Chapter Text
The Doctor twirled around the console, flicking switches and pushing levers, flying the TARDIS through the Vortex. He’d intended to pay a visit to his project partner, Anubis, but apparently, the TARDIS had other plans. She groaned and wheezed far more than usual, the turbulence kicking up hard forcing the Doctor to focus more on holding on rather than flying her.
“What’s going on with you-?” he tried to ask, voice pitching high as his hand nearly slipped off of the railing. The monitor erupted with error messages, the lights flashing. Sparks burst from the console.
“Nonononono-! That can’t be right!” He scrambled to grab the shaking monitor, reading the scrolling text with disbelief. “That’s not possible… not again-”
He clung to the console as sparks flew past his face. The violent turbulence, the unmistakable feeling of the TARDIS tearing through a patch of Time it absolutely was not meant to tear through made him lose his grip. The time rotor screeched, red beeping dots flickered across the monitor, and then-
The sudden landing threw him across the room, away from the console. The impact hit him harder than he expected. His head slammed against the railing; his vision split.
The TARDIS groaned, coughed, sputtered… made a noise like a dying coffee machine… and then fell silent. No hum. No heartbeat.
The Doctor, groaned, pressing his hand to his temple. He lets himself lay there for a solid ten seconds before slowly pushing himself upright, peeling himself off the metal grating. breath trembling. “Ow…" He winces, the world tilting, reaching for the railing to steady himself, before taking a proper look at his ship.
"Oh... oh no." The Doctor sighs, exasperated. He looks at the now-dark grating, keeping the hand at his temple. He crouches down, trying to find a single source of light, swaying a bit, "Don’t you go dying on me again." Pulling the panel off with a grunt, he reaches into the tangle of wires "I just fixed you last week, well- by ‘fixed’ I mean hit you with a mallet, but still!” He stretched lower, ignoring the sharp throb radiating through his right side, shoulder or rib or both. His hand finally closed around the faint glow deep in the wiring.
“Aha! Lovely. Brilliant.” He coaxed it free, cradling the glowing piece as if it were his child. He blew gently on it and it flared brighter. A small, warm smile crept onto his face. “I’ll never get tired of that.”
The smile faded as a feeling of nausea makes itself known, cutting past the pain in his head and side.
“Oh,” he whispered. His stomach sank. “Oh, that’s very, very bad.”
He knew exactly what that meant. He’d been hoping, really hoping, it wasn’t that. But the signs were impossible to deny any longer.
He gets up too fast and stumbles into the console. His breath hitched, coming heavier from exertion. “Alright, old girl,” he murmured, letting his hand drift across the console affectionately, as if reassuring her, or himself. “See you after twenty-four hours.”
The Doctor staggered towards the TARDIS doors, he pressed a hand to his forehead where blood had started to mat his hair, and pushed the door. It creaked open with a pitiful whine, and the Doctor stepped out to what appeared to be New York.
Cars blared, people shouted, and the air smelled of hot dogs and impending chaos. He blinked up at the towering skyline.
Definitely not his New York, that much was obvious. The massive “STARK TOWER” was a pretty strong hint, as were the billboards featuring celebrities he’d never heard of, and what sounds like a massive ship humming in the sky. Only audible to the him from such a distance due to his superior hearing.
“Oh. This is another universe, alright. At least there’s no blips this time,” he murmured, adjusting his tie. He straightened his coat, pretending the sharp pain in his ribs didn’t exist, and set off toward the street like an enthusiastic tourist.
----
At Kamar-Taj
Doctor Stephen Strange stood at a balcony overlooking the courtyard, eyes half-closed in meditation, he senses an odd surge of cosmic energy, immediately tracing it. Reality rippled, an arrival, seemingly not of magic, but something stranger, much stranger.
Not from this dimension type of stranger.
“Wong,” Stephen called out.
Wong, who had been sitting nearby with a cup of tea, appeared in the doorway. “Another demonic intrusion?” he asked, deadpan.
“No,” Stephen said slowly. “Its... Alien.”
A pause. Then,
“And not discreet about it.”
He opened a portal revealing the landing site in an alleyway. Smoke still curled from the blue police box now leaning sideways against a dumpster.
“That’s… a phone booth?” Wong asked, squinting, never having seen one before.
Strange frowned. “No. It’s a 1960s police box that just tore through three layers of dimensional walls.” His tone made it clear how intrigued he was. “I’m going to track the pilot. And can you-”
“I’ll take care of the box,” Wong cut him off.
Stephen nodded once before stepping through the portal, his cloak fluttering dramatically behind him.
----
At S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters
“Director Fury, we’ve got a situation.”
Fury didn’t look up. “When do we not have a situation?”
A nervous agent held out a tablet. “Unidentified object crashed in Midtown.We have eyewitness reports of… um… a lanky man stumbling out.”
“Threat level?” Fury asked, eyebrow raised.
“Unknown. But the object was emitting extremely high energy levels before shutting down completely after crashing.”
Fury straightened. “Alright. Find him before he brings along unwanted friends. Mobilise a strike team. If he’s harmless, good. If not…”
He let the silence finish the sentence for him.
----
Back in New York
The Doctor wandered down the pavement, leaning into a building wall for balance, head still throbbing.
“Ooh! Pretzels!” He brightened immediately as he passed a street vendor. “Smells fantastic! like someone salted a cloud. Wonder if they taste different in this universe.”
He grinned at a group of tourists who stared at him, slightly alarmed, most probably at the blood still on his temple. He attempted a wave and instantly regretted it when his shoulder twinged sharply.
“Hhh-” He hissed quietly, gripping his shoulder. “Right. Moving on." He tries to shrug it off, turning to the vendor.
“One pretzel, please, if that’s what they’re called here.” He flashes a grin at the man, completely unaware of his disheveled appearance.
The vendor stared at him for a moment, giving him a weird look, then just decides to bag a warm pretzel for him. The Doctor waits for it impatiently, snatching the bag the moment it was within reach, making the man flinch back.
“Where’s the money? I ain’t giving no charity,” the vendor barked, seeing that the Doctor wasn't reaching to pay.
"Oh! Right- almost forgot. Well- not almost, I fully forgot, but unfortunately I don't have anything on me..." The Doctor realised, trailing off.
The vendor’s expression tightened.
“Right then! You wouldn't mind holding onto this for me, just for a moment-" The Doctor says, shoving the bag back into the man’s hands. “I’ll be back before you know it!” he calls, already walking off, catching the attention of a few other people.
The Doctor tries walking a little faster, pushing past the pain in his head, looking for an ATM.
He made it about eight steps before he felt it.
A gaze.
Someone was definitely watching him.
He glanced up to the rooftop across the street, spotting a man with a red cloak and an outfit that screams Wizard.
The Doctor paused mid-step.
“Oh, fantastic,” he muttered. “I’m already being stalked…”
A shimmer appeared above him. Strange hovered in the air, arms crossed, cloak billowing like it was auditioning for a commercial
“Hullo!” the Doctor chirped, far too cheerful for someone most probably concussed. “Love the cape! Very swishy. But if you don’t mind me asking, how are you doing tha-?”
He didn’t get to finish.
Several armored S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles screeched around the corner, agents pouring out with weapons drawn.
“HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!”
The Doctor blinked. He glanced the soldiers on the ground…the wizard in the sky... and then back at them.
He groaned. Loudly.
“Oh, come on! I’ve been here five minutes!”
To be continued...