pushing themselves from the cliff wall and letting themselves sink before gripping their rope again, making sure they still have a way up when they get to the bottom. 

Thankfully nothing happens and soon they hit the ground, stirring up a bit of sand. The Doctor raises his flashlight, activating it and bathing the ravine in dim light and revealing the most beautiful ruined city Izuku has ever seen. The walls look like they were damaged by acid rain. 

He lets out a gasp as they walk closer, staring up at the high stone pillars when the Doctor suddenly stops and draws a line into the ground with his foot. Then he suddenly raises his arms up to his helmet and takes it off before Izuku can stop him, latter closing his eyes and sighing. 

The first thing Izuku notices when opens his eyes again is that the Doctor isn’t dead and or actively dying, being crushed by the pressure. He seems to be able to breathe perfectly fine. Secondly, his hair is still dry and lying on his head normally, not like when they normally would be underwater.

The Doctor gestures at Izuku's own helmet and after short hesitation, he takes it off, taking in a deep breath and eyes widening when he realizes that he also can breathe normally. 

“For a moment I was afraid this was gonna be a Time Lord thing,” Izuku jokes as he jams his helmet in between his elbow and right side. 

The Doctor lets out a snort.

“No just a simple Airshield I’m afraid,” he teases right back and Izuku shakes his head with a laugh. 

“What kind of city has an Airshield?” Izuku asks as they walk to the entrance.

“Apparently an underwater one,” the Doctor remarks as they step into what seems to be the main building.  

“How did you know we would be able to breathe?” Izuku can‘t help but question and the Doctor hums.

“Gravity felt normal despite us being underwater,” the Doctor says. “And when I brushed away some of the ground it stayed dry.” 

They walk through the corridors, trying to find something useful. 

“Shouldn’t you contact River?” Izuku asks as they turn another corner.

“I’m not sure if this is connected yet.”

Izuku raises his eyebrow.

“Big ancient city which nobody knows about and seems to have its own Airshield?” Izuku reminds. “Sounds like our specialty.”

“It’s our specialty now?” the Doctor teases and Izuku sputters.

The Doctor laughs heartily but gives in.

“I’ll call her, let’s just see if we can find something first.”

Izuku nods, cheeks still slightly burning from embarrassment and after 5 more minutes of aimless walking, the Doctor pulls out the gadget River had thrown at him.

“It’s a communicator,” the Doctor explains at his confused face as he directs his sonic screwdriver at it. “I just need to re-configure it so it will work from here.”

The device clicks and there’s slight static before it evens out.

“River?” the Doctor calls hesitantly and the communicator lights up. 

“Hello honey,” she replies. “You found something?”

“Yes,” the Doctor says, brushing a hand through his hair. “Do you know if there has been a city about 2000 to 5000 years ago where the river is flowing through? Not around it but rather in the riverbed.”

River hums and they hear papers crinkling.

“Not as far as I know,” she replies. “Why would there be a city?”

“Because we are standing in it and it presumably had been flooded by what’s now the river,” the Doctor answers. “You think you could be a darling and try to find something while we come up?”

“Oh I could be more than a darling-”

The Doctor clicks off the communicator before River can finish her sentence and Izuku shoots him an amused gaze when he sees the way the man’s ear tips are slightly red.

“The only thing I could find is that they settled here about 3000 years ago and the river was already there by then,” River says when they have finally climbed up and stored away the suits (for hopefully forever). “So we are probably searching for the time even before that.”

“Can’t you determine when the river started emerging?” the Doctor asks

“I’m an archeologist honey, not a miracle worker,” River chides. “But I did find references that apparently about 4000 years ago there were some earthquakes all around this area and there’s a lake about a few kilometers away which could be the origin of the river.”

“Good enough for me,” the Doctor says, turning to Izuku, “Come on.”

But before he can take a step, River stops him by catching him by his arm.

“No, no, no,” she complains. “You are not going without me this time. I’ve been sitting in here doing nothing too long.”

She grabs her jacket before linking her arms with the Doctor, shooting him a smile.

“Off to the TARDIS then!”

River seems to feel like at home when they enter the TARDIS, unlinking her arm from the Doctor and walking up to the console, not wasting a moment as she inputs the next coordinates and promptly pulls the lever. 

“How come she can fly the TARDIS?” Izuku questions with surprise, and River laughs.

“Honey I was born to fly the TARDIS.”

“She quite literally was,” the Doctor drawls and River casts a short glance at the man.

“You are way too familiar with me,” she points out. “Isn‘t this your 10th regeneration?”

But the Doctor only smiles, putting a finger to his lips.

“Spoilers.”

She lets out a groan.

“I hate you.”

“No, you don‘t,” the Doctor answers, a fond smile on his lips, and River shakes her head as they land, before already heading out, Izuku stopping the Doctor before he can leave as well.

“You should tell her,” Izuku says watching the TARDIS door close.

“I can’t tell someone about their future, you know that,” the Doctor sighs and Izuku shakes his head.

“You should tell her that you love her,” Izuku explains.

“She doesn’t even know who I really am,” the Doctor says. “That I’m her Doctor. That I already had all those adventures with her.”

“Not all,” Izuku points out and the Doctor gulps. 

But before he can say more the TARDIS door opens again and River looks inside.

“You boys are coming or what?”

“Coming,” the Doctor calls and waits until River is gone before he fixes Izuku with a bitter smile. “She knows.”

And Izuku can only wonder when the man leaves the TARDIS. 

Does she really?

River seems to have guessed the time frame correctly because when Izuku exits and catches up with the both of them, they are looking at the same city Izuku and the Doctor found underwater.

“It’s quiet,” the Doctor remarks as they walk up to the city.

“Not sure if I would prefer sounds of terror,” River remarks, winking at Izuku when he laughs. 

The Doctor just gives them a withering stare and River presses herself to Izuku’s side, essentially interrogating Izuku while the Doctor walks ahead of them.

“How long have you been traveling with the Doctor?” she asks first, and Izuku hums.

“Only a few months.”

“Has he taken you to the Singing Towers of Darillium yet?” she questions. “He keeps promising me but cancels on me every time.”

“No, he never told me about them before,” Izuku answers. “Hasn’t brought me to Florana either. You can forget a vacation with him.”

River laughs freely, shaking her head.

“Oh you have no idea,” she says. “It always ends with another adventure, but I can’t say I mind.”

She smiles softly, lost in thought and Izuku hesitates but before he can say something, she beams at him.

“Let’s catch up with him before he does something stupid,” she decides, winking at Izuku. “He’s too good at that.”

He shakes his head with a fond laugh as he follows her to the Doctor’s side. 

“Finished?” the Doctor asks River with a raised eyebrow and she snickers, “No need to get jealous, dear.”

She pulls an arm around Izuku and the Doctor.

“Izuku can be our son.”

She cackles as both the Doctor and Izuku flush red before releasing them. 

They walk through the wide hallways, their steps echoing and Izuku realizes that the interior doesn’t look any different than in the future. It’s all long hallways that lead to nowhere. 

The Doctor takes out his sonic screwdriver after a while, scanning for something and suddenly stopping along a wall, knocking on it, and raising an eyebrow when it comes back hollow and metal-sounding. 

He directs his sonic screwdriver at it and suddenly the surface ripples, turning into metal beams running up the wall as well as pipes and cables.

“Oh this wasn’t a city at all,” the Doctor exclaims with wonder as they look around and their entire surroundings changes. “No wonder they had an Airshield, it was a spaceship.”

“A disguise,” River says as they walk through the changed hallways. “Clever.”

From then on it doesn’t take long until they stumble across a closed door, the Doctor directing his sonic screwdriver at it but nothing happens.

He smashes his sonic screwdriver against his open palm with a frown.

“It won’t open,” he says, “The controls must be busted.”

River sighs before drawing her gun and directing it at the door, breaking through it and leaving behind a square pattern.

“She does use a sonic blaster,” Izuku says with wonder as they step through the opening.

River shortly glances at the Doctor.

“You‘ve been telling people about me honey,” she teases with glee. “I‘m honored.” 

The Doctor doesn’t reply, walking up to the cockpit and checking the records, putting on his glasses.

“They had to do an emergency landing,” he reports before knitting his eyebrows together. “But why? There is nothing here indicating that the ship was or is damaged.”

Before either River or Izuku can reply they hear a series of clicks from above them and both their gazes head up, staring at the repitilian alien hissing at them, frothing at the mouth.

“Doctor,” Izuku calls warily as a speck of its spit lands near the man’s hand, tearing through the metal like butter.

The man takes off his glasses and turns to them with a, “What?”

River points up the ceiling, lips pressed together and the Doctor's gaze follows her direction, eyes widening.

“Run!” he shouts, ducking under a rain of poison, Izuku and River already running out of the door. 

As soon as the Doctor is out of the room, River reverts the hole in the door but a second later the monster spits at the door, slowly melting through it. 

“Any plans?” River asks as they turn the corner. “Or can I dispose of it?”

“We head back to the TARDIS”, the Doctor says and River raises her sonic blaster.

“Then let’s take a shortcut.”

She blasts through the walls, restoring them after them and soon they are out of the spaceship, and Izuku only gets a few seconds to look at the massive sight of it before it reverts back to its city disguise as the monster melts its way after them. 

They hurry into the TARDIS and the Doctor and River input the coordinates simultaneously, pulling the lever just as the monster reaches the TARDIS and opens its jaw to spew its poison at it, the TARDIS dematerializing in time for it to fly right through it.

They look at each other as the engine pumps and whirs before promptly breaking out in laughter.

They are still smiling when they exit the TARDIS back to River’s spaceship and the woman leans on her disk, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“So those water readings?” she prompts and the Doctor sniffs. 

“The fuel or some kind of cooling liquid must have been leaking into the water,” the Doctor says. “Mystery solved.”

“I’ll deliver the news,” River says with a nod. “Not my problem to fix, I was only hired to find the cause.”

Then she turns to Izuku.

“Keep an eye on him for me, alright?”

Izuku nods with a small nice.

“Sure,” he says easily. “It was nice to finally meet you.”

She gives him a thankful smile before she turns back to the Doctor and something in her gaze changes as she steps closer to him.

“Is this the last time I will see you?” — The last time you know who I am?  River asks, raising a hand to cup the man’s cheek and he closes his eyes before grasping her hand and kissing it.

“No,” he says simply and her smile is a bit shaky around the edges as she jokes.

“Spoilers.”

The Doctor lets go of her hand and something passes between them before the Doctor smiles. It’s not a happy smile. 

They leave her behind and go back to the TARDIS, Izuku waving at River before closing the door. As soon as it falls close, the Doctor lets out a stuttering breath, quickly importing new coordinates and directions and flicking the lever before he stares at the console.

Without a word Izuku goes up to the man and hugs him tightly, the Doctor clutching him like a lifeline as he trembles. 

He doesn’t cry. But somehow that's worse.

Chapter Text

“When‘s your birthday again?” the Doctor asks someday after another adventure and Izuku raises an eyebrow at the unusual question. 

“July 15th, why?” he answers, leaning at the console as the man hums.

“We passed it then. We should celebrate it,” the Doctor says, rounding the console. “I know the perfect restaurant for it.”

It was hard to keep track of time when traveling in the TARDIS, but Izuku noticed that the Doctor was right. He had spent almost 4 months with the Doctor and if he had stayed on Earth normally (and not reappeared to the world of living 11 months later) his birthday would already have passed. 

It was a strange feeling, missing his own birthday. While he was never big on celebrating it or making a big deal out of it — preferring to spend it at home with his mother (he pushes that thought as far as away as possible), it was foreign aging another year without even noticing.  

The TARDIS whirs and materializes before Izuku can think too much about it and he follows the man out of the door, curious to see which restaurant could have caught the man’s interest.

They walk up to the entry desk to a high-end restaurant, people in fancy dresses and suits sitting behind the big glass fronts and the Doctor smiles at the waitress whose gaze travels over their clothes. Izuku is suddenly glad that he took after the Doctor and now almost exclusively wears casual-smart clothes that fit into every social event — a far cry from his past style of plain shirts with funny labels. 

“A table for two for the Doctor,” he says and the waitress hums as she scans the list, flipping over paper in the clipboard before she seems to find the Doctor’s reservation and nods.

“Of course, follow me please.”

“You had this planned,” Izuku realizes as she leads them to their table and the Doctor winks at him.

“You think I don‘t know something as simple as your birthday?”

“Could have fooled me,” Izuku teases as he sits down and the man laughs.

They order their drinks as well as food and clink their glasses with champagne — the Doctor had insisted they should celebrate properly when they arrive. 

“To you!” the Doctor says with a smile as they raise their glasses and Izuku smiles.

“To me,” he echoes and takes a sip, grimacing at the taste of it and relishing in the way the Doctor laughs freely at his reaction.

Izuku is about to say something when the man’s laughter suddenly stops and he freezes as his gaze whips over the room.

Izuku turns to see who or what he is looking at and spots an elderly woman with her family intently staring at the man. They seem to be also celebrating a birthday. She mouths something unidentifiable for Izuku, but the Doctor seems to understand her intent clearly enough because he pales. 

“I think we should go,” the Doctor says, obviously uncomfortably, but before the man can even stand up, something breaks through the ceiling and he practically melts into his seat in defeat. 

“Well there goes our normal day,” Izuku murmurs and the Doctor pinches the bridge of his nose. 

They share resigned gazes before jumping up from their seats and going up to inspect what fell through. They push past the other civilians who have already started forming a circle around it, while the staff tries to sort it out, the Doctor absentmindedly pulling out his psychic paper and holding it up when people complain and curse at them. 

Sitting in the middle of the room, scorch marks all over the dark wood, in a broad but shallow crater, is a round, metallic small sphere that is still glowing hot and smoking.

Before the Doctor can scan it with his sonic screwdriver, tentatively touching the still-hot surface, much to Izuku’s dismay, it suddenly clicks open, revealing a piece of paper.

Someone pushes their way through the murmuring crowd and it’s the older woman who glared at the Doctor.

“You!” she shrieks, raising an accusatory finger at the man. “This is all your fault!”

“Not now Sylvia,” the Doctor says distractedly, picking up the paper and ignoring how Sylvia gapes at him, practically fuming.

The Doctor looks up to Izuku and raises the message so Izuku can see it.

Help me. 

“Someone needs our help.”

“Great and now move your asses out of here before Donna notices you,” Sylvia interrupts with a hiss. “What are you even doing here?!”

The Doctor stands up and raises an eyebrow, handing Izuku the message to inspect.

It‘s a hastily written message but the lettering is still drawn out artistically, it’s clear that their normal handwriting is very pretty.

“Donna recommended it-” he starts before he seems to realize his mistake, wincing.

“What if Donna sees you here? Remembers you?“ Sylvia hisses, voice becoming very quiet when she notices that her family is heading over to them. “If something happens to her because of you-”

Before she can finish her sentence, her family finally arrives and the red-haired woman raises an eyebrow at the both of them.

“Who‘s skinny man?” she questions and Sylvia tries to shoo her away, throwing glances at the Doctor.

“No one.”

The black-haired girl who must be only a few years younger than Izuku turns to him, whispering.

“I‘m Rose,” she introduces herself. “Any idea why your Dad has beef with my grandma?”

Izuku’s cheeks heat up, but before he can correct her the sphere suddenly starts peeping and the Doctor’s eyes widen in realization as he shouts out a warning, “Down!”

Izuku instantly complies, pushing down Rose with him as the sphere explodes. 

The smoke clears and Izuku meets the Doctor's eyes as he scans everyone.

“Is someone hurt?” he checks, but thankfully nobody seems to be, the explosion was fairly small, barely enough that the sphere is now in pieces. 

Both Izuku and the Doctor sigh in relief and Izuku helps up Rose before heading back to the Doctor’s side, leaning to him as he whispers.

“You got the signature before it exploded, right?”

“Of course,” the Doctor replies, “We’ll head back to the TARDIS and then we can track it to its origin,”

Izuku nods, but before they can take more than 5 steps, the red-haired woman blocks their way.

“No way you are leaving us with this!” she complains. “In the end they will put the blame on us because we were seen with you! Do we look like we have the money for that?”

“Donna,” her husband pleads, but she shushes him and her gaze heads straight to the Doctor.

“What’s going on here?” she demands and the Doctor hesitates.

“Nothing!” Sylvia intervenes. “Nothing is going on here!”

“No Mom,” Donna disagrees. “This isn’t like all those days where I missed or slept through everything again.“

The Doctor looks at her fondly, barely hidden and there’s something pained in his eyes. But it‘s something different than when he looked at River. It’s not only grief… it’s regret. 

And something stirs in Izuku and he finally realizes why Sylvia is acting this way around the Doctor... “Some I leave behind. Some forget me. Some even die,” the Doctor‘s voice echoes in his head.

“She was your companion,” it bursts out of him and he regrets it as soon as it leaves his mouth.

The Doctor stiffens and Donna raises an eyebrow.

“Companion?” she repeats. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” 

“Yes tell them about your companions Doctor,” Sylvia cuts in harshly. “Tell them about how you leave them behind, a broken shell longing for something they don‘t even remember.”

“Sylvia,” the Doctor warns. 

“What about the boy? He can‘t be older than 18,” she continues and Izuku flinches when her gaze lands on him. “When was the last time he has seen his family? When is it gonna be the time when they have to pick up the pieces?” 

“I’m 19,” Izuku corrects when he finds his voice again and Sylvia scoffs. 

“19,” she echoes disdainfully. “He could easily pass as your son.”

The Doctor protectively puts an arm around Izuku and stares down Sylvia.

“Leave Izuku out of this.”

“Maybe it’s not me who should leave him alone,” Sylvia sneers, and before the situation can escalate any more Donna clears her throat, gesturing to the mess still behind them and the far away sirens sounding in distance. 

The Doctor knits his eyebrows together.

“I’ll inform UNIT when I get to the TARDIS,” he says. “They’ll care of it.”

Donna looks the Doctor up and down with a disbelieving expression.

“You have contacts in UNIT?”

“I should still be on payroll,” the man shrugs his shoulders and doesn’t seem to realize how insane that sounds to Donna. 

“Doctor,” Izuku interrupts urgently, still gripping the message and the man nods. 

Unfortunately Donna and Rose seem to follow them as they step out of the restaurant, but the Doctor seems like he expected it, not even trying to go faster. He leads the way back to the TARDIS and soon Rose quickens her steps so she can walk next to Izuku, Donna behind them. 

“So he’s not your father,” Rose notes and Izuku’s ears burn when the Doctor casts a glance in his direction no doubt hearing their conversation. 

“Not biologically, no,” he answers and he thinks he sees the Doctor almost miss a step. 

“You seem used to things like this,” Rose points out, no doubt referring to what happened in the restaurant, and Izuku hums.

“Well yes,” he says, slightly distracted, and allows himself to look back to Donna, seeing that Sylvia and Donna’s husband finally caught up, but the red-haired woman ignores her mother’s pleading, burning gaze fixed on the Doctor’s back. 

When he looks back Rose is looking at him with a knowing look.

“You know something about it, don’t you?” she states but it sounds more like a question. “Why my mother had that breakdown that nobody wants to talk about.”

Izuku doesn’t meet her gaze.

“It’s not my place to tell.”

“Mom always talks like she misses something.” Rose doesn’t drop the subject and she follows his gaze to the Doctor. “And I think I can now guess why.”

“Rose,” Izuku interrupts gently. “Let’s not follow that thread along anymore. Nothing good will get out of it.”

The way the Doctor looked at Donna — like he made a mistake he wished he could fix but couldn’t — Izuku had a feeling it would end tragically if Donna remembered. 

Rose falls silent and Izuku thinks that’s it but then she says something more before falling back to rejoin her family.

“But she always looks so sad...”

The Doctor glances at Izuku when Izuku goes back to his side and there’s something indecipherable in his eyes.

“Thank you,” he says.

“Always,” Izuku replies with a small smile before grasping the man’s hand with a mischievous look.

“Run?” he prompts and the Doctor’s eyes crinkle as he answers, “Run.”

Izuku hears an outraged, “OI!” as they start running and they laugh as they race through the streets, purposefully taking side-ways and alleyways to get back to the TARDIS to try and shake off Rose and Donna’s family. 

He perks up when he sees the TARDIS, but before they can reach it, suddenly soldiers with guns block their way and Izuku instantly gets the feeling that they are not human. Their faces are covered by a sort of helmet or visor, making it impossible to tell what species they are besides their humanoid shape. And as he turns around, he realizes they are getting surrounded. Izuku and the Doctor look at each other before both raising their hands. 

A minute later a few more soldiers lead Donna’s family to them, all of them also raising their hands, Donna looking (rightfully) pissed. 

Donna catches the Doctor’s look and her voice trembles under her anger.

“Please tell me that isn’t UNIT.”

“I highly doubt that,” the Doctor answers just as one of the soldiers takes out a gadget and scans their group.

“ALIEN LIFE FORMS DETECTED,” the machine mechanically reports and the soldier nods at one of his coworkers before they get grasped by their arms and harshly pulled along.

“Do I look like a bloody Martian to you!?” Donna bites out but not one of the soldiers answers them as they get led away — Izuku mournfully stares back at the TARDIS as it gets out of view.

At least the soldiers don‘t seem to realize what the blue police box really is. Small mercies.

“They must be searching for whoever sent the message,” the Doctor says and Izuku nods.

“And how does that help us?” Donna questions, finally having stopped struggling against the tight grip around their arms. 

“It gives us an idea of what we are dealing with,” Izuku answers and now it‘s the Doctor who nods. 

“Wait, does that mean one of you is an alien?” Rose intervenes and that seems to alert Donna.

“Yes, who of you two is a bloody Martian?” she adds, narrowing her eyes. 

Izuku looks at the Doctor and hums thoughtfully.

“I mean the two hearts should have given me an indicator…” He catches the amused gaze of the Doctor. “Not sure about Martian though… not enough scales.”

His gaze heads to the man‘s hair. 

“And too much hair.” 

The Doctor snorts. 

“Might be a shimmer, you never know,” the Doctor teases, and Izuku snickers. 

“You‘ve seen Martians before?” Rose sounds two parts doubtful, one part hopeful.

“If with Martians we are talking about the Ice Warriors then yes,” Izuku says. “I do not recommend them.” 

“They are a warrior race, it‘s to be expected,” the Doctor shrugs. “At least they have honor.” 

“Would have liked to see that when they tried to kill us,” Izuku says, before his face scrunches up and he adds, “Again.” 

“Maybe the third time's the charm,” the Doctor jokes and Izuku shakes his head with laughter. 

“How can you two laugh in a situation like this?!” Sylvia interrupts and it seems to take her a tremendous effort not to raise her voice, her face red. 

“Well whoever they are searching they want them alive,” the Doctor remarks. “So far the odds are in our favor.”

“We are getting kidnapped to who knows where,” Donna growls. “As far as I’m concerned that’s not good odds.”

They are about to get shoved into a — Izuku’s guess — stolen van when suddenly someone appears next to them and knocks out and eliminates the soldiers before they can even blink.

A severed head rolls in front of Izuku and the Doctor’s feet and he shudders when he sees wires and electronics sticking out of it. They are dealing with cyborgs. 

“Not sure if I prefer the Cybermen,” he murmurs before his gaze whips to the person who finally turns to them, their broad back turned to them.

And Izuku realizes he knows that face.

“Jack?!” Izuku and the Doctor both exclaim.

“Hello,” the man smiles, slightly wincing when their gazes drift over his wild, dirty unkempt hair and the tears and dirt stains along his beloved jacket — he looks like he had been on the run. 

“Since when are you an alien life form?” Izuku questions and rubs his wrists, finally free of the soldier's grip that was around it. 

“Apparently being revived and made immortal via the time vortex changes your DNA,” Jack explains before he turns to the Doctor. “Would have appreciated a warning.”

The Doctor gives him an apologetic smile which looks more like a wince. 

“Well, you crashed Izuku‘s birthday dinner,” the Doctor throws back and Jack sends Izuku a wide-eyed gaze. “Was the explosion necessary?”

“I‘m sorry, I had to make sure it doesn’t land in the wrong hands”, he explains himself, but Izuku waves it away.

“It‘s fine we were celebrating late anyway.”

Jack nods before his gaze heads back to the Doctor, hands settled on his hips.

“Judging by the fact that Izuku pretty much looks the same since the last time I‘ve seen you it probably only has been a few months for you, right?”

The Doctor raises an eyebrow but simply nods.

“It‘s been a couple of years for me,” Jack reports and Izuku notes that the man’s wrinkles and stress lines do seem to have become deeper. “I also think I met your previous incarnation. Orange really doesn’t suit you.”

The Doctor shrugs his shoulders at that and now Jack seems to notice that they are not alone. 

He seems to recognize Donna and part of her family, however, because he smiles brightly and outstretches his arms.

“Donna!” he says but the red-haired woman just gives him a withering look, standing protectively in front of Rose.

“Right there was something,” he remarks before he turns to Sylvia, taking her hand and pressing a kiss against her knuckles, his voice silky, “Sylvia, you are still as beautiful as ever.”

That seems to calm her down sightly and she blushes slightly as she shushes him away. 

“What are we dealing with?” the Doctor questions Jack and the man turns to him as he answers.

“I’m still not sure,” he says. “They are quite persistent though — chased me across half of the universe.”

Jack kicks the fallen-over cyborg.

“But they don’t seem to have any face recognition software, so that’s a plus.”

“I was wondering why they were using a scanner,” Izuku murmurs as the Doctor crouches down and inspects the severed head. 

The man messes with something and the visor raises, revealing a transparent head without any features, intricate, slightly rusted over gears locking into each other, interrupted by some wires and electric equipment.

“Clockwork Droids,” the Doctor says with a frown. “They must be searching for components to repair themselves and their ship if they still have one.”

He turns to Jack with the head still in his hands.

“But why would they chase you across half the universe?”

“You’ve dealt with them before,” Izuku interrupts and the Doctor nods as he sets down the head, standing up.

“Twice,” he explains. “Both times they harvested human organs and body parts as spare parts.”

Donna and her family look disturbed, but Jack and Izuku only have a grim face and nod at that. 

Considering Jack was immortal and seemed to be able to come back to life with his body intact it didn‘t paint a pretty picture of what they would do with the man if they found out — or if they already knew. 

“We are gonna need to find their base of operations,” Izuku concludes, and the Doctor hums in agreement. 

“They can’t be far,” the Doctor says, jerking his chin at the van. “Or else they would have used different means of transportation.”

“So what are we looking for?” Rose asks, finally finding her voice again, and Izuku is impressed by how well she seems to be taking this and the Doctor licks his lips.

“Hard to tell,” he admits. “Last time I encountered them their spaceship was disguised as a diner.”

He takes out his sonic screwdriver and it starts whirring.

“But if I look at their wiring I might be able to find where their programmed home base is.”

He snaps his sonic screwdriver in place and a moment later a hologram appears above it with a map and a blinking red dot.

He turns to them with a smile, car keys — which he got from knows where — twirling around his fingers. 

“Who wants to drive?”

Sylvia pointedly clears her throat and the Doctor’s face falters for a moment as his gaze heads to Donna.

“Maybe you guys should head home now.”

“Are you kidding, this is the most exciting thing to happen to me since Rose’s birth,” Donna says before snatching up the keys. 

Jack, the Doctor, and Izuku share a glance before the Doctor follows Donna to the front of the van, settling into the passenger seat while Izuku and the rest shuffle into the back. 

Thankfully it seems to be a family van so they all settle in their seats, Jack and Izuku with their back to the Doctor and Donna, both of them slightly shifting so they can see where they are going while Rose, Sylvia, and Donna’s husband —- who finally introduced himself as Shaun to Izuku took the rest of the seats. 

That also meant that Donna couldn’t interrogate the Doctor like she wanted — Izuku could see that she was twitching to ask him questions without Sylvia being there to interfere. Izuku still couldn’t tell whether that was a good or bad thing.  

He can already tell that she won‘t leave their side without getting answers when this is all over. 

It’s a silent drive if you ignore the bickering up front where the Doctor and Donna argue over the most efficient route and missing turns. 

Soon they pull into a street, rows of industrial buildings and abandoned warehouses passing by them until they stop in front of an unremarkable building and all step out. 

Before either of them can say anything a low rumble echoes through the street and the ground starts shaking under them.

The Doctor bites back a curse.

“This is bad.”

The Doctor, Jack, and Izuku start running before he can even finish the sentence, storming into the building, whose walls soon shift from drywall to haphazardly stitched-together alien tech and spacecraft components.

The Doctor clicks his tongue when they arrive at the console room. The ground is even more shaky here and Izuku would fear that the ceiling would cave on them if it weren’t for the fact that they were in a spaceship.

“The ship is automatically returning back to orbit. Emergency protocol,” the Doctor says as he inspects the blinking monitors, a timer going off until the departure on one of them. 

“Why don‘t we let it?” a breathless voice asks, Izuku glances back and sees Donna standing in the door frame, hands on her knees. 

“Because they are gonna tear up the whole Planet by doing so,” the Doctor says, directing his sonic screwdriver at the console, lips pressed into a thin line when he looks at the data. “And we are gonna have to stop it manually.”

Rose, Shaun, and Sylvia filter in at that and the Doctor doesn’t waste any more time.

“Jack with me,” the Doctor barks out. “Izuku you go to the engine room and detach anything that looks important.”

“On it,” Izuku calls and gets to work, hurrying into the adjacent room. 

“Donna, could you help Izuku?” the Doctor adds and Sylvia almost strangles the man with how vicious her voice becomes. 

“She will do nothing of that sort!” she complains.

“Oh because I’m too useless or what?” Donna intervenes. “Too ‘broken’? Is that what you are saying?”

“Donna,” Shaun tries to placate, but the two start bickering, ignoring his tries to calm them down. 

“I’ll do it,” Rose calls and goes to Izuku’s side, helping him unplug the cables. Izuku nods at her thankfully. 

“Jack take over!” the Doctor orders, pushing away from the monitor where he was frantically trying to override the controls, tearing apart a panel and pulling out cables with his bare hands.

He messes with them and he clenches his teeth but becomes increasingly frustrated.

“No, no, no,” he mutters under his breath and Izuku knows that tone too well. 

A second later he is by the Doctor's side and he instantly knows the situation is dire.

“How can I help,” he urges, settling a hand on the man’s shaking hands.

“I first need to rewire the accelerator without frying the system and killing us,” the Doctor grits out, voice slightly shaky, “But I don’t have enough time to do it alone.”

DEPARTURE IN 2 MINUTES. 

His face falls and his desperate eyes meet Izuku’s before they flicker off to Donna.

“I would need someone who thinks like me to help me.”

Donna catches the Doctor’s gaze and something passes between them that Izuku can’t even begin to understand.

“Do it,” she says and her voice is determined.

“You don’t know what you are agreeing to!” Sylvia interrupts, voice slightly cracking. “You are gonna die.” 

But Donna just smiles and kneels next to the Doctor. 

“I mean it’s me or 8 billion people,” she says in a joking tone before urging, reaching a hand out to the man, “Do it.”

“I don’t know if I can save you this time,” the Doctor says with a gulp and Donna’s smile is thin as she answers.

“Get on with it you spaceman.”

The Doctor closes his eyes before touching the side of her temples and for a moment nothing happens until Donna suddenly gasps out and glowing energy starts pouring out of her like waves, blinding them.

Then she stills and when her eyes find the Doctor’s next there’s recognition in them. But before before the Doctor can utter a word she suddenly slaps him, his face turning with the force of it and he hisses out, holding his cheek.

“I guess I deserve that.”

“Yes and you deserve even more,” Donna bites back before cracking her knuckles. “But let’s save the world first.”

It’s marvelous watching both of them work together, quipping back and forth and hurling technical jargon at each other, which both of them seem to understand without a bat of an eye as they run through the console room.

Izuku is not the only one mesmerized by the interaction, Sylvia and Shaun watching them with wide eyes and Jack is also smiling. 

“I have never seen her have so much fun before,” Shaun murmurs but he doesn’t seem mad, a soft smile on his lips. 

Suddenly both of them still, only a few seconds left on the clock.

“Oh shit!” Donna realizes with wide eyes. “We forgot to change the output for the fuel to overdrive!”

“Already done,” Rose reports from where she is standing leaning against the door frame, a smile on her lips.

A second later the departure gets cancelled and all of them breathe out in relief.

Donna slumps into herself before a wave of exhaustion seems to fall over her.

“Good that means I can die,” she whispers before she crumples, the Doctor catching her.

“Mom!” Rose cries out and runs to where the Doctor is cradling Donna’s head in his lap, tearing up as he brushes a curl out of her face. 

“Did you know I kept the key all this time,” Donna presses out, voice faint. “I didn’t even know what it was for, but every time I tried to throw it away my heart squeezed painfully.”

She laughs weakly.

“I didn’t even remember you, but you still influenced me subconsciously.”

Rose grips her mother's hands as her eyes flutter close and the Doctor hangs his head in defeat. 

Then he jumps up and punches a wall with a scream, drumming against the metal with both hands, kicking at it with fury in his eyes. Before either Izuku and Jack can reach him and hold him back from hurting himself, a loud unexpected voice interrupts them, freezing the Doctor.

“OI!” someone shouts. “Not so loud!”

They all watch in disbelief as Donna sits up, clutching her head with a hiss before Rose falls into her mother’s arms, tears streaming over her face. 

Donna just watches at her with a confused face, blinking.

“How am I alive?” she questions. 

“Of course!” the Doctor exclaims looking at both Donna and Rose. “You had a child and the meta crisis passed onto her, splitting the energy into two and making it safe to handle.”

“So Mom is not in danger anymore?” Rose asks, still clutching Donna.

“No, it should be diluted enough that the excess energy will just naturally fade out with time.”

“Guess I won’t stay brilliant then,” Donna quips, standing up with the help of Rose, still one hand to her temple, “Unfortunately.”

“You don’t need that to be brilliant,” the Doctor replies and they share a small smile. 

The Doctor and Donna then step away for a moment to talk alone, leaving Izuku behind with Donna’s family and Jack. 

“What do you think they are talking about?” Jack asks as they watch them walk side by side. 

“Probably catching up,” Izuku guesses, and Jack hums, before Izuku sneezes.

“Bless you.”

“Izuku, huh?” Donna comments as they walk along the road and the Doctor stiffens. “He‘s doing you good.”

The Doctor lets out a sigh of relief.

“Yes, he does,” he admits.

Donna smiles softly and nods.

They continue their stroll in silence until Donna speaks up again, voice kept lightly.

“When you are finished running,” Donna says, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. “Do come to visit us, don’t you? You still owe Wilf one trip, even if he can’t walk on his own anymore.”

The Doctor gulps but he nods, smile small.

“I will.”

They say goodbye to Donna’s family, waving at them in front of the TARDIS.

“Well what do you say,” the Doctor says, smiling at Jack. “One more trip?”

“Thought you would never ask,” the man winks and snorts at the look the Doctor sends him, Izuku laughing with him as they step into the TARDIS. 

Chapter Text

Traveling with Jack as Izuku realizes is fun. One trip had turned into two and then more and neither of the three were in a real hurry to say goodbye. 

It was different than when he would have been going on adventures with the Doctor alone but a good kind of different.

For one they laughed more.

On the other hand, Izuku had increasingly become familiar with seeing Jack die. It wasn‘t like the man was desperate for death, but he was reckless and he saved Izuku by throwing himself in front of him rather than pulling them both to the side. 

It wasn’t pleasant. Despite knowing that the man was immortal, Izuku was relieved each time he heard him gasp for air. Izuku knows the Doctor feels the same.

So Izuku decides they deserve some peace and quiet.

They settle down on a picnic blanket, on top of a hill with a basket and Izuku basks in the warm sun and fresh air.

He is about to bite into an apple, Jack already eating through their sandwiches when the Doctor suddenly stills, going noticeably quiet and Izuku sighs.

“Please tell me we aren‘t sitting on top of radioactive grass or some ancient alien creature.” 

The Doctor knits his eyebrows together.

“Not it‘s just…” he trails off before he presses his lips into a thin line. “Do you hear anything?“

Izuku lowers his apple and pauses to listen.

He hears nothing besides Jack‘s and the Doctor's breaths. No rustling of the slight wind from the trees or far away birds.

It was disturbingly quiet.

Izuku lets out a groan and plops his head on Jack’s lap.

“One day,” he mutters. “I just wanted one day.”

Jack ruffles Izuku’s hair with an amused face.

“There, there,” he soothes, jokingly.

Izuku bats away the man's hand before sitting up again and turns to the Doctor who is watching their interaction with an apologetic face.

“Let’s go then,” Izuku sighs and it’s enough to lighten up the man’s face as he gives Izuku a hand to stand up from the picnic blanket. 

They hike their way down to the city, coming across several birds and other animals not moving even an inch, looking like realistic statues.

It was like someone had hit on pause, freezing everything in time.

They walk past a frozen waterfall and Izuku tentatively reaches out to touch the water and is fascinated to find that it‘s rigid and solid, not giving in.

“It’s like we are in a time bubble,” the Doctor remarks. “Frozen in one moment.”

“How do we undo it?” Izuku asks and a conflicted expression fills the man’s face.

“Normally it deteriorates quickly on his own and time moves on like usual.”

“What causes it?” Jack questions. 

“It’s when someone crosses into their own timeline,” the Doctor says grimly. “Or when Time Lords intervene.”

“Both bad signs,” Jack sighs and the Doctor nods.

“You think the Master-” Jack starts but the Doctor shakes his head.

“Too unlikely.” 

“Does anyone remember being here before?” Izuku prompts, gaze heading to the Doctor who gnaws at his lips.

“We wouldn’t remember,” he says. “If it is in our past, only our future counterparts would know. And If it’s in our future, we are writing it as we speak.”

“River?” Jack throws out and the Doctor shakes his head again.

“We only recently met her and she would have alluded if something like this happened.”

Jack raises an eyebrow.

“I thought you already had your last meeting with her.”

The Doctor sighs.

“Apparently not.”

“Well the only thing we can do is explore until we stumble upon whatever or whoever is causing this then,” Izuku says and they nod. 

By this time they managed to get down to the city and it’s bizarre seeing people halfway through their movements or when they think no one is watching. 

There’s a mother laughing freely with her son at her side (and how his heart squeezes at that) as well as someone showing a magic trick. People seem to be milling more on the streets than usual (or at least that’s the feeling Izuku gets when he looks at the packed and cramped little streets), some sort of festival going on — colorful decorations and banners everywhere but also several food stands. 

But no matter how long they look there is no sign of anyone else being in the city with them and steadily they grow tired.

“Maybe we should head back to the TARDIS,” Jack prompts. “See if there’s something we missed.”

The Doctor nods.

“It’ll give me a chance to scan the area in case any of our future or past selves might be stuck somewhere in the masses and we just haven’t found them,” he agrees.

They leave the city and just as they cross the bounds Izuku thinks he sees something in the corner of his eyes — a shadow but when he turns to face it, it’s gone. He shakes his head at the Doctor’s curious gaze.

However, when they finally manage to climb up the hill again, the TARDIS is gone — just pressed down, disturbed grass where the blue box had been standing. 

Izuku would like to claim, years later when they would talk about this day, that he had been calm and wasn’t freaked out, but unfortunately, that was not the case. 

“Oh my god we are fucked,” Izuku says as they stare at the spot where the TARDIS had been. 

“Did she take off alone?” Jack tries to understand, but there’s also a panicked look in his eyes.

“No,” the Doctor says calmly, narrowing his eyes. “We would have heard the engines. Someone must have taken her. We are not as alone as we thought.”

“But how could they have moved the TARDIS without us noticing?” Jack doubts. “The equipment you would need...”

“That’s for us to find out,” the Doctor says, lips pressed together in a fine line. “We should head back to the city. I have a feeling we might find something there now.”

“They want to draw our attention,” Izuku says with a gulp but nods in agreement. 

“Maybe I should stay here in case she reappears,” Jack offers, but the Doctor shakes his head.

“Let’s not split up.”

“Whatever took the TARDIS has enough power to haul it away without us seeing or hearing a thing,” Izuku agrees. “You may be immortal, but that doesn’t mean you are invincible.”

It draws a flinch from the man before he clicks his tongue. They had that conversation often enough (too often), but the man would still rather put himself in harm's way than save himself. It was a sore topic. 

“Fine,” the man sighs and starts stamping away, in the direction of the city.

Izuku throws a desperate glance at the Doctor who wordlessly shrugs his shoulders.

Izuku and the Doctor hurry to catch up with Jack, who doesn’t meet either of their eyes as they make their way back in awkward silence. 

Good job, Izuku. You made it worse.

He holds back a groan as they pass under the city gate and racks his brain trying to find the right words. 

They are deep in the city when he finally finds them.

“Look Jack,” he starts, voice nervous but resolute and the Doctor nods when he looks at him for support.  “We are just worried about you. You shouldn’t play with your life like that. We know that the death still hurts you even if-”

“Look behind you,” Jack suddenly interrupts and Izuku lets a groan slip.

“Please don’t try to switch the topic now,” he pinches the bridge of his nose.

“No I mean really, look.”

He turns and Jack points at a human silhouette up the roof in the far distance, waving at them before it disappears. 

They look at each other with wide eyes before running in the direction they had seen the figure in. And in fact, when they get close they see them again, now on another rooftop. 

That’s how they spend their next half an hour, chasing after the silhouette and slowly not able to keep up — all of them growing exhausted.

“It’s toying with... us,” Jack says through his ragged breaths.

“No I think it might be leading us somewhere,” the Doctor murmurs but also takes deep breaths.

When Izuku thinks about the path they’ve taken it does seem like they are getting closer to the heart of the city.

“But why,” Izuku can’t help but whine. “Why can’t they ever be straightforward for once?”

“Agreed,” Jack says with a groan as he rightens himself and tiredly raises his arm to point out the next spot.

But this time it’s in front of a building. It’s unremarkable really and they probably would have walked past it (if they haven’t really) if it weren’t for the figure.

They gather their last energy and strength and hurry to it, the silhouette disappearing inside the building as soon as it notices them spotting it and before they can get closer to decipher any features. 

“This feels like a sick joke of a treasure hunt,” Jack grumbles as the Doctor opens the door with his sonic screwdriver.

They step into the building and it’s completely different from the outside. This is something important, Izuku instantly knows. It holds that atmosphere. 

They walk past people in suits down the polished hall and when they turn the corner they can look into an array of labs, several experiments in work (thankfully frozen still), they no doubt researching something. 

Before Izuku can question why the mystery figure would have led them here, he sees them standing in one of the labs, next to a woman about to pipette something into a chemical solution. 

But as soon as he sees them they simply vanish into mist and they share glances before entering the lab. The Doctor instantly reaches for one of the computers, softly pushing away the worker who had been sitting at it.

“Oh this is interesting,” the Doctor says, staring at graphs and chemical reactions and whistling, “Very interesting.” 

“What are they researching?” Izuku asks, trying to decipher the chemical symbols and structural symbols.

“They are trying to replicate a supernova on a minuscule scale,” the man scrolls down. “Their approaches are promising, but it’ll probably take them a few years to get to the right solution.” 

Izuku blinks before shaking his head.

“Why would they lead us here though?” Izuku questions.

“And take the TARDIS,” Jack supplies, leaning at one of the countertops, arms crossed over his chest.

The Doctor pushes away from the computer and hums.

“Well they are in their trials and error stage at the moment.”

The man takes a look around the lab, looking like a child on Christmas as he reads through the reports for the experiments. Izuku would have laughed if it weren’t for the fact that they were stuck — not only metaphorically speaking.

That’s when he remembers where the figure had stood when Izuku had sighted them and curiously heads over to the woman, trying to make sense of what they are doing. It seems harmless enough.

“That’s where they had been standing,” Izuku says to the Doctor when he joins them and he picks up the report with the instructions, skimming through it.

Izuku is about to turn away when the Doctor lets out a hiss. 

“What’s wrong?” he asks and the Doctor presses his lips together.

“If they do any of the steps wrong they might explode the entire city,” the Doctor says, dipping one of his fingers into the solution before tasting it, Izuku not even getting a chance to scold him for it.

“And they did.” He grimaces. “The proportions are wrong.”

Izuku knits his eyebrows together.

“They brought us here because someone was in danger?” he sounds indignant even to his own ears. “What are we? The Space-Police?”

“Yes,” an unknown voice cuts through Izuku’s anger. “That’s exactly what you are.”

They all startle, turning to a woman standing in the doorframe. Her voice sounds like nothing he has ever heard before — it reverberates in the lab, husky, shrill, and angelic at the same time like several pitches and voices overlapped into a single voice. 

“Who are you?” the Doctor demands to know.

She’s ever-shifting like she can decide on which appearance to settle on — blonde hair, red hair, blue eyes, golden eyes. One moment she looks like his old homeroom teacher, the next like the young girl who works at the corner store near his mother’s apartment. 

“Don‘t be silly,” she answers, smiling at the Doctor. “You know who I am.” 

The Doctor narrows his eyes.

“And tell me where have we met?”

She steps closer to him and he meets her gaze, challenging as she raises a hand to cup his cheek, smiling.

“In the beginning,” she says. “Before you knew who you were. You chose me and I chose you. And ever since then I’ve never let you go.”

The man's eyes widen and before she can step away, he catches her wrist, keeping her hand on his cheek.

“You are the TARDIS,” he gasps out, before he frowns, letting her go. “But why?”

“I couldn’t let you all die now, could I?” she says as she steps away.

“You are the reason for the time bubble?” the Doctor asks.

“Of course my dear.”

Izuku groans and drags a hand down his face.

“Couldn’t you just have deposited us somewhere safe?”

Her ever-changing eyes land on Izuku and for a moment they are cold until a hint of fondness shines through.

“Then all these people would have died.”

Izuku doesn’t meet her eyes as he gulps.

“We know that. You didn’t need to do this to teach us a lesson,” the Doctor says but the TARDIS just smiles quietly.

“It wasn’t a lesson,” she claims. “Just a simple reminder.”

She nods at the woman still holding the pipette over her solution and the Doctor pushes away the glass container with a sigh, pouring away the solution into the trash container, before placing an empty one in its place. He hesitates for a moment before he scrawls something onto the report before pushing it away. 

“You have a difficult decision to make soon,” the TARDIS suddenly says. “Be prepared.”

The Doctor knits his eyebrows together, but he nods.

“Then it’s time everything returns to normal,” she says, her gaze settling on the Doctor again, a swirling of brown and amber this time around. “Good luck.”

“Could you wait until we are out-” Izuku starts, but she disappears, the familiar sound of the TARDIS whooshing sounding out before time suddenly restarts.

The drop of acid drops safely into the glass container and barely a second later the screaming starts. Izuku can’t blame them. It’s not every day that you are in lab, and suddenly three people who have no right to be there appear out of thin air. 

The Doctor raises a finger to his lips before loudly hushing them, the screams cutting off as they stare confused at the man.

The woman next to them opens her mouth, but the Doctor hushes them again, gaze traveling over the scientists. Only when he is sure that they won’t speak he takes his fingers down.

“Okay now that we are all calm,” he says, taking another look around before he looks at Jack and Izuku, “RUN!”

The Doctor, Izuku and Jack quickly bolt out of the lab, past the now unfrozen people in the hallways, and out into the street, quickly reorienting themselves before they wind past the masses in the direction out of the city. 

They stop just outside the gate, out of breath. 

“Okay is no one gonna talk about how fucking weird that was?” Jack gasps out, hands on his knees. “Since when does the TARDIS have the ability to shift to a human? And what did she mean with ‘You should know who I am?’. Please don’t tell me something like this has happened before.”

Both Izuku and Jack turn to the Doctor who seems to be still lost in thought.

“Doctor,” Izuku gently prods and the man slightly startles.

“The matrix once involuntarily inhabited a humanoid body, but no I have never seen something like this before either,” the Doctor answers with knitted eyebrows.

“You are thinking about what she said, aren’t you?” Izuku questions and the Doctor shakes his head.

“It doesn’t matter,” he says. “As long it is not a fixed point there’s nothing to fear.”

Jack and Izuku share a glance as the man walks ahead. 

“Has the TARDIS ever directly communicated with the Doctor like this before?” Izuku questions Jack as they trail behind the man, keeping his voice quiet.

“I don’t think so,” Jack says. “Or else he wouldn’t be so shaken up about it.”

“A difficult decision,” Izuku echoes the TARDIS’ words. “You don’t think-”

“Like the one he had to make during the Time War?” Jack finishes for him and he looks troubled. “I don’t hope so, but seeing the TARDIS interfering so directly worries me.”

Izuku mutely nods.

Why would the Doctor need a reminder? Especially a reminder to save people? He was the most selfless man Izuku had ever met. 

Up ahead they finally see the TARDIS — back in her normal form — standing and the Doctor absentmindedly strokes the sides before opening the doors, already going inside. 

Izuku and Jack give the man a minute alone, quickly gathering up their picnic and blanket before stepping inside.

Izuku almost drops what he is holding when he sees the Doctor’s expression — he tries to hide it when they come in, but Izuku sees the silent panic shimmering in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Izuku demands to know, carelessly depositing the stuff next to the console and stepping up to the Doctor who is staring at the monitor. 

“We have direct emergency signals,” he says, gnawing at his lips.

“I thought we get emergency signals all the time?” Jack questions, depositing his share a lot more careful than Izuku had.

“It’s not a normal emergency signal, it’s like it’s been specifically primed to intercept the TARDIS,” the Doctor explains, gulping. “And there’s two of them.”

“Like they have the TARDIS’ phone number? Could they be former companions?” Izuku suggests, but the Doctor shakes his head.

“One of them is coming from your timeline, Japan,” the Doctor says. “The other could be, it’s from London, 2023.”

“You should head to Izuku’s timeline first then,” Jack decides. “After all, you will have to eventually return there anyway.”

Izuku narrows his eyes at the man.

“What do you mean ‘you’?” Izuku questions. “You are coming with us.”

Jack shakes his head.

“Just in case anything goes wrong or you guys take longer I should head to the one in London,” he says. “Make sure that’s taken care of so you guys don’t have to split your focus.”

Izuku gulps against the knot in his throat and curses the fact that his voice is wobbly when he speaks.

“You want to split up?”

Jack smiles at him — all mischievous and sly.

“This is not goodbye,” he promises. “I’m immortal after all, remember?”

“But I’m not,” Izuku blurts out before his brain catches up with his heart.

Jack’s smile falls and he grasps Izuku by his shoulders.

“This is not goodbye,” Jack reassures, squeezing him and drawing him into a hug, kissing his hair. “It’s not.”

Izuku breathes in the man’s cologne and silently mourns the fact that he came to associate comfort with it. He holds back his tears, counting to 10, and only then breaks the hug.

The Doctor looks at them with an indescribable look. 

Jack pulls the man in for a one-handed hug and the Doctor catches his arm before the former can step away.

“Don’t die,” he says seriously and Jack laughs, heartily.

“Don’t make me promise impossible things,” Jack jokes. “I’ll come back.”

“I’m serious,” the Doctor declares. “I don’t want to lose you.”

Jack’s smile melts into something more small and genuine.

“You’ve changed for the better,” he claims. “I’m also serious. How could I give up either of you?”

Jack presses a kiss against the Doctor’s lips and when he pulls back his eyes twinkle with mischief. 

“I gotta exploit this as much as I can,” Jack winks and this time the Doctor lets him go.

The Doctor solemnly puts in the coordinates for the second emergency signal and they all stare up at the central console as the TARDIS whirs. 

They are quiet when the TARDIS lands and it’s only broken when Jack pushes away from where he had been leaning against the railings, heading to the door, with both Izuku and the Doctor following him.

Jack hesitates for a second at the door, before pushing through it and opening the door for a moment, assessing the situation but blocking the view with his body. 

“Oh no,” Jack laughs as he turns around, shaking his head and stopping the Doctor from peeking outside. “You don’t get to look. Or else you’ll want to come.”

The Doctor slightly pouts.

“I didn’t do that entire speech for you to just go ahead and ruin the entire plan,” Jack adds, holding steadily against the Doctor’s puppy eyes.

He then nods at Izuku, before saluting the Doctor and pushing through the door, it falling close with a loud thump. 

Both Izuku and the Doctor stare longer at the closed door than needed before they set into motion, the Doctor putting in the coordinates for the other emergency signal and pulling the lever. They stand, listening to the TARDIS as they hold hands, reassuring themselves that the other is still there.

Jack holds his breath until the TARDIS fades away before taking a look around, wandering through the streets.

He’s about to contemplate if he should contact UNIT and see if they know what’s wrong when a spaceship suddenly falls from the sky, crashing into Earth in the far distance. 

Jack takes a deep breath, before setting into the direction of it.

“Let’s take care of it this quickly,” he murmurs to himself. “Can’t keep Izuku or the Doctor waiting.”

Chapter Text

“Please tell me we aren’t at UA again,” Izuku asks as the Doctor peeks outside the TARDIS when they finally land.

“I don’t remember UA being in the middle of the forest.”

“Well, that’s new I guess,” Izuku murmurs, and the grass rustles under his feet as he steps out of the TARDIS.

Something prickles his nose and he suppresses a cough as his eyes water.

He takes a look around and off the distance dark smoke colors the night dark grey.

“A burning forest,” Izuku corrects with a sigh, and Izuku and the Doctor share a glance before setting out in the direction of the fire. 

They break through a line of trees onto a small path and already now it’s difficult for him to keep track of where they came from. At least in an urban environment or on other alien planets there was always a landmark to orientate himself. He hopes they will find the TARDIS when this is over again. 

The air feels thinner up here and his breaths are shallow as they follow along the path. He almost stumbles over a root, but the Doctor steadies him by grasping his elbow, shooting him a worried glance which Izuku ignores. 

It doesn’t take them long to find something, however, because barely a few meters later they find an unconscious figure on the ground. He lets out a sigh of relief when he sees their chest moving up and down although it’s rather faint. 

“Smoke-” A cough shakes Izuku. “Smoke inhalation?”

The Doctor kneels down, feeling for a pulse just to make sure before softly moving the body into a better position as he scans them with a sonic screwdriver. It’s a boy around Izuku’s with ivory-colored hair and a big row of teeth.

Suddenly the Doctor presses a handkerchief against Izuku’s mouth, also pressing one against his own as he speaks through it.

“There’s something poisonous in the air,” he explains, Izuku taking over holding the cloth on his own. “It’s a bit widespread and faint, but if we inhale too much of it we might pass out like this boy here. No wonder you were feeling light-headed.”

“Sounds like the work of a quirk,” Izuku says, voice slightly muffled. “Although it as easily could have been some kind of grenade.”

The Doctor nods and they creep further along the path, keeping an eye out for more unconscious people.

A shout draws their attention and they quicken their steps, coming face to face with a confrontation. Two girls are in a stand-off with another girl in a school uniform handling a knife. One seems to be bleeding from her arm. 

When the one with the knife sees them she seems to pout before evading the next attack from the girl with frog mutations in an acrobatic move and landing on a low-hanging branch with the click of her tongue.

“Shiggy didn’t tell us there would be reinforcements,” she complains. “Well, I don’t want to get killed, so this will have to be goodbye Ochako and Tsutsu.” 

She disappears into the trees and both girls slump in relief until they seem to realize her words and twirl around to face Izuku and the Doctor. 

“Are you with them?” the dark-green-haired girl hisses at them, stepping protectively in front of her classmate who is clutching her arm. “The villains?”

Both Izuku and the Doctor raise their arms.

“No, no,” Izuku quickly reassures. “We are not villains.”

“Are you Pro Heroes then? Reinforcements like she said?” she narrows her eyes at them.

“Something along those lines,” the Doctor replies, stepping closer still raised arms and nodding at the brown-haired girl who is still holding her arm. “Can I see? I’m a Doctor.”

The green-haired girl gnaws at her lip before stepping aside, the Doctor taking the girl’s arm into his hands with a concentrated face.

“What’s this place?” Izuku questions and the green-haired girl licks her lips.

“It’s UA’s Summer Camp.”

Both Izuku and the Doctor audibly groan and meet each other eyes with annoyed faces.

The brown-haired girl slightly bristles in the Doctor’s hold and almost jerks away her arm.

“You have a problem with UA?”

Izuku lets out a bone-deep tired sigh.

“No it’s just...”

“It’s always UA,” the Doctor finishes for Izuku. “And here I thought London was bad.”

“I would rather take an alien invasion in London at this point,” Izuku mutters. “How many things can happen in UA in a year?”

“You mean the USJ attack?” the green-haired girl questions, clearly confused.

“No,” Izuku says. “I’m talking about the bloody Cybermen on the Entrance Exam and the Varfayis at the Sports Festival.”

“And the Not-Raxacoricofallapatorian when I met you,” the Doctor supplies, stepping away from the brown-haired girl, wound treated. 

The Doctor sniffs slightly.

“I still regret not asking for the name of his species,” he complains.

“Shouldn’t have melted his brother,” Izuku teases lightly and the Doctor scoffs, making a throw-away gesture.

“Families.”

Izuku gives him a look. 

“Wait, are you the vigilantes who freed me at the Sports Festival?” the brown-haired girl interrupts their banter. 

Izuku now pays more attention to her face and realizes she was indeed under the frozen people they found with the Varfayis — that was the species of the alien they encountered, the Doctor had told him later they were a sister species to the Krafayis. 

“Vigilantes?” Izuku questions with a raised eyebrow. 

“Well we didn’t know your names,” the brown-haired girl says with a huff. “Monoma said you were underground heroes, but we couldn’t find anything on you guys and then we all got questioned by Nedzu and Aizawa-Sensei about the whole deal which can only mean you guys were vigilantes.”

“Well that’s a first,” the Doctor says slightly amused. “I’m the Doctor, but so far people only have called me pest or ‘Get out of here’ before.”

Izuku rolls his eyes with a snort, shaking his head.

“I’m Izuku.”

“I’m Uraraka,” the brown-haired girl introduces herself, before nodding at her classmate. “And that’s Asui. So you aren’t vigilantes either?”

Izuku shrugs his shoulders.

“Technically vigilantes are defined as people who illegally use their quirks to stop a crime or help people,” he explains with a sniff. “So no.”

“Wait does that mean you aren’t using your quirk or you don’t have one?” Uraraka follows up, but Izuku just gives her a shit-eating grin, making her groan. 

“But you are here to help?” Asui asks, slightly gruffly and Izuku shares a glance with the Doctor before toning down his smile into something more genuine.

“Yes we are here to help.” 

Asui nods stiffly. 

“Then we should head back to the main lodge,” she says, “We may have been given permission to defend ourselves, but we shouldn’t seek out fights.”

The Doctor raises his eyebrow as they start walking along the path. 

“You guys need permission to defend yourself?” he sounds baffled, and having spent the last months with the Doctor he did come to realize that Japan’s laws about self-defense and quirk use were… less than ideal. Especially with the amounts of times, they find themselves in precarious situations. 

“If they use their quirks,” Izuku adds, but the Doctor still shakes his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“That’s just…” the man trails off, not being able to find the words.

“Bullshit?” Izuku supplies and the Doctor gives him a half-hearted scolding look. 

“I was settling for bonkers but yes,” he agrees. 

“Well we can’t go back in time to change the laws so we’ll have to do,” Uraraka says with a shrug and the Doctor lightens up.

“Don’t even think about it,” Izuku says in a warning tone and the man deflates again. 

Uraraka and Asui up ahead of them turn a corner before suddenly freezing and backtracking. 

Izuku and the Doctor share a worried glance, subconsciously adapting to the mood and whispering.

“What’s going on?” Izuku questions as they peek around the corner. 

Standing unmovingly on the path is a bulging muscular figure with mint green skin and several arms ending in tools, most of them chainsaws. Their face is covered by a sort of purple helmet, but the most striking thing is their exposed brain. 

“Oh my god Doctor please tell me this isn’t an alien,” Izuku mutters.

“Would you rather want it to be human-made?”

“Fair point,” Izuku gulps.

“It’s called a Nomu,” Asui interrupts.

“There’s several of those?” Izuku hisses.

It twitches and all four of them quickly step back, hiding.

"Unfortunately," Asui says. 

“Well I’m voting we avoid it,” Izuku suggests and Uraraka nods quickly.

“Definitely,” she says. “The last time we saw one in person it fought All Might on almost equal footing.”

Izuku pales.

“Is there another way back to the main lodge?” the Doctor asks and Asui raises a finger to her lips, thinking before she nods.

“I think they said the path makes a big circle and runs back on the other side, so we could cut through the woods,” Asui says and Izuku nods.

“Whatever we can do to not deal with it,” Izuku agrees. 

They hear something crack and when they peer around the corner again the Nomu has moved, slowly walking in their general direction although it doesn’t seem to have seen them yet.

Izuku lets out a low curse before meeting the Doctor’s eyes, both of them wordlessly agreeing to hurry, Uraraka and Asui thankfully recognizing the danger they are in as they quietly move into the forest.

Only when they are far enough in the under woods Izuku dares letting out a sigh of relief. 

They quickly move through the trees and bushes and just when Izuku fears they got lost, they finally walk onto a path and right into a group of people.

It’s 4 students, one with multiple arms, steadying the one with a raven head, both of them trailing after a dual-haired student… and someone Izuku rather wished wasn’t there.

“Deku,” Katsuki seethes. “You have no business being here.”

“Actually someone from here specifically requested our assistance,” the Doctor fake-politely interrupts. 

“You know each other?” Uraraka asks, looking between the three. 

“Yes,” Izuku says at the same time the Doctor mutters, “Unfortunately” — Katsuki not even deeming it a response. 

Izuku hides a snort and fake punches the Doctor in the arm for the comment. 

“Be nice.”

“I’m always nice,” the Doctor complains with a pout.

“No you are British,” Izuku corrects.

The Doctor opens his mouth in mock offense, but before he can utter a word, Izuku gives him a look. 

“How often have you been to London despite the fact you can literally go everywhere you want?”

The Doctor closes his mouth before giving in.

“Okay fair.” 

But then the man follows it up with a, “But British? Couldn’t you at least say Scottish?”

“Do we need to have this conversation now?” Izuku says with a raised eyebrow before countering, “Besides you don’t even have a Scottish accent.”

“I could speak with one-“ the Doctor complains.

“Doctor,” Izuku interrupts. “Not now.”

The Doctor's teeth clamp together and he turns to the UA students who have been watching their interaction perplexed with a sheepish look.

“Right sorry.” 

“Are you two always like this?” Asui asks flatly and both of them just blink at her. 

“Forget I asked,” she shakes her head with a slightly amused face. 

Izuku is about to ask for the names of the other students when a sound draws his attention. It’s mechanical whirring... like that of a chainsaw. 

“Watch out!” Izuku calls out and tackles the dual-haired boy to the floor, the chainsaw traveling in an arc where the boy’s head had been, a few strands of white and red hair falling to the floor. 

Katsuki grabs the hem of both Izuku’s and the boy’s collar, blasting them out of range as the next set of chainsaws goes in their direction.

“It must have wandered in our direction and heard us,” Izuku falls back to the Doctor’s side, the man putting a hand around his shoulders, slightly shielding him.

Izuku gives him a small smile. He knows neither of them could deal with the Nomu, but he appreciates the sentiment. 

“Great,” Katsuki grits out, sending a big blast against one of the arms and only barely able to redirect it so it won’t cut him in half.

“How do we fight it?” Uraraka says in a panicked voice as they all dodge an attack of it, the dual-haired boy trying to freeze it to the ground, but it breaks out only mere seconds later.

The Doctor and Izuku share a glance. 

“We don’t,” the man decides. “We run.”

Both he and the Doctor turn around and head back in the direction they came from, neither of them waiting if the others heed their advice. 

Thankfully they seem to do, although with some slight grumbling and curses on Katsuki’s part as they weave around the trees. 

“It seems like his quirk is mainly the tools he can make,” Izuku analyzes as they run. “If we could only deactivate his quirk…”

“Well there’s Aizawa-Sensei,” Uraraka says with a huff, slowly getting out of breath. 

“Where can we get his help?” the Doctor asks as they sprint through bushes, sticks scratching up their arms.

“At the main lodge,” Urakaka calls. “But there’s no way we get there in time.”

Izuku and the Doctor share a glance.

“Well if it’s only time you need,” the Doctor murmurs as they burst through the under bushes, Izuku perking up when he sees the TARDIS in the distance. “We can plan with that.”

“Thank god someone in this family has a direction sense,” Izuku says through huffing breaths, as they come to a standstill in front of the TARDIS, the rest almost running into them. 

“What’s a stupid wooden box gonna help-“ Katsuki starts complaining, trailing off when the Doctor jams his key into the TARDIS and swings the doors open, revealing the interior.

Izuku quickly follows after the man and it shows which urgency they are in that the man doesn’t even shed his jacket as he heads to the console.

Izuku confirms everyone got in before he closes the door.

“Izuku make sure that thing isn’t getting through,” the Doctor directs and Izuku runs up to the main console, checking if the shield is active. 

Neither of them waits for any of the students to get over their shock, the TARDIS shaking as the creature tries to knock it over. 

“Can someone give me rough coordinates?” the Doctor urges, looking through the monitors at the horrifying creature trying to break through the shield, metal sparks flying as it raises one of its many chainsaws, “I really don’t want to test how good the TARDIS defenses are today.”

“It’s 3,5km east,” Katsuki interrupts and the Doctor glances in his direction before he nods, quickly inputting the new directions 

“Okay everyone hold on, this might get rough,” the Doctor says, not waiting for the students to follow his directions as he pulls the lever. 

The TARDIS lurches and the engine makes a stuttering, screeching sound which makes both Izuku and the Doctor wince. The normal whirring is reduced to a hollowing, squeaky noise as they land with a jolt that would have torn Izuku from his feet if he wasn’t used to the TARDIS.

He quickly heads to the Doctor with a concerned face. 

“Is she fine?” he asks, looking over the Doctor’s shoulder as the man checks the TARDIS perimeters and status. 

“She must have exhausted her resources with the earlier stunt,” the Doctor explains. “We need to go to Cardiff after this to recharge.”

“We are also fine,” someone calls with a suppressed groan and Izuku looks over to see the students clutching their heads, picking themselves up from the floor. 

“What the hell is this place?” Katsuki grits out through his teeth, rubbing his head, a red spot slowly forming. 

“The TARDIS,” the Doctor says proudly. “You’ll get used to it. Although…”

He trails off and stares at Katsuki with an indecipherable face. 

“I’d rather you not.”

Katsuki meets the man’s gaze head-on and scowls. 

“Likewise.” 

Before Izuku can try to defuse the situation, the TARDIS shakes, and Katsuki slams against the railing with a hiss while Izuku and the Doctor hold onto the console with dear life.

“I’ll just go ahead and assume that’s not Aizawa,” the Doctor says, staring at the monitor and watching a bulky muscular man with blonde hair slam the TARDIS’ defenses with an enraged scream.

The camera rotates and cowering in front of the TARDIS’ doors, arms raised above his head is a small boy. He tentatively looks up, clearly confused as to why he is still alive. The TARDIS materializing saved his life. And considering he is in the shield and not outside, for good reason. 

The Doctor seems to have realized this too because he snaps his fingers and the TARDIS’ doors open just as the villain lets out another angry screech.

The little boy seems to act more out of instinct than logic because he scrambles inside, the TARDIS’ door closing after him just as they dematerialize. 

The students seem to recognize him though because they cry out in shock.

“Kouta!” Uraraka calls out but the boy doesn’t seem to hear her as he looks at his surroundings in awe.

“You like it?” the Doctor asks, slightly smug and tearing the boy out of his thoughts as his head snaps in the man’s direction.

Kouta’s mouth opens and closes like a fish, clearly lost for words and Izuku shoves the Doctor playfully.

“Stop teasing him,” Izuku shakes his head. “And since when can you do that?”

Izuku imitates the Doctor snipping his fingers and to his amazement the TARDIS’ doors open, showing that they are still in the swirls of the time vortex.

The Doctor quickly snips his fingers before anyone can get sucked out, closing the doors again.

“We haven’t landed,” he scolds. “And I could do that before I met you, it’s just too dramatic for me.”

“But dramatic enough for that exit?” Izuku questions with a raised eyebrow, but the man just looks away, getting saved by the TARDIS whirring, indicating that they are materializing. 

Izuku shoots the TARDIS a slightly betrayed look before him and the Doctor usher the students and Kouta outside. 

They have landed in front of a wooden cabin and Izuku closes the TARDIS’ door just as another group of students arrives and the teacher Izuku and the Doctor saw at their first turn at UA storms out. Both of them stock at their sight. 

A ginger girl with a ponytail — and doesn’t she look familiar too? — who is helping someone else stand ignores them — apparently deeming them as safe as she turns to the teacher. She looks exhausted. 

“They suddenly retreated.” 

The teacher looks as confused as Izuku feels as he relaxes his grip around his scarf and frowns. 

He doesn’t say anything to her, however, gaze heading to Izuku and the Doctor and addressing them. 

“Nedzu figured you would arrive.” 

“So he’s the one who sent out the emergency signal?” the Doctor hums. “Interesting.” 

“What’s going on?” another teacher — Vlad King if Izuku can place him correctly, storms out of the door. “The sounds of fighting stopped-“

He trails off at their sight and the first teacher — Aizawa? — takes the chance to command him. 

“We need to locate all students and evacuate to the bus,” he says. “There’s no guarantee they won’t attack again.” 

A group of students filter through the door behind Vlad King and a blonde-haired student pushes his way to the front. His eyes widen as he points at Izuku and the Doctor.

“It’s them!” he exclaims and if not everyone was staring at them, they are doing it now.

“Wow, we are popular,” Izuku murmurs. 

He doesn’t get much time to ponder about it because soon they are forgotten in the frenzy of locating all the missing students and other Pro Heroes while the students accounted for start packing their things and that of the other students. 

Izuku and the Doctor just remain near the TARDIS, leaning at the door while they watch the chaos. Both Kouta and Katsuki had stayed near, reluctant to leave them out of their sight — although both for completely different reasons. Izuku recognizes the star-struck expression in the little boy’s eyes oh so well. 

“...What do you think?” Izuku tunes back to the Doctor’s rambles and hums as he crosses his arms over his chest.

“It is strange,” he admits. “They left rather abruptly considering they were clearly overwhelming UA. You think they achieved their goal?”

“Considering what we read about the other times I highly doubt that,” the Doctor replies.

They had occupied their time with reading up on the Nomu and the USJ attack Asui had mentioned — rumors had it the so-called League of Villains wanted to kill All Might. Coupled with the terror they had spread during Hosu it did seem unusual for them to back off so early. 

“You need a lot of medical and technical knowledge to make bio-engineered humanoid weapons,” Izuku adds. “Whoever is backing the League must have a lot of funds.”

And that’s the conclusion they had drawn for themselves — the attacks had been coordinated and carefully planned. There is no way a group this small, although they seem to have gained members, considering the girl they encountered, as well as the blonde-haired villain, weren’t there for the USJ attack — and there was also the matter of the person who had lit the fire and spread the poison gas — would have resources for the Nomu. 

“It’s a shame I couldn’t collect any samples to analyze and cross-reference,” the Doctor says. “The technique just seems familiar for some reason.”

Before Izuku can reply Aizawa steps into the clearing with the last few students bound around his back with his scarf. A few students run to meet him, helping him with the unconscious students and boarding them onto the bus Vlad King had driven into the clearing. 

“Right now I’m asking myself how they want to fit everyone into that bus,” Izuku jokes and the Doctor snorts.

Aizawa goes over to speak with the members of the Wild, Wild Pussycats before he heads in their direction. 

“I’d like you to drive with us back to UA,” the man says and the Doctor huffs out air through his nose.

“In that bus?” he questions. “Besides I’m not leaving the TARDIS here.”

The Doctor pats the side of the TARDIS.

Aizawa nods in understanding.

“Of course not,” he says. “However I think we might have a solution if Nedzu is to be trusted.”

The man turns to the bus and Izuku can faintly see Vlad King sitting behind the wheel, clearing waiting for a sign.

“You can press it now!” Aizawa shouts. 

The Pro Hero seems to press something and suddenly a hatch opens at the rear end of the bus and a mechanical arm of some sort extends outwards before it picks up the TARDIS, magnets locking it into place. 

Both Izuku and the Doctor blink at the scene, but also the students who aren’t in the bus yet gape at the sight. 

“Satisfied?” Aizawa asks and the Doctor nods, impressed.

Aizawa then ushers the rest of the students in, before Izuku and the Doctor board the bus. It’s completely packed inside and some students sit on each other’s lap to make enough room for everyone. 

“It will be a wonder if this bus goes anywhere,” Izuku mutters. “There’s no way we aren’t exceeding the weight limit.”

As his gaze travels over the assembled students he notices that Kota and the Wild, Wild Pussy Cats aren’t in the bus and as he looks out of the window he sees them standing in front of the lodge.

“They are not coming?” Izuku asks and Aizawa glances in his direction. 

“They’ll stay here to receive the police,” the man explains before he nods at the driver's seat. “There’s another thing Nedzu told me to do when you are here.”

Vlad King steps back from the seat and Aizawa leans forward to press a hidden button. 

The Doctor lets out a whistle as the driver’s seat suddenly transforms into the cockpit of a spacecraft and the bus around them also transforms, wings extending from the sides and slightly lifting them from the ground and making them hover a few inches in the air. 

The Doctor excitedly checks out the monitors and interface, scanning it with his sonic screwdriver. 

“Oh this is good!” the Doctor exclaims. “Not human technology in a hundred years though, it’ll take you a bit to warm up to neutron drives. It’s slightly outdated, but it's definitely from the Wrarth Galaxy.” 

“Nedzu is an alien,” Izuku concludes and the Doctor nods, contemplating before he agrees.

“Most likely.”

“Lovely,” Izuku says, resting his arm on the backrest of the chair as the Doctor lets out an appreciative hum as he looks at the data from the scan.

“Izuku can you fly it?” the Doctor asks. “I need to check this so it doesn’t break on us halfway through and see if I can find out why the speed is capped.”

Izuku easily agrees, settling in the chair, and as soon as his hand touches the interface it lights up, scanning him for a moment before a green light floods the screen.

COMPANION: ID-59 RECOGNIZED. ACCESS GRANTED.

“ID-59? Does that mean I am the 59th companion?” Izuku asks as he gets familiar with the controls, quickly realizing that this will be way easier and more straightforward to fly than the TARDIS.

The Doctor slightly tilts his head from where he has opened a panel and is sticking his hand into the wires.

“I’m not sure,” he says. “You might be.”

Izuku lets out a hum, before fiddling with the interface.

“Do we have the coordinates of UA?”

“About 34.9,138.1,” Aizawa replies, reminding Izuku and the Doctor that they have an audience. 

Izuku doesn’t let it deter him though, as he inputs them so he knows where he needs to go.

“Well then,” Izuku says as he puts a hand on the control stick. “Plus Ultra.”

The bus lurches as they shoot forward into the air before they settle into a consistent speed, Izuku controlling perimeters and altitude as he keeps his left hand on the control, Aizawa stepping away to give him a bit more space. 

“Why can he fly a spaceship?” someone asks, voice traveling to the front and Izuku snorts. 

“Spaceship? This old thing?” Izuku answers with a raised eyebrow. “It doesn’t even hold a candle to the TARDIS.” 

“You are just saying that because she can hear you,” the Doctor says with a few cables in his mouth, and Izuku sniffs.

“It’s not like I’m telling lies.”

The Doctor shakes his head fondly before focusing on what he had been doing before again. 

Someone clears their throat and Izuku catches the dual-haired boy in the reflection staring intently at them. 

His gaze seems to flicker between Izuku and the Doctor and his voice is slightly hesitant when he finally speaks up, becoming more determined towards the end. 

“Are you two… father and son?”

Katsuki from where he had been sitting the farthest away loudly bristles.

“Are you blind, they look nothing alike, besides-“

“Yes,” Izuku cuts in, partly because of spite, partly because he thought of the Doctor as a father figure although they had never talked about it — not even when Izuku or others had alluded to thinking the same. 

“And he’s the best son I could ask for,” the Doctor adds, narrowing his eyes at Katsuki and daring him to disagree.

Izuku smiles at the Doctor as the man ruffles his hair, letting out a quiet relieved sigh when the man turns away to focus on rewiring something.

He settles back comfortably into his seat and is about to relax a little when a sound draws his attention, like the sounds of wings flapping. Very large wings.

Izuku looks out of the side window and suppresses a curse.

“We have trouble incoming,” Izuku informs. “Did you find a way to reverse the limit on the speed?”

“I’m gonna need a few more minutes,” the Doctor says. “But with it we should be able to clear the rest of the distance in a second.”

Izuku observes the winged Nomu trailing them and tears the control to the right side, off the road he had been loosely following, into the woods again.

“I’m afraid we are gonna need to do a bit of detour,” he grits out through his teeth as he maneuvers the bus through the trees, the students crying out in shock as he takes sharp turns to try and confuse the Nomu as it starts diving for them.  

Suddenly there’s a loud thump on top of the roof and the students start screaming as talons try to tear through the metal. 

Izuku makes a roll, hoping to shake the Nomu off, but it only skids across the side of the bus, cracking the windows as it tries to climb back up the roof. 

“Doctor!” Izuku shouts, yanking the control up and the Nomu slides to the rear end, students scrambling to the front side of the bus. 

“5 seconds,” the man answers, teeth clenched and Izuku lets out a curse as he hears metal screech. 

“Now!” the Doctor calls and directs his sonic screwdriver at the console, the bus accelerating to light speed and coming to an abrupt stop not a second later as Izuku hits the brakes, crashing against the side of the UA building. He has no time to brace for the impact.

An enraged scream draws his slightly concussed mind's attention away from the destroyed and smoking cockpit to the back of the bus.

“BAKUGO!”

There’s a gaping hole in the roof, looking like it had been torn away before they sped up and Katsuki is nowhere to be seen. 

Chapter Text

Izuku stares at the spot Katsuki had been sitting in, complaining just a few minutes prior. 

They had been so close. So close.

He closes his eyes, exhaling shakily.

“Are you injured somewhere?” a voice tears him out of his thoughts and it’s the Doctor peering down at him worryingly. 

“No, No I-” He gulps, shaking his head. “I should be fine.”

He stands up from his seat and only then he notices a faint line of blood dripping down the Doctor’s forehead. 

“You are bleeding!” he exclaims with wide eyes, reaching out with his hands to grasp the Doctor’s face, the man having to bend down a little bit awkwardly so Izuku can reach it.

“It’s just a small cut,” the Doctor claims as Izuku inspects the wound.

Izuku gnaws at his lips as he stares at the blood and the Doctor grasps his hands, putting one each over one of his hearts, his heartbeat drumming strongly under his fingers.

“Really I’m fine,” the man reassures.

“As touching as that moment is, we are missing a student, so could we?” Aizawa interrupts and points at the closed door leading outside. 

The Doctor lets go of one of Izuku’s hands, reaching into his inside pocket and pulling out his sonic screwdriver at the door, it opening a second later.

“I’m just gonna not ask,” Aizawa mutters, glancing at the tool before shaking his head and going outside, meeting his colleagues who must have heard the crash and are running to meet him. 

The students trail out after the man and Vlad King, looking as lost as Izuku feels, comforting each other. The impact had woken up the unconscious people, but they were still wobbly on their feet. 

The Doctor squeezes his hand before they also step outside. 

Aizawa is finishing up his talk with the other teachers just as they reach him and he instantly turns to address them, the rest of the teachers spreading out to take care of the students. 

“Nedzu will want to talk to you,” he says, both Izuku and the Doctor nodding at that, before they hear something vibrating, and the man fishes out a phone out of his pockets. 

Aizawa stares at the message with knitted eyebrows, before he pockets his phone again.

“All Might also wants to see you.”

“Ah!” the Doctor exclaims, like it makes perfect sense, back paddling only a second later. “Wait why?”

“Maybe because you pretended to be his assistant?” Izuku guesses, and the Doctor hums.

“Ah right, already forgot about that again,” he says with a sniff before drawling, “Is he hiring? At this point, I‘m doing his job better than he is.”

“Doctor!” Izuku snorts, slightly scandalized. 

“We‘ve been to UA what? 3 or 4 times in the past 6 months?” the Doctor says. “Back in the day I only had to visit Earth once every 2 years to prevent a major crisis in your present.”

“Has it been already 6 months?” Izuku realizes. “And we still haven’t been to Florana once.”

The Doctor lets out a groan.

“I keep telling you the TARDIS doesn‘t want us there,” he says with a sigh. “You even tried yourself.”

“Yeah because it‘s probably one of the few places where nothing happens and the TARDIS hates that,” Izuku grumbles. 

“Hey,” the Doctor chides. “She always takes us to where we need to go.” 

Izuku just gives the man a look. 

Aizawa clears his throat and they both turn to him. 

“I meant now,” he clarifies and the Doctor blinks before he enthusiastically nods his head.

“Of course,” he says and Aizawa nods before he starts leading them into the building, past the staircase they had taken last time up the roof, to an inconspicuous door. 

It opens before the teacher has a chance to knock, revealing a rather spacious office as well as a whiteboard filled with a messy timeline and several photos pinned to it. As Izuku’s eyes fly over the first row, they stop on the last one which is clearly a photo of the Doctor — although several years younger if Izuku had to guess.

Which means that the other men beforehand must the Doctor’s previous incarnations

“Ah I see you are a fan of me,” the Doctor jokes, confirming Izuku’s suspicions. 

Under the Doctor’s previous (and present) incarnations — if Izuku has to guess — are a few of his companions pinned, Izuku recognizes Donna next to his own picture. His photo seems to be from a surveillance camera where he’s still wearing his Aldera School Uniform — the first time he went to UA and met the Doctor. 

He looks so small in it and unsure. Suddenly he understands why the Doctor thought he had grown taller. He had become more confident and didn’t make himself smaller anymore, essentially “growing” a few inches. 

“You missed a few incarnations though,” the Doctor points out. “Since then I wore a bow tie, I was a Scotsman and a woman.”

The Doctor sniffs. 

“I miss being a Scotsman, I could complain about things.” 

Aizawa knits his eyebrows together. 

“You shouldn’t-“

“You shouldn’t know about that,” the Doctor ends for the man, “Yes I know.”

He steps up to the whiteboard and flips it, revealing the whole timeline with the rest of the incarnations he described.

Izuku steps up to the 10th one, picking up the photograph.

“It is the same face,” Izuku says, comparing it to the Doctor standing next to him. “But you still look different.”

Less exhausted and weary — he doesn’t say.

“Yeah well I’m much older now,” the Doctor admits. 

“I wasn’t aware you are able to regenerate into a previous face,” a new voice perks up and startles both Izuku and the Doctor.

They turn to the mammal sitting behind the desk and nursing a tea Izuku had completely overlooked.

“You must be Nedzu,” the Doctor greets and the principal nods.

“Indeed,” Nedzu replies. “And you are the famous Doctor.”

The Doctor raises an eyebrow.

“I wasn’t aware I’m famous in this hemisphere,” the Doctor says, before he hums, pinning Nedzu with a gaze.

“Although you aren’t from here either. You ran quite far,” the Doctor remarks. “Earth is on the other side of the universe. Why are trying to hide on it?”

Nedzu’s whiskers twitch.

“My species is not well regarded,” he says, words carefully chosen. “I decided to distance myself from them.”

“I did that too once,” the Doctor says with a shrug, seeming to surprise Nedzu. “I understand.”

He turns back to the whiteboard, hands ghosting over the photos of his former companions. 

“Did you find out all this on your own?” the man questions, staring at the image of a brown-haired girl under his 12th incarnation. “Your collected data is quite impressive — not many know all of my faces.”

“No, but I’m not the only one interested in you as you are well aware,” Nedzu answers. “Especially the Hero Commission spends extensive resources to keep tabs on you.”

The Doctor raises an eyebrow, turning away from the whiteboard, gaze finally broken. 

“Am I correct to assume that you haven’t reported my involvement with any of the incidents to them then?”

Nedzu smile is a little bit sharp and his eyes twinkle with something Izuku can’t make out. 

“You learn fast.”

The Doctor hums, not intimidated by the principal.

“More of a logical conclusion,” he says. “You questioned the students involved discreetly and made sure not one civilian lost a word over the matter. Now of course that could mean you were only protecting your school image, but information like this has a tendency to leak, especially with as many parties as these, but despite that, the only thing left were rumors.”

“You are a very interesting man, Doctor,” Nedzu responds, grinning only wider. 

The Doctor shrugs.

“I like to think I am,” he admits. “Now what do you really want to talk about?”

Nedzu’s smile sobers.

“Have you ever heard of a man called All For One before?”

The Doctor knits his eyebrows together, frowning before he shakes his head.

“I thought as much,” Nedzu says. “The Hero Commission has classified him as just as if not even more dangerous than you.”

That catches the attention of the Doctor.

“They even allowed All Might to kill him.”

“But he’s not that easy to kill?” the Doctor interrupts and Nedzu sighs.

“Unfortunately that is the case,” the principal agrees. “He has the ability to take and store as many quirks he can, life-lengthening under them.”

“Is he the one behind the Nomus?” Izuku finally speaks up and Nedzu’s cold eyes land on Izuku. He barely manages to not flinch. 

“We think so,” Nedzu confirms. 

“And you want our help to defeat him and get back your student?” the Doctor follows up.

“That would have been my next request, yes,” Nedzu easily acknowledges. 

“I don’t interfere in non-alien matters,” the Doctor says, putting a hand on Izuku’s back to stop him from saying anything, latter deciding to trust him with where he is going with this. 

“How can you-”, Aizawa starts, clearly enraged and Izuku had almost forgotten the man was here.

“You don’t want to do it out of the goodness of your heart?” Nedzu sounds more amused than scandalized, interrupting Aizawa. “Or despite the fact that he is the childhood friend of your companion?”

The principal holds up a pawn in the Aizawa’s direction and the teacher settles back down, teeth clenched. 

“If you’ve done your research properly you would know that friends is tenuous at best,” the Doctor says, before sighing. “What I want to know is on whose side you are.”

He fixes Nedzu with a gaze.

“If your species were to invade Earth would you follow them or would you defend it?” the Doctor asks. “Are you here for peace or for war?”

“I’m here to protect my students and my staff,” Nedzu answers, voice resolute. “No matter their background.”

“Then we will help you,” the Doctor decides, and Aizawa bristles.

“You just said-”

“It was a test to see where your loyalties lie,” the Doctor doesn’t let Aizawa speak and his eyes seem to darken. “Because Earth is protected by me.”

He doesn’t need to finish the sentence to send a shudder down the teacher’s spine at the assumed consequences of betrayal. 

Nedzu’s smile seems even more animalistic and wild at the threat. 

“And so is UA by me,” the principal adds and an understanding passes between the two. 

Nedzu clears his throat when the moment passes.

“There is something else you will need to know about All For One and why I knew who you were before I hacked the Commission’s database,” he says. “However that is not my story to tell.”

The door to their left suddenly opens. 

“Ah there he is.”

All Might stands in the doorframe and then he is bowing down to Izuku and the Doctor.

“I’ve waited a long time to finally meet you two.”

“Us two?” Izuku somehow finds the strength to form words and he has to thank the Doctor for strengthening his confidence because his former self for sure would have stammered. “Not just the Doctor?”

All Might straightens and his eyes burn.

“You are the ones who saved my predecessors.”

Both Izuku and the Doctor’s eyebrows raise in disbelief.

“Allow me to explain,” All Might says and fully enters the office, the door closing behind him.

The coach looks tiny behind his big frame as they eventually settle down, but Izuku gets even more surprised when the man suddenly seems to deflate, leaving only a skeleton in his place.

“I have to apologize that you have to see me in this state, but I need to preserve my strength.”

And the man actually does seem apologetic as he coughs into a handkerchief, staining it with blood that makes both Izuku and the Doctor wince.

But it doesn’t stop there because All Might suddenly pulls up his shirt, revealing a gnarly scar that makes Izuku hiss out in sympathy. 

“This is a wound All For One has given me,” he explains. “I am the eighth user of a special power gifted to me to defeat him and I thought I had succeeded until the appearance of the League of Villains and the Nomus.”

“The eight?” the Doctor hums. “So by your predecessors you mean a former user?”

All Might nods and clenches his right fist.

“Along with One For All, a story had been passed down over the users,” he says. “Of a tale of two men who saved the first user from sure death. It was drilled into us to never forget their names.”

All Might takes a deep breath.

“The Doctor and Izuku.”

Izuku and the Doctor share a glance. There was only one candidate who made sense. Yoichi. 

“How do you know it’s truly us?” the Doctor questions and All Might reaches into his jacket pulling out an old-fashioned polaroid which had been slowly withered down by age.

But undeniably it is them as he shows them, sitting behind the microscope the Doctor had built out of scrap to analyze Yoichi’s blood cells.

“Can’t believe your abomination managed to make it onto a photograph,” Izuku mutters as he stares at the image. 

“Very funny,” the Doctor gives him a side glance. 

“And of course, the only people we met and helped turn out to be important for history,” Izuku adds with a sigh. 

“Is this a bad spot to mention that Kaeda along with Ilkari and Fleya later stopped another galactic war from breaking out by catching and bringing the alien we encountered to prison? They were celebrated as war heroes.”

“Yes,” Izuku says promptly. 

“So, you don’t want to know about-”

“No, I don’t,” Izuku cuts in, and the Doctor pouts. 

“Actually I-” All Might perks up, but he trails off after seeing Izuku’s stern gaze.

A knock interrupts their conversation and a moment later Vlad King peeks inside, clearly troubled by something.

“Sir?” he addresses Nedzu. “We… have a situation.”

Izuku is sure Nedzu would have raised an eyebrow if it was possible for the mammal — alas only his whiskers twitch as he nods at the Pro Hero to continue.

Vlad King’s glance darts to the Doctor and Izuku.

“Midoriya Inko has demanded to let her see and speak to Midoriya Izuku.”

Izuku’s eyes widen. How did she know he was here?

“And what was your response?” Nedzu follows up, and Vlad-King sweat-drops.

“She didn’t let me answer.”

The door gets fully pushed open and standing slightly to the side of Vlad King, shortly behind him is Izuku’s mother — anger radiating from her like waves.

“What an interesting turn of events,” Nedzu slightly snickers. 

Inko ignores the principal as she storms at Izuku, and for a moment he fears she will slap him, but she pulls him into a bone-crushing as she starts to sob. Izuku’s hands flail aimlessly at his sides before he remembers to hug her back and comfort her, but she doesn’t seem to even hear his words.

He sends a desperate gaze to the Doctor who just watches them with a barely hidden smile.

“Mom,” Izuku tries again. “Why are you here?”

“It seems like we have gotten a leak,” Nedzu says in lieu of explaining as his hands fly over the keyboard of his computer.

A moment later a video gets displayed on a monitor next to the whiteboard — it shows the moment when the Nomu had attacked the bus-morphed spaceship and Izuku desperately tried to shake it off, the handy camera sometimes flicking between Izuku flying and the students screaming as the Nomu claws dents the bus. It also shows the moment the Nomu had managed to break through the roof and had clawed Katsuki, kidnapping him before it was thrown off when they accelerated to light speed. 

“Ah,” Izuku can only bring out.

“Don’t go,” his mother suddenly says, trembling in his hold. “Please don’t go.” 

She pushes herself off his chest, staring up at him with tears in her eyes.

“You can’t,” she pleads.

“Mom,” Izuku brings one of her hands to his lips, holding back tears. “I’m sorry.”

She closes her eyes, a tear trailing down her cheek, defeated. When she opens her eyes again she turns to the Doctor, her voice hoarse.

“You have to promise-”

“Mom!” Izuku interrupts, but she shakes her head.

“You have to promise that you’ll protect him.”

“I will.” The Doctor doesn’t even hesitate. 

“Good.”

Inko clears her throat before she steps back, grasping Izuku by his shoulders.

“When you came back I told you that you’ve changed.” She searches his gaze. “Now I realize that what you have said was true. You’ve grown up when I wasn’t looking.”

Izuku gulps, throat dry.

“It feels just like a day ago that you were 4 years old and asked me if you could become a hero,” she continues. “And now I’m giving you the answer I should have: Yes, you can. You already have.” 

She smiles and it’s something fragile, cloaked in melancholy and bitterness. 

“So save him,” she says. “Save Katsuki.”

Izuku lets out a stuttering breath and only manages a nod. He doesn’t even notice her leaving until the Doctor settles a hand on his head and meets his gaze with a comforting smile before he turns to Nedzu.

“So what do we have got?”

“Where is Bakugo-shonen?” All Might’s voice booms across the battlefield. 

Katsuki had been nowhere found at the bar, just the League and Nomus to greet them. By the time All Might managed to arrive at the secondary location, All For One had already destroyed the warehouse and defeated the Pro Heroes on the scene. 

All For One chuckles, deeply.

“They took interest in him,” he says. “They said his core was filled with deep hatred. Perhaps they felt a kinship with the boy.”

“Who’s they?” All Might demands to know. 

“I owe them my life,” All For One admits. “Garaki is talented, but even he struggled when you almost killed me. But they?”

He trails off before laughing.

“They made me even better than before.” 

He stretches his arms out in a wide gesture and suddenly a futuristic barrel with a muzzle bursts out of his skull. The man raises his hand and a ray gun extends from his palm, shooting energy at All Might before the man can even react.

But before it can reach the Pro Hero a whirring sounds over the area and it gets stopped by the TARDIS materializing, encasing All Might in its force field. 

A second later the door gets opened and the Doctor steps out, eyes burning, Izuku watching from inside the TARDIS.

“They told me you would come, Doctor.”

“They saved your life?” the Doctor echoes darkly. “I know how Daleks create things like you. You are nothing but a dead puppet, doomed to be a slave.”

All For One’s smile is thin as he replies.

“Does it matter?” he asks, posture nonchalant, “Either way we both get what we want. I get to kill All Might and they get to kill you.”

The Doctor narrows his eyes and stops All Might from going forward.

“Where are they hiding?”

“Hiding?” All For one repeats, a smile curling around his lips. “They’ve been with us all along.”

The surface above the man ripples and a spaceship appears.

“They are already waiting for you,” All For One says. “I would hurry if you want the boy alive.”

All Might turns to the Doctor.

“Go,” he says, clenching his fists. “I will handle things here.”

The Doctor takes a deep breath before he nods, entering the TARDIS and it dematerializing, drowning All Might’s next words.

They materialize on the ship, immediately getting surrounded by a swarm of Daleks, Izuku gulping as he sees them for the first time. 

“TARDIS DETECTED!” one of the Dalek reports outside. “EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!”

The Doctor and Izuku share a glance before they both step outside with their arms raised.

“IT IS THE DOCTOR!” a Dalek screeches. “EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!”

“Now let’s not be so hasty, alright?” the Doctor interrupts. “We are old friends, aren’t we?”

“SURRENDER OR THE BOY DIES!” a Dalek says, a monitor lighting up and showing Katsuki gagged and bound somewhere on the ship with a Dalek pointing its gun at him. “YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!”

“Now that’s where you are wrong,” the Doctor says raising a single finger. “I always have a choice. And one of them will make sure that you lose.”

“THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” the same Dalek protests. “YOU ARE UNARMED!”

“And just how many times have I stopped you despite that?”

The Dalek seems to hesitate, looking the Doctor up and down with its eyestalk and moving on the spot, before it seems to malfunction, the other Daleks joining him in their chants.

“EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!”

The Doctor sighs, rolling his eyes.

“Stop it, I can’t hear it anymore,” the Doctor laments, before he pulls out his sonic screwdriver, the cries suddenly stopping. “Do I really have to remind you?”

And suddenly they are standing in the middle of a war, explosions and screams ringing out around them. Mothers and their children are running away as the fight rages on around them. Off the distance, Izuku can hear gunshots ringing out and soldiers commanding each other. Before he can ponder on the scene it switches, showing the Doctor defeating Daleks in almost every incarnation. 

The Daleks around grow more impatient with every new memory until one of the commanding Daleks seems to lose its patience.

“NO MORE!” it screeches, “EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN!”

“You let me talk too much,” the Doctor says and suddenly the sonic screwdriver emits a loud high-pitched sound, the Daleks freaking out and spinning it their spots, screeching, “EXTERMINATE!” and shooting their stun guys everywhere.

The Doctor pulls Izuku off the side before they can get hurt and they hurry out of the room.

“How long will that last?” Izuku says as they run and the Doctor looks back over his shoulder.

“Probably only a few minutes until they override the signal.” 

“Then we need to find Katsuki fast.”

“Already ahead of you,” the Doctor says, a projection popping up showing the blueprint of the Dalek spaceship and blinking dot where Katsuki must be.  

They follow the path to where Katsuki is held and skid past a corner when suddenly the Doctor holds back Izuku and presses themselves into a space into the wall. 

A moment later a few Daleks travel past them, turning the corner they came from and the man lets out a breath of relief.

“That was faster than I expected,” he says as they come out of their hiding space. “We’ll need to be careful.”

Izuku nods and they tread carefully through the corridors, having to hide several times as the Dalek patrol the ship. 

“We are here,” the Doctor says as they stop in front of the door. 

He raises his sonic screwdriver and the door opens, revealing Katsuki bound to a chair with two Daleks guarding him.

“DOCTOR SPOTTED!” one of them reports. “EXTERMINATE!”

Katsuki struggles against his restraints even more furiously when he sees them. 

The Doctor raises an eyebrow, sonic screwdriver still in hand.

“Didn’t you see what happened to the others?” he says and first Daleks seem to hesitate. 

“YOUR DEVICE WILL NOT WORK A SECOND TIME!” the second Dalek screeches.

“What do you want with the boy?” the Doctor questions. “I thought humans were inferior.”

“THE DALEKS ARE SUPERIOR,” the first Dalek answers. “BUT THIS ONE WILL BECOME A GOOD DALEK.”

The Doctor flinches before he narrows his eyes.

“Don’t you remember the last time you tried something like that?”

“WE WILL SUCCEED!” the second Dalek says.

“And what is that device behind you?” the Doctor all of the sudden asks, pointing to a console behind where Katsuki is bound up.

“IT’S A TRANSMAT,” the first Dalek replies, managing to sound confused.

“Exactly,” the Doctor says and points his sonic screwdriver at the transmat, the Dalek getting transported away.

“Where did you send them?” Izuku can’t help but question with wide eyes

“Into an exploding supernova,” the Doctor answers before directing his sonic screwdriver at Katsuki’s restraints who spits out the gag.

The boy rubs his wrists with a pained expression as soon as he is free and grumbles.

“Took you long enough.”

The Doctor ignores the boy, turning back to Izuku.

“If we manage to head to the main console room I can lock the DNA for the transmat, scan for all lifeforms, and make a spaceship-wide teleport.”

Izuku nods but can’t help but joke.

“Not an auto-destruct this time?”

The Doctor snorts.

“If you want to nuke the entirety of Japan if not Earth sure.”

“I’m coming with you,” Katsuki interrupts their banter and the Doctor glances in his direction.

“No you are not,” he decides and before the boy can protest, the man activates the transmat again.

“I hope you changed the coordinates for that.”

“No I send him to the supernova as well,” the Doctor deadpans. 

Izuku raises an eyebrow at the man and the man sniffs.

“Yes I changed the coordinates.”

“Good,” Izuku says brightly, linking arms with the man. “Now let’s save Earth again.”

“Aren’t you the one who is taking things way too lightly this time?” the Doctor slightly complains, although he also smiles.

“You must be rubbing off on me,” Izuku teases, and the Doctor’s smile slightly turns pained.

“I hope not,” he only says as they head in the direction of the main console room. 

The man opens the door when they arrive and to their surprise, not a single Dalek is to be seen.

Isn’t this too easy? Where is the difficult choice the Doctor has to make?

“They must be guarding the TARDIS,” the Doctor explains as the door closes behind them. 

Then he hurries to the main console, fingers flying over different switches and buttons before he directs his sonic screwdriver at it.

“And they are gone!” the Doctor says a bit too cheerfully. 

His broad back is turned to Izuku and covers part of the monitors. When he turns around there’s something unreadable in his eyes, but his voice is steady as he speaks.

“I think I should be fine alone here,” he says.  “I’ll catch up with you at the TARDIS.”

Izuku hesitates, gaze flying over the man until he gives him a small smile, but he notices nothing particularly unusual about the man.  

Izuku breathes out and nods. 

“Okay,” he answers before he leaves the room.

The Doctor turns back to the monitors and steps back from the monitor he had been shielding. 

1 MINUTE UNTIL SYSTEM FAILURE. 

He lets out a shuddering exhale. The Dalek army must have damaged the spaceship during the first move he made. Or maybe they had implanted a virus when they detected him near the main console room. No matter what, they’ve won.

There’s nothing he can do. No clever trick, no last-minute plan. He will need to steer the spaceship out of Earth’s atmosphere before it explodes. He won’t be able to do that and escape at the same time. But he can make sure his last act of life will not endanger Izuku. 

He closes his eyes and places his hand on the control stick. By this time Izuku should have reached the TARDIS and it should have automatically materialized with him back on Earth since he activated the emergency protocols. 

But before he can move his arm in any direction a voice interrupts him.

“You lied to me.”

The Doctor startles and turns around, meeting Izuku’s eyes with shaking eyes as he gulps.

“I’m sorry.”

“No you are not,” Izuku interrupts before the man can say more. “I knew you would.”

The Doctor tries to avoid Izuku’s gaze, but the boy doesn’t let him. 

“Rule Number One: The Doctor lies,” Izuku adds. “Even if it means it will kill himself.”

Izuku stares into the man's eyes, determined.

“I will not let you die alone,” he says, “You don’t get to decide that.”

“But you will not regenerate!” the Doctor snaps back. 

“That’s the risk with being a hero.”

“I thought you didn’t want to be a hero anymore,” the Doctor says desperately. 

“Let’s stop lying to ourselves Doctor,” Izuku answers, loop loop-sided smile on his lips. “Katsuki was right. I’m traveling with you because I can be a hero at your side.”

Izuku takes a deep breath.

“Everything ends Doctor,” he says, steeling himself. “Everything.”

“Not today,” the Doctor replies with fire in his eyes. “I will not let you die.”

Izuku’s smile is genuine but pained when he steps closer to the man.

“I know when a situation is hopeless Doctor,” he says. “There’s nothing we can do. Or else we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Tears well up in the Doctor’s eyes as he shakes his head, breathing out shakily, not wanting to realize it. 

“I forgive you for lying,” Izuku adds. “And I love you.” 

Then he steps next to him, putting a hand on top of the man’s resting on the joystick, and nods. 

“Together.” 

The Doctor gulps against the knot in his throat and closes his eyes before he also nods.  

“Together.” 

They push upwards and the spaceship rises into the sky, faster and faster until the view out of the cockpit is nothing but a blur. Despite knowing that this is the end, that he will die, Izuku can’t help but think it looks beautiful. 

He leans against the Doctor, the man pulling him closer with his free hand and letting him lean his head on his shoulder as the sky melts into black. 

“I wasn’t lying when I said you are the best son I could ever ask for,” the Doctor murmurs, and Izuku smiles, squeezing the man's hand.

“I wasn’t too.”

They watch as the countdown ticks down, 5, 4, 3….

“You are both idiots,” a voice suddenly loudly hisses, Izuku and the Doctor have barely time to turn around and recognize Jack before he grabs a hold of them and activates his vortex manipulator. 

They stagger as they land on the ground and a moment later a loud explosion shakes the sky, almost tearing them to their feet. 

“What about All Might?” Izuku remembers and his head swivels around.

They’ve appeared in the middle of a huge crowd, where a lull had been and he thinks he can see smoke on the horizon.

“He’s fine,” the Doctor says and points at the billboard the crowd had gathered in front, cheering.

On it All Might stands victorious, a fist raised into the air in his skeleton form, cries and shouts sounding out all around them.

“How can you even think about someone else,” Jack complains, still a hand each around their arms. “You two almost died. That’s my job.”

The Doctor and Izuku share relieved glances and laugh, neither commenting on how Jack’s hands are trembling.

“No need to get so sentimental Jack,” Izuku teases, but he doesn’t protest as the man pulls both of them into a hug. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” the Doctor echoes with a nod, before he stiffens, pushing away from the hug. “The TARDIS!”

Now it’s Jack's turn to roll his eyes and sigh.

“She’s fine,” he promises. “Back at UA.”

“Why are you even here?” Izuku questions and Jack scratches the back of his neck.

“I remembered the perimeters for your emergency signal and came here as soon I finished the problem over at London,” he admits. “I must have misjudged the time zones though, so I came later than expected.”

“You came when it mattered,” the Doctor says. “Again.”

“Don’t get used to it,” Jack answers with a wink. 

They all laugh and move away from the crowd, chattering as they walk through the streets to meet back up with the Pro Heroes. 

They get called to speak with Nedzu again when they arrive at UA, the principal thanking them for all their help, before his gaze lands on Izuku, making him a proposal. 

“You could go to UA. You would need to do a few make-up exams, but you got your pass in the practical exam. You could join the hero class in their second year,” Nedzu offers. “You could be a hero.”

Izuku joins arms with the Doctor and smiles at the man. 

“Like my mom said, I already am,” he states. “Besides there’s still so much to see and do. Also, it’ll take a bit until I grow tired of this one.”

Izuku squeezes the Doctor’s arm and mirth dances in both their eyes.

“I also think UNIT wants a chance to recruit me first when I retire.”

“Very well,” Nedzu says and nods. 

They turn around and both smile at Jack standing in the doorway, waiting for them. 

They link arms with him as they reach him, before they leave the school building, going in the direction of the TARDIS, students watching them as they go and some apparently recognizing the Doctor from the news footage as they call out thanks after them. 

However, when the TARDIS comes into view, there’s someone waiting for them there.

Izuku’s eyes widen as he meets Katsuki’s. They are shaking but somehow they seem calmer now. More determined.

Izuku squeezes both the Doctor and Jack’s arms before he extracts himself from their hold, going forward to meet Katsuki alone, waiting patiently for the boy to speak up.

Katsuki gulps as he clenches his fists.

“I won’t fall behind,” he finally says.

Izuku nods, accepting the challenge with a smile.

“Me neither.”

Then the boy turns around and leaves, going in the direction of the school gate, hands buried in his pockets.

Izuku on the other hand turns to both the Doctor and Jack as he brightens.

“Well, what do you guys think?” he says, not able to keep off the smile on his lips. “Another attempt for a vacation?”

“Sure,” the Doctor answers, also smiling, Jack nodding.

They enter the TARDIS together, the whirring sounds of its engine echoing out on the UA grounds for one last time — at least for now.