Infinite DC

The silence inside Neas’s T.A.R.D.I.S. was too much for Gizmo after many passing hours. He thought to chirp the tune that Billy Peltzer once taught him, just to occupy the disconcerting peace, but he could only carry that tune for so long.

Something was wrong.

After Neas, Gen, and Lauren left the console room, they never returned.

He patiently waited until they did, yet it had not happened.

He braved himself to venture out and find his friends, operating the outsized T.A.R.D.I.S. controls by memory of all the times he watched his Time Lord owner do it.

What he found on the other side of the doors frightened the little Mogwai.

A dark, ominous room lit only by the machinery it condensed in its bulbous space.

Other Type-Z T.A.R.D.I.S. capsules stood apart from each other, assorted in a pattern that was like skyscrapers to Gizmo’s miniscule size. Cable lines slithered in and out of them, all connected to a black spherical machine at the center of the room. The multiple lights that blinked on it in a rainbow of colors made him think of Christmas.

“CONNECT THE FINAL T.A.R.D.I.S. TO THE RIFT GENERATOR!”

“IT WILL BE DONE!”

Hearing the screeching, mechanistic voices, Gizmo hid out of sight behind the T.A.R.D.I.S. just as two bronze Daleks approached.

One went inside, lugging another cable that it linked from the spherical generator to the T.A.R.D.I.S. control console. The generator hummed venomously in satisfaction of the extra dose of energy it was fed.

“WE MUST INFORM DAVROS THE GENERATOR IS FULLY ACTIVE!”

“THE DALEK ARMADA WILL REIGN SUPREME OF THIS UNIVERSE AND INFINITE OTHERS!”

The Daleks made their departure through an oval-shaped sliding door.

Gizmo emerged from hiding and suddenly noticed nine other small, furry brown-and-white figures stepping out of the other Type-Z’s.

More Mogwai.

He squeaked out an alarmed gasp, believing these other Mogwai to be duplicates like the incident back in Kingston Falls.

Thankfully, that was not the case.

These other Mogwai were actually versions of him from other points in Neas’s personal timeline. A few of them were just as scared as he was, some were a little bit braver, and then there was one who stood toughest of them all.

Flashing a Rambo-like makeover, complete with a red sweatband and a bow made of a paperclip and rubber band, he asserted himself as leader of the troupe of Mogwai. Words of encouragement, formed in a stream of aggressive chirps, were all that it took to get his other selves to take action for their lifelong Time Lord caretaker.

Shirtless and smearing the last bit of war makeup on his face, Gumball doggedly grunted, “Time to go to work.”

Darwin’s face twisted. “Was that meant to sound tough?”

“Of course it was!” An irritated Gumball defended. “O.K. Let’s try this one.” Again, he grunted, “Time to serve a full course of pain.”

“That one sounds forced,” Darwin critiqued.

“Time to get this party started?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Time’s a-wastin’?”

“Are you a cowboy now?”

“Time to make the doughnuts?”

“That one doesn’t even apply to this situation.”

While the two brothers were preoccupied with finding the right one-liner, everyone else in the Type-X console room readied for the oncoming battle in their distinctive ways.

In spite of their concerns on the whereabouts of Draco Malfoy, Harry, Hermione, and Ron primed their wands.

Close near them, Bastian suggested to Isabel, “Maybe we go back to Fantasia and get Atreyu and Falkor to help us.”

“They will come through the rift just like the others, Bastian,” Isabel said, following with an playful chuckle. “Besides, I think even Falkor would be a little too big to fit inside the T.A.R.D.I.S.”

Outside in the warehouse, Max tuned up his V8 Interceptor.

Alongside him were Bugs and Daffy, the latter on his knees, begging.

“I’m tellin’ ya, Bugs! I won’t last long out there! Please be my bunny shield!”

The rabbit’s eyes rolled with disgust. “Bruddah! Can you be any desperate?!”

“If I can, then will you say ‘yes’?” Daffy beseeched.

Neas and Dwonch crossed the pair’s path.

The U.N.I.T. general observed the various ways in which the companions of the Gladiator prepped for battle, approving of some and disapproving of others.

“Half these helpers of yours are just kids,” she told Neas. “How’ll they be able to hold off that armada ’til the real cavalry arrives? Not to sound like a Debby Downer here, but we’re hopelessly outnumbered.”

“Pop’s plan will work,” Neas reassured. “All we’ve gotta do is wait for the moment when Davros opens the rift, then he and the rest of him can—”

The grinding, humming engines of a T.A.R.D.I.S. interrupted him.

He turned to see a Type-Z materialize near the few standing in the warehouse.

Its doors opened to sanction the exodus of Si, his teenage, blond future regeneration. In person, he saw how fashionable she was in blue jeans, brown boots, and a dark grey shirt. In exiting from her T.A.R.D.I.S., she removed a black cowboy hat that matted her hair.

Si was strikingly tall for a girl her age, matching in height with Dwonch but only managing to reach Neas’s shoulder.

“Jeez, I’ve got a niece who’s no younger than her,” Dwonch muttered.

Shushing Dwonch, Neas questioned to his imminent incarnation, “What’re you doing here? I thought you were gonna wait for the signal back in the corridor?”

“All that talk about sending a strike team into the Dalek flagship, and none of us thought how the team’s gonna get up in that thing? What would any of you do without lil’ ole me here?”

She made a valid point.

The oldest and the youngest of us and she’s as sharp as a tack, Neas spiritually commended.

KURRACK!

By its register, it could have been thunder, if there were any clouds in the sky.

It drew everyone – both inside the warehouse and in the Type-X – out to see the cause of the thunderous boom. They studied what appeared to be a lightning bolt frozen in the sky, stretched out ten miles wide.

“What is that?” Barry inquired.

He got his answer just as the frozen bolt split apart, tearing open a section of the dusk sky to expose a swirling blue vortex beyond it – the Infinite D.C.

“It’s Davros’ rift!” The Doctor alarmingly cried. “He’s early!”

“Tinkerers, to your stations!” Steven commanded.

“Gladiators, immobilize in Si’s T.A.R.D.I.S.!” Candace ordered.

“The rest of you, either take shelter in the Tinkerer’s T.A.R.D.I.S. or take up arms and follow me outside!” Dwonch directed.

Each group did as instructed: the Tinkerers retreated back into their Type-X, along with Bastian; the Gladiators and the Doctor rushed aboard Si’s Type-Z, which dematerialized later; and Dwonch led out those that were brave and bold enough to defend the outpost, a few armed with rift rifles and Mulchers mass-produced by a couple of friends of Lindy’s that she only referred as “Fix-Its.”

Making use of her tactical training in U.N.I.T., Dwonch held the small platoon in formation to establish a perimeter around the warehouse. There were not enough bodies to completely cover the territory, so she had to make due.

The battle began as soon as Dalek ground forces manifested.

Gumball was the first to open fire with his Mulcher.

“Time to get some,” he shouted.

“That’s the one!” Darwin approved, as he and the others joined Gumball, bulldozing through the accumulation of Dalek invaders.

Barry super sped across them, removing as many out of the equation as the rifles and Mulchers did.

With the onset of Dalek fighter pods, Kara went aerial and bolted into them, using super combinations of flight, speed, strength, and heat vision. In her demolition, she spotted an increasingly hostile Sloth ripping open his shirt to reveal another he wore underneath, bearing the House of El crest.

“Now that’s more like it,” she favored, nearly letting herself get distracted by the amusing spectacle.

The corners of Dwonch’s mouth turned up, seeing how they had this so-called armada on the ropes. We can actually win this, she confidently fathomed.

Her smile faded when her eyes looked skyward.

The rift violently pulsated and expanded, permitting the fleet of Dalek saucers to pour out and scatter across the sky, releasing thousands more Daleks. Lastly, the Dalek flagship – the Slayer – transpired, positioning directly above the outpost.

“Oh, man,” Gumball sniveled. “We’re totally about to get our butts whipped!”

Dwonch gulped. “We could really use that backup right ’bout now.”

Again, the rift pulsated, more powerfully than before.

Its length and width swelled tenfold.

Dwonch’s stomach turned, believing another fleet to arrive.

Fortunately, it was the opposite.

Out of the rift surged an infinite number of black rectangular solids – Type-Z model T.A.R.D.I.S.es – each and every one piloted by different incarnations of its longtime owner.

Supplementing them was a multitude of allies…

A league of heroes that fought for justice.

Another Flash that Barry knew as “Jay Garrick.”

A ten-year-old boy with a special wrist device that transformed him into a variety of alien creatures.

Three super-powered girls with oval-shaped heads and abnormally large eyes that corresponded with the colors of their dresses.

And, as hard as it was for Dwonch to believe, actual Power Rangers and Transformers fighting side-by-side.

More and more made their way into the clash across the wasteland, once again turning the tide rapidly in their favor. As long as the Tinkerers could hold up the rift, there was no possible way they could lose.

Si proficiently materialized her T.A.R.D.I.S. within one of the winding passages of the Slayer. Two Daleks came across the Gallifreyan module, prepared to fire on its exiting passengers until Neas swiftly retaliated, wiping them out with one blast of his Mulcher.

“There’s not much time left before that rift starts to tear this reality apart,” the Doctor cautioned.

Candace nodded in agreement. “Right. We’ll have to split up. Sanders and the Doctor are with me. We’re going after Davros and Vec. The rest of you get our friends out of captivity, find those T.A.R.D.I.S.es, and destroy that generator.”

“Is dividing the group really such a good idea?” Neas objected. “It would be best if we all—”

“ALERT! ALERT! FLAGSHIP INTRUDED! ALERT! ALERT!”

The alarm broadcasted over the ship’s loudspeakers.

“You wanna continue this conversation now or get movin’?” Cara mordantly posed to Neas, prompting him and their fellow Gladiators to follow with Candace’s plan and sprint to one end of the corridor while she, Sanders, and the Doctor had the other.

Daleks responding to the ship-wide emergency attempted to execute Neas’s group but were unsuccessful.

Lindy and Mars erupted rift fire on them, imploding their bodies.

Obliterating the two Daleks guarding the holding cell door, they freely entered.

“You came back,” Wirt was the first to show his joy in the Gladiators’ return.

All their other companions expressed equal exultation in the unexpected rescue – none more so than Benson, whose heart fluttered at the sight of one Time Lady he longed to see again.

“Shel,” he exuberantly yelped, rushing right to her and, without hesitation, planting a kiss directly on her lips.

Shel’s pupils flared reactively.

The others watched in total silence with only Muscle Man uttering, “Awkward!”

The instant Benson disengaged, Shel felt her legs weaken at the knees; she was not certain how to respond to such a powerful smooch.

“Where’s Sloth?” Chunk brought everyone’s focus away from the sudden display of affection. “Is he okay? Is he still alive?!”

“He’s fine,” Maureen eased Chuck’s concern. “He’s back on the earth, fightin’ with our army against the Daleks.”

Rigby pumped his fist in the air. “Aw, sweet! We got our own army!”

“What about Candace?” A deeply concerned Kristin queried, noticing her daughter’s absence within the collection of Gladiators. “Where is she?”

“Don’t worry, Ma,” Kimbyr said. “She’s with the Doctor.”

Kristin’s brows drew together. “Wait. The Doctor’s here?!”

Clarence cuddled Mandy at the waist. “Oh, Mandy! I’m so glad you’re here and safe and not Dalek chow!”

She tenderly rubbed her fingers through his hair. “I’m glad you’re safe, too, sweetheart. Now how ’bout getting out of here, huh?”

All were in commitment of the act, just as a quartet of Daleks teleported inside the holding cell, blocking the exit.

“God, I hate when I forget they can do that!” Margie griped.

“YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE! YOU WILL BE EXTERMIN—!”

BOOM!

The top halves of the four impeding Daleks were reduced to charred bits, much to the surprise of the Gladiators, none of whom were responsible for their quick execution.

It was after the smoke cleared did they see who the real ones accountable were.

Ten little Mogwai with makeshift bows and red sweatbands.

“Awwww!” The Gladiators gushed.

“Look at how hardcore they are with their widdle Rambo cosplays,” Alicia sweetly specified. “Oh, I could just melt right now!”

Mouth looked on the Mogwai with familiarity. “Hey, Chunk. Aren’t these the same little guys you told the Sheriff about? Looks like you weren’t jerkin’ ’round with him after all.”

“How did they wipe out those Daleks like that with just paperclips and rubber bands?” High-Five Ghost enquiringly asked.

“Who cares, bro?” Muscle Man refuted. “Let’s just get outta here!”

Doing as he advocated, they all stormed out of the holding cell.

Rhyanna, Alicia, Si, and Lindsay each took handfuls of the ten Gizmos with them.

“That Tinkerer! They’re gaining the upper hand!”

With much displeasure, Davros witnessed the collapse of his armada at the hands of the strangest assortment of beings he had ever seen. His rift used against him, no thanks to the combined efforts of the Tinkerer and his regenerations.

“Send a distress signal to Skaro,” he commanded the Dalek bridge operators. “We must have more reinforcements!”

Verging on carrying out the command, the bridge operators imploded out of existence. Not one Dalek was left to take control of the flagship, except for Vec, who was spared of the precipitous onslaught.

“You must think very little of yourself to leave this part of your ship so lightly guarded, Davros. Either that, or we’re just that good.”

No matter how much it changed in the years they have clashed, Davros could always identify the Doctor’s voice. This adaptation, on the other hand, he knew from a more recent happenstance.

“Doctor,” he sneered. “Has it been long since we faced on Skaro? You left me for dead, as you always do.”

“And you survived, as you always do,” the Doctor contended.

Davros spun his chariot to face the Time Lord, yet he was entertained to find two of the Gladiators – the ones that went under the identities of “Candace” and “Sanders” – flanking him. Rift rifles gripped in hand, they trained their aim on Vec.

“Had it not been for your Gladiators, your time would surely end in Immortan Joe’s arena, Doctor,” Davros claimed.

“I don’t deny that, Davros,” the Doctor said. “You pulled me out of the Time Vortex for the purpose of trapping me in this crazy parallel dimension. Your only mistake was underestimating how good my old pupil is, even when she’s beside herself…or himself.”

“And you’ve made an even greater mistake. You’ve underestimated the efficiency of my Vector Dalek.”

The Doctor’s jaw tightened. “No, I didn’t. Why else do you think I brought two Gladiators?”

Candace and Sanders fired on Dalek Vec.

The fusion of rift energy out of the two rifles overwhelmed his metal casing, imploding it from the inside. However, whereas the casing was diminished to nothing, something else – something more horrifying – remained.

The mouths of Candace, Sanders, and the Doctor fell open.

In Dalek Vec’s place was a massive husk of gray-pinkish tentacles that took bipedal form, standing at seven feet tall, with a single eye, an exposed brain, and razor sharp crimson crustacean claws that served for “hands.”

“Time Lord technology might have supplied Dalek Vec’s outer shell, but Kaled science supplied the body – the true body of Dalek Vec!” Davros exultantly boasted.

“EXTERMINATE!”

The heavily mutated monstrosity garbled, swiping its claws towards its three adversaries.

The Doctor fell back into one corner.

Candace and Sanders dodged, seeming to be Vec’s primary targets.

Sanders made the effort of firing her rifle again, only to have it torn out of her grip by one of Vec’s tentacles, lunging out. It disappeared into its torso, swallowing it whole.

Vec did worse to Candace’s rifle, which she also endeavored to use, slicing the barrel in half with its left claw. Weaponless, she resorted to brawling with the Kaled abomination, throwing a few left and rights at its bulging, one-eyed face. As revolting as it felt punching at its eye, she was gratified of it being an effective measure.

Disappointingly, it lasted only seconds.

A pair of tentacles lashed out of Vec’s grotesque body, tying around Candace’s wrists and restraining her punches.

Another slithered out into her mouth, making its way down her esophagus.

She retched, sensing its slimy epidermis rubbing harshly against her uvula.

Sanders saw how Vec was asphyxiating her and acted fast. Into her left leg cover, she retrieved a dagger that she saved from the arena. Moving at whirlwind pace, she slashed at the tentacles restraining Candace, counting the one coupled to her mouth.

Vec squawked in agony, reeling back.

Freed of his clutches, Candace fell to her knees, yanking out the tentacle in her throat and vomiting.

“You okay?” Sanders checked with her.

Recovering, Candace inhaled and nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.”

She gazed up with grateful eyes to her future thirteenth regeneration but rapidly went into alarm.

“LOOK OUT!”

Sanders turned, dagger ready in hand.

But she acted too late.

Vec’s right claw tore through her body, skewering her.

The pain was searing and unbearable, certainly when Vec lifted her off her feet to bring her close to its distorted face, cackling from where its mouth presumably was.

“You…think this…is funny,” Sanders faintly hissed. “Wait ’til…you hear…this one. You…just ingested my gun. A gun…powered by…black hole energy. Now do the math on that!”

A disquieting gurgle emitted from within Vec’s tentacled body.

Sanders felt its claw excruciatingly pluck out of her, and she collapsed to the floor. Candace tended to her, watching with Davros and the Doctor as Vec’s claw broke down to a molecular level.

Soon enough, the rest of its body had, shrinking into oblivion.

“NO!” Davros bellowed.

Adding to the Dalek creator’s madness, the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver – a model with a metal handle as blue as his T.A.R.D.I.S. and multiple emitters – and aimed for the ship’s controls.

Sparks flew all around the screaming Davros, providing enough of a distraction for an escape.

The Doctor assisted Candace in carrying the critically wounded Sanders off the bridge. In their haste, they were nearly knocked off their feet from the lurching flagship, complemented with a deafening bang.

“What’s happening now?!” Candace yelled.

“The rift’s finally subsiding!” The Doctor distressed. “We need to destroy that generator now or never!”

They turned a corner, sighting the other Gladiators and their liberated companions entering through an oval doorway. Following after them, they discovered what could only be the generator room, the confiscated T.A.R.D.I.S.es linked to the spherical device at the center.

Noticing the trio with them, Shel’s eyes widened over the condition of Sanders.

“What happened to her?!” Her exclamation directed all attention to their horribly lacerated ally.

“Never mind,” the Doctor impudently barked. “Just destroy that thing!”

Neas followed his instruction, firing a single blast from his Mulcher on the generator, clearing it out.

Another tremor of incalculable magnitude shook the ship.

“I assume that would be our ‘little’ rift getting ready to close?” Isabel facetiously presumed.

“Your assumption would be correct,” the Doctor said. “Everyone get to a T.A.R.D.I.S. Any T.A.R.D.I.S.!”

The Gladiators and their companions occupied the nearest module.

A symphony of hums and grinds were reverberant in the dematerialization of eight Type-Z T.A.R.D.I.S.es. Two were spared for the remaining trio that was Candace, Sanders, and the Doctor.

The Doctor seized control of one; Candace had the other, hauling Sanders in.

They dematerialized in time for the generator room to plunge. The instability of the rift drew in the Slayer and other Dalek ships in its reach, splintering them to smithereens.

“Don’t be scared. We’ll get you some help. Pop and the Doctor will know just what to do. You’ll see.”

Frantically fiddling with the controls, Candace urged on Sanders, whose hemorrhaging body was slumped to the floor. Her breathing grew weaker. Each minute was one closer to death.

Of course, there was no such thing for a Time Lord.

Not for one with as many regenerations as she retained.

“It’s okay…it’s okay,” Sanders wheezed. “It’s not the end.”

Candace turned to her. She saw her skin glowing gold.

She knew about regeneration – how it worked as a way of “cheating death” for Time Lords.

But never had she beheld it up close.

“My only regret…is that I didn’t get a change of clothes for my next self,” Sanders jittered. “They’re going to hate me.”

Candace desired to share in her laughter but was too disconcerted for her.

The laughter transitioned into tears.

“You know… I’ve traveled for so long… I’ve forgotten what home used to be like,” Sanders conceded. “I miss it…I miss it and…and I don’t even remember it.”

Candace’s eyes welled. “I do. I remember it vividly.”

“Describe it for me…will ya?”

Candace took a shallow breath. “It…It was real lush. Land and crops as far as the eye could see. You can hear the crickets chirp in the day and all the way into the night. Those light bugs were always fun to catch out of the bushes. We used to keep them in those old jars, and Ma would yell at us ’cause she needed those jars to put her flowers in. And Pop would have that peach tree in the backyard, ready to pluck for Ma’s peach pie. You could never find a finer pie. So sweet to taste, it was unforgettable…unforgettable.”

Her vision swamped by tears, she realized Sanders had finally drifted.

Engulfed by a radiance of golden energy, the middle-aged brunette converted into a much younger one, lacking the defined muscle structure signature to her predecessor. The provocative attire was somewhat loose on the newer, slimmer young body.

The area of which Vec skewered healed wholly; her breathing returned to normal.

Assured that Sanders’s successor would be well, Candace brought the T.A.R.D.I.S. back down to the wasteland and engaged its controls on auto-pilot. She disembarked subsequently to the dematerialization process, trekking up to the top of a ridge. From there, she was awestruck by the mass of her infinite regenerations and their companions/allies celebrating across the war-torn landscape.

Most important of all, the rift was closed, bequeathing the twilight sky.