The Other Side of the Story (Part 2)

The Doctor also was uncertain about the nature of the quest they were about to undertake. While glad to have a chance to catch up with his elven former students, he was troubled that it was them rather than the two proto-dark elves who had been rescued from the Office of Evil's clutches whom he was being assigned to aid. The Offices had dropped the two proto-dark elves with the Doctor rather than on Terra or with any other group. This strongly suggested that something had caught the Offices unawares and they'd had to change their plans at the last minute.

Luckily, the Agent wasn't moved to anger as a Rule might be. He simply sharpened his mocking smile a bit. "If you're wondering why Jarlath and his troops aren't here, it's because the mission they're on turned out to be a bit more complicated then we--then they expected." The Doctor had caught the Agent's neat deflection of blame, and realized that he had been right. He also realized that the Agent was using language deliberately intended to infuriate his wife. Inquirer was proud of her service in her world's Military, but after having lived through the horrors of multiversal war, she was glad to have finished her military service and be able to live as a civlian of sorts. She never took a life when she could avoid it. "As for the Fertal and Artizza 2, well, we decided that it would be better if they handled the challenge on their own. Something's come up that you're needed for."

"And just what is that?" said the Doctor.

"Well. As you may remember, the Office of Evil originally captured Fertal and Artizza 2 as well as the elves who hailed from the World of Two Moons to be recruited for a war that they were orchestrating in a nearby alternate reality, what they called a 'Shadow War.'" For a moment, the Doctor saw deep pain in the eyes of T'imma and Hathar'ruil At first we thought that they were simply planning to take that one reality. After all, the Office of Evil was thoroughly trashed after we found out what their pet evil from the dawn of time Randall Flagg was doing. All the demons who were stupid enough to support Flagg are roasting in Hell unable to do anything rather than lording over it. We thought we'd cowed the Office of Evil into submission, and indeed for the last ten years they haven't tried to take over more than one world at a time. But now we've discovered that their plans were slightly more ambitious than we thought and they're targeting several worlds. Apparently, an analog version of Stacy Jones--some of you might remember her, the one who lost her memory and then tried to warn Betty about the Master's attack and was helping the Doctor against him when he and the Master originally got dragged here--has somehow discovered some of what the Office of Evil is up to. Actually, you've met this version before. She was traveling with the Doctor who helped you save Logopolis. At any rate, the Office of Evil sent some cosmically powered Chaotic Evil plonker named Happyman to try to kill her, but she was saved by some elven warrior called Link." A look of recognition crossed the face of both T'imma and her husband, Grailing. "Well, they escaped, we think, but then they disappeared into nothing. Then, a few hours ago, one of our operatives in Victorian London said one of her agents saw them. We decided your group would be ideal to handle this, because the Doctor knows a lot about this period of history, while all these bloody elves around would make it easier to deal with Link. You'd better stay out of the city, though--there's been a few killings, and people might not be too pleased to see supernatural monsters. Oh, and our operative also wanted to send a message to Sigin, and we decided it would be more secure if you picked it up in person." Chiana gave a sharp glance to Sigin for a moment, while Sigin seemed profoundly perplexed.

"Well, that's all that you need to know for now. When you meet the agent, they'll explain everything. Goodbye." And with that, the Agent was simply gone.

"I hate that," said Ragan. "Somehow, watching the Agents disappear always makes me nauseated. Then again, it's not like the Rules are any better... I guess wherever you go, you'll always have to deal with annoying bosses."

"You're very lucky you never had to deal with the Time Lords, my dear Ragan. I'm sure you have some idea of it from that tacky British TV show from your world that mirrored my life, but trust me, it was worse than you can imagine. At least the Rules and Agents actually allow us to help people. On the other hand, some of the things that Agent said and didn't say about our mission were rather troubling."

Inquirer nodded. "Looks like those bastards in the Hellcrew caught the Rules and Agents with their pants down somehow. We'll have to keep our eyes open and make sure we're not walking into a trap." The other Champions nodded. They were worried, but not afraid. The Doctor and his allies had faced the forces of the Office of Evil on many missions now, and they'd always won, however great the challenge. The elves who were being mentored on their Validation Quest to become Champions had just faced the full power of Evil while in prison, but they had found the inner strength to triumph in the end, and they had been rescued. They knew they could tirumph again.

1. Thus the Doctor and his allies walked into the TARDIS to face their next challenge...

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree