Infinite DC

Tonight, we are victorious

Champagne pouring over us

All my friends were glorious

Oh-oh-oh-oh, victorious!

The console room of the Tinkerer’s Type-X T.A.R.D.I.S. became a scene straight out of a nightclub. Purple and green strobe lights flashed overhead, active fog machines, loud music, and lots of dancing. Cara served as the emcee and D.J., hyping the mass celebratory crowd that bled out into the warehouse.

Steven and Kristin waltzed, despite being out of pace with the up-tempo music.

Rhyanna impressed everyone with her alluring rendition of the Charleston.

Barry breakdanced at super speed, virtually generating a cyclone.

And even the Doctor, having a change of wardrobe in the victory celebration (swapping his hoodie for a white collared shirt and his navy blue Crombie for a maroon velvet style), got a few dance steps in.

The only few that were not having such fun were the Fratellis, restrained in handcuffs and settled in a corner, awaiting their forthcoming jail sentence once returned to their dimension.

It was the party of the century and rightfully so.

They were heroes of the multiverse, saving it from Davros and the Daleks.

There was no telling how long the celebration would go on, with so many people – both regenerations of the Gladiator and their throng of companions – gathered.

Yet there was one unaccounted for that Neas took recognition in.

Once again, Kimbyr was missing from the assemblage.

He tried to figure what could have been wrong this time to draw her away from such a huge gala meant to commend their hard work and bravery. Could she still be shaken from the alien predator?

To get his answers, he had to pry himself away from the merriment, stepping out of the Type-X, through the warehouse, and out towards endless field of Type-Z T.A.R.D.I.S.es.

“O.K., what’s goin’ on?”

He turned to find that Candace and Shel trailed him.

The two women looked just as bothered as he was.

“This is the second time today I’ve seen you walk out to find Kimbyr,” Candace said. “Is something wrong?”

Neas shrugged. “That’s what I’m hoping to find out, if you two wanna join me.”

They took him up on his invitation, scouring across the field of T.A.R.D.I.S.es in the hope of finding Kimbyr’s.

It was a challenging task, with how analogous in design all the solids were.

Eventually, they achieved, by the grace of luck, in spotting the one open T.A.R.D.I.S. in the field; its lit interior like a beacon in the night atmosphere.

The three Gladiators went inside, expecting to see Kimbyr cowered somewhere.

Instead, the first thing they saw was Kimbyr herself merrily humming through her console room, carting a decorative white cardboard box with another box filled with crayons sitting atop it.

“Kimbyr?” Neas got her attention.

She looked their way; her face sporting fresh makeup, her hair restyled, and the sweet scent of an expensive brand of perfume that probably had a famous name tied to it. She could have passed as a whole new woman.

“Oh, hey,” she greeted her past incarnations. “What’s up with you guys?”

“We’d ask you the same question,” Candace uttered. “Why aren’t you celebrating with us? Is there something wrong?”

Kimbyr smiled, shaking her head. “Nope. Everything’s all cool. Just wanted to keep Shyla busy while I was away.”

Neas frowned. “Shyla?”

“My daughter,” Kimbyr clarified.

“WHAT?!” Neas, Candace, and Shel sparked with astonishment.

“Yeah,” Kimbyr said. “I didn’t tell you guys?”

“No, I think you’ve left out that detail,” Neas mocked.

“Oh! Well, you all should come see her.”

She led them down to the console room’s lower level where they found a four-year-old girl with dark blond hair and wearing a pink Hello Kitty onesie. Gizmo sat close next to her, watching as she colored in characters out of coloring book.

In the short moment that she glanced up at the four adults near her, they could see a mini Kimbyr in her features. Her eyes, while not as emerald as her mother’s, were that of a puppy’s in a hazel-brown hue.

“Oh, my god,” Shel enthused. “Kimbyr, she’s precious.”

Kimbyr beamed. “She is, isn’t she? My lil’ Shyla.”

Guilt overtook Neas. “I’m so sorry,” he told Kimbyr.

“For what?” She curiously asked.

“The way I’ve been doggin’ you about stepping up and being a Gladiator,” he related. “This whole time and I never knew why you’re the way you are: you’re a mother. You’re not like the rest of us, so willing to leap into the jaws of danger. You’ve got a little girl to think about. I should’ve known that.”

Kimbyr was touched by his sympathy. “I didn’t want any of you to know for that very reason. Yeah, Shyla, Gizmo, and I come up against some scary crap out there, but she’s braver than even I could know.”

“She gets it from her mama,” Candace smirked.

“True that,” Kimbyr concurred.

“Is she…?” Neas lingered on the question, presuming Kimbyr would know what he was implying.

Luckily, she did. “A Time Lord? Yeah, she is. A full-bloodied one, in fact. I just hadn’t had the courage to tell her yet. Like, it’s just too much to grasp for a girl her age, ya know?”

“You’ll tell her one day,” Candace guaranteed.

“There’s just one thing I’m really curious to know,” Shel began. “Who’s the—?”

“Excuse me.”

Their attention went to the upper level, discovering the Doctor standing there, leaning over the railing.

“While I was mesmerized by Ms. Mars’s uncanny ability of twerking to the beat of ‘Eye of the Tiger,’ I realized that I’m stuck here,” he informed. “If it’s not so much trouble, would one of you be so kind to give me a tow back into the time vortex?”

“Sure,” Kimbyr volunteered. “I can give ya a boost.”

“Splendid!” The Doctor gratefully exclaimed. “Any of you, of course, would’ve agreed, which is why – as a gesture of my gratitude – I left a gift for all of you in your T.A.R.D.I.S.es.”

Neas snickered. “All of our T.A.R.D.I.S.es? Doctor, even for you, that would’ve taken years with as many around right now.”

“Exactly,” the Doctor dryly acknowledged. “Which is why you better enjoy it, ’cause I’m not taking it back.”

The four Gladiators guffawed at the old Time Lord.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Candace expressed in sincerity. “Thank you for all you’ve done to help us, even in spite of my father.”

The Doctor gave a disgruntled sigh. “I must admit that he is a genius. His plan, as insane as it might’ve been, helped us win over Davros and his armada.” He then centered on the four and warmly added, “You can come to me at any time. No matter what face I have when you find me, never hesitate to call for my help.”

For the several regenerations of the Gladiator, the party just got started.

For Candace, Neas, and Shel, it was time to move along.

There was not a lot of time to bid farewell to every single one of their successors or predecessors – not that any of them would remember. Lauren and the crew from the Park joined with them, particularly for the latter to return to their home dimension.

The three T.A.R.D.I.S.es materialized on the Park grounds, right near the same crater that Neas’s created on its first emergency landing.

“Man, I wonder what day it could be,” Mordecai said upon stepping out of Shel’s T.A.R.D.I.S. with his friends.

“Hardly anything’s changed since we’ve been away,” Muscle Man noted.

“That’s ’cause it’s still New Year’s, after midnight,” Neas said. “Right where we found you guys.”

“Seriously?!” Rigby exclaimed. “It’s felt like weeks!”

“Did we forget to mention that our T.A.R.D.I.S. travels through time, too?” Shel haughtily stated.

While his employees reveled in the fact, Benson uneasily approached Shel.

“Uh…Shel? About me kissing you back there in the Dalek ship? Look, I’m sorry if it came off as unexpected and unnecessary. It was a stupid move I made in the heat of the moment, and I’m sorry. I understand if you think of me as being repulsively immature and desperate…”

“Don’t forget ‘thirsty,’” Rigby supplemented.

Benson angrily gritted his teeth at the raccoon. “Yes, thank you, Rigby.” After a deep calming breath, he continued, “Anyway, I hope that hasn’t changed how you feel about me as a—”

He froze just as Shel’s warm, soft lips touched the side of his glass dome head.

“We’ll meet again, Benson,” she sultrily told him.

“Whoooooooooooooooooooooa, Benson!” Mordecai and Rigby whooped.

“Way to go, bro!” Muscle Man cheered.

“Casanova!” Skips extolled.

“Good show!” Pops applauded.

Benson blushed, his dome turning a dark shade of purple.

“Well, I…uh…,” he stammered, chuckling. “I gu-guess I’ll see you again, t-too.”

“You guys are the coolest!” Rigby praised.

“Yeah, whenever you’re around the Park again, hook us up with another crazy space adventure,” Mordecai invited.

Neas snorted. “I don’t think you fellas are ready for real space adventures.”

“More like real space adventures aren’t ready for us,” Rigby countered, following it with another whoop out of him and the rest of the crew.

Lauren and the three Gladiators watched as they returned to their domicile.

“I suppose this is also goodbye for us,” Candace told her two successors and Lauren. “You all have really given me a lot to look forward to in my future, for what it’s worth in these last few seconds.”

“I sure miss being you,” Shel admitted to her. She then nodded to Neas and sarcastically added, “Him, not so much.”

Neas scoffed. “Oh, really?”

“Nah, you’re cool,” Shel yielded. “Just…try to lighten up every once in a while.”

“I’ll see that he does,” Lauren tittered.

“You two young’uns did alright today,” Candace acclaimed. “It’s reassuring to know that my future’s in safe hands.”

Exchanging hugs and kisses to each other, the three Gladiators withdrew into their respective T.A.R.D.I.S.es.

Lauren accompanied Neas into his own.

Immediately thereafter, the Gallifreyan capsules dematerialized from the Park and back within separate dimensional corridors.

Neas could already sense the mental effects of his personal timeline restored to order. It was an odd sensation, a bit akin to momentary dizziness stemming from a lack of sleep, something Time Lords hardly ever required.

As the seconds passed, fragments of his harrowing adventure slipped away.

Adjusting with the T.A.R.D.I.S. controls, his eye caught Lauren, who lovingly nestled the cooing Gizmo close to her bosom. Her electric blue eyes despondently veered away from the Mogwai, as if lost in concerning thought.

He knew exactly what burdened her spirits.

“Ma will be just fine, Pop,” he told her. “General Dwonch will use her connections within U.N.I.T. to make sure she’s well cared for. They’re giving her a new house in a new country where she’ll be safe and happy.”

Lauren forced a smile. “I don’t deny being grateful for your mother having peace. There’s so much that I’ve done in my past that deserves her that right and the right to be as far away from me as she can.” She blew out a long, wearied breath. “At least she got the chance to see her husband – her real husband – the way he once was.”

“You know, anytime you feel like seeing her again…”

“I don’t see that happening anytime soon, son.”

Neas understandingly nodded.

It was then he detected mechanized warbling inside the control console. Out of a slot he had never noticed until then, there popped a bizarre sonic screwdriver with a blue lit tip and a combination of designs from three British periods: Elizabethan, Victorian, and future.

Lauren’s face turned at its motif. “What kind of sonic is that?!”

“A very rare one,” Neas specified. “No doubt it’s the gift the Doctor left for me. I certainly intend on making good use of it.”

Pocketing his new present away, he returned his attention to the controls.

“So, Pop,” he enthusiastically said. “Where to first? So many worlds, so much time! We’ve got the whole Infinite D.C. to—!”

He stopped once he, Lauren, and Gizmo heard sinister snarling close by.

Turning their heads to it, they were daunted to find a vicious, scaly gremlin with red eyes and a white tuft of fur perched on the console platform railing. Neas knew him to be the same one that stirred up so much chaos in his T.A.R.D.I.S. recently, yet had been unsuccessful in retrieving him…

…before now.

“Here we go again,” he infuriatedly grumbled.