FicWad

She falls to her knees.

The Doctor pushes one final time to complete the most painful of all regenerations. An almighty grunt as she bites her lip to conclude the process that felt like it had gone on for an eternity. It was done.

Her arms became his arms. Her face became his face. The Doctor had changed biological sex, once again. Those arms that are now his fell to his side, that face that was once hers looked around dazed. He looks around his console room, with the TARDIS groaning in concern for the Time Lord. The Doctor did not even hear his ship's fears, as his ears rang out to drown the noise, as his new auburn eyes coordinated on the time rotor, and the ringing of the ears stopped. The cloister bells chimed as the Doctor rose to his feet.

Changing from one sex to the other is always a problem for the Doctor. His interesting dress sense is difficult to be accustomed to when his entire physiological structure is edited, but this one was quite irritating for him. The Doctor adjusts the fabric of his predecessor's shirt, as his new form seems to be taller than his old one. Same tinge, and complexion. He slightly chuckles, before pacing around the damaged but still functional TARDIS console room. Resting his hand on the lever to land, he finally opened his mouth.

"Well then, here we go again," he said, looking around with a smile looking for somebody to share his new face with. To no avail – as his face falls, he realizes nobody is there to joke with. It's who he is, and as history has proved the Doctor is much less without them. Deflated, he pulls the lever.

But the TARDIS falls suddenly, at a rate so indescribable. The Doctor realizes that he's pulled the wrong lever: he's pulled the one to disable the anti-gravitational field and hurries to fix the problem. As the cloisters ring out again, the Doctor slips and brutally hits his head on the walls of the interior, knocking him unconscious.
The cloisters ring out even louder, as the TARDIS attempts to avoid hitting the surface of the Earth with the full strength of her contraption.

*
Portsmouth, Great Britain - June 18, 2022
"Yes, I'm on my way," Diana said. "Just been caught up at work, that's all. No need to get so irritated, David."
"Can you hurry up then? As always you just seem to be taking forever." he answered.

Diana rolled her eyes as she continued to drive home. The pair had been having issues lately. Their relationship had been taking a few hits lately. For starters, since Diana began her new job at the independent hospital for the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, her time with David had been severely reduced. It's a job she had been enjoying, as it had always been her dream. Diana had always been a brighter one, as had David, and that was how they met. Yet, as two intelligent people do, they clash too frequently. And Diana was getting ever so slightly tired.

"You need to get off my back," she snaps. "You can't just expect me to always be running around for you. This is my job."
Diana could hear a very audible sigh, followed by David acknowledging his mistake in what he said.
"I'm sorry Di. It's been confusing lately. I just want to see more of you again," David says. Her face falls, as she realizes that they really have grown apart, and by a lot too. She keeps her eyes focused on the road, but did manage to reply to her estranged partner.

"I promise you, I'll be back soon. It'll be just you and-"
A loud thump in the distance caused Diana to jump in surprise and hang up the phone call out of nowhere. Intrigued, she pulls over on the side of the road and exits her car. She pulls out her phone in order to text David as an apology for such randomly ending the call, but the text was rather hurried, as she was too intrigued to bother with checking the text.

As she approached the site that was credited with the great bang, she noticed that the temperature of the surroundings suddenly dropped, or so she detected. The stimuli was so strong, that she had to return to her car to grab her coat. As she grabbed her coat, several helicopters and military vehicles appear in the distance. Her phone would ring once again, this time from her workplace. To be able to hear, as the helicopter noise was too loud, Diana enters her car and closes the door, locking behind her, unbeknownst.

"Greetings, Miss Diana Walker. Please head to the London U.N.I.T policed hospital immediately. Code: 'Blue Box," said the automated voice. Diana scoffed and reaches for the door of her car to return to investigating. Yet, it was locked, and the panicked nurse frantically reached for the doorhandle. The car begins to accelerate and head towards the direction that she initially came from. Diana fears what may happen, and leans back in her seat, terrified.

"Code 'Blue Box? What the hell is that?" she panicks.
"The code is classified. Code 'Blue Box' requires the best medical attention available," the automated message replies. Diana smiles; a wonderful compliment. "But unfortunately, you will have to do." The smile inverts. How particularly rude.

*
The TARDIS had crashed a forest near the motorway in which was remarkably quiet, almost as if this was expected. U.N.I.T. had been dispatched to 'collect' the Doctor, in an operation planned to care for the Doctor if he is in a confused state following a TARDIS crash. U.N.I.T were very reliable in predicting that most crashes of the TARDIS involve the regeneration of the Doctor just moments before.

Designed by the Doctor himself when he was on the Earth in his third incarnation, expelled to there by the Time Lords, and whilst working for U.N.I.T, the plan simply codenamed 'Blue Box', was named after of course the TARDIS, a homage from the Doctor to his beloved time machine, was supposedly the fool proof plan to ensure a crazy regeneration did not cause too great a disturbance to the Doctor, and how to ensure that the process, for them, is as smooth as possible.

This was one such occasion.

Eliza Kate Jago-Stewart continued the family lineage of the Lethbridge-Stewart family at the apex of the Taskforce. Her mother, now retired, rather modestly had her name placed within the middle name of her offspring. Eliza was probably just as confident as the Doctor: well, the last Doctor anyway. She hadn't met this version yet. Nobody had. They were just about to. The U.N.I.T team assembled to collect the Doctor approached the damaged outer shell of the TARDIS. The deep blue exterior was rather ironically a shell of its true beauty that she had seen just days ago. A simple knocked followed from Eliza, and she waited for the result.
The door opens.
"Quiet," the voice says. "The TARDIS is falling at an exponential rate, and if she continues, her very weight may crack the surface of the Earth."
The door slammed shut again. The sharp Estuary English accent of the voice reminded Eliza of the previous incarnation of the Doctor. Except, it was now back to being a male.

Twelve a male, Thirteen a female, Fourteen a male, Fifteen a female, and now Sixteen a male. It was becoming so much of a rollercoaster that the Taskforce brought equipment to provide assistance regardless of what biological sex the Doctor inherited through the regenerative process. To humans, biological sex and the concept of gender is a fascinating idea that was perceived to be blown wildly out of proportion to the other, more telling factors of what a being proved to be. For Time Lords, it was as fluid as changing your clothes. Nobody made too much of a deal of it on Gallifrey for the Doctor. This plan made sure that the Taskforce didn't either.

"Doctor, you crashed about half an hour ago," Jago-Stewart contributed loudly, so he could hear her, but trying so dearly to hold back a chuckle at the expense of the Doctor, who clearly had no idea what he was doing in this current moment.
The door slowly opened, and smoke protruded from the opened box, causing Eliza to step back slightly.
"I knew that," the Doctor sharply added, before flinging the door open and staring down Eliza, whilst standing in the doors of the TARDIS. Jago-Stewart had a duty to examine the Doctor's new physical characteristics upon meeting the new incarnation, as specified in the plan. Her eyes examined the Doctor, from his lean figure, of around six foot, she would approximate. His crazy yet tided hair reminded her of what Kate mentioned of his tenth incarnation, but with a face so very different. She acknowledged the Doctor still wearing his tattered predecessor's clothes, slightly odd given that they were clearly fit for the opposing biological sex, but it did not stop the head of U.N.I.T from examining further his immediate and first impressions. She was, impressed, one could say. Certainly an upgrade on some past faces, to her opinion.

"You're usually clean shaven," she added. "A bit of a stubble, this time. It does suit you."
The Doctor chuckles. "A lot of things suit me, you see. Even multi coloured jackets, strongly looking jackets." You could tell from Eliza's face, that she did not agree. "Besides, I've not got the time to shave right now, I'm too busy."
"Doctor, there is no time. We must bring you in to the Taskforce hospital, just to check up after your regeneration," she added authoritatively.
"I've regenerated?" the Doctor asks, genuinely confused. Then, his mind flashed back to the process itself: the height change, the body change entirely. His entire biological process of replenishing every last cell of his body, of which there are trillions upon trillions of cells that complete re-write themselves. He remembers the rather cruel end his previous incarnation met, contributing to the physical agony of the regeneration, and his initial inability to recall it. "Ah yes," he manages to proclaim, now remembering. "But I'm fine, truly."

Eliza doesn't believe him. "Doctor, you are still stuck in your predecessor's clothes."
"Aren't I always this early?" he asks. "I think I am anyway. A lot to recall. No need to worry. Where did you even get this plan?"
"You. It was you who designed it. Some grand unstoppable and full proof plan conceived by you when you originally joined the Taskforce, in order to prevent exact situations like this causing you great harm," Eliza adds.
The Doctor fails to hear her due to the returning ringing in his ears. "Sorry, could you repeat? A thousand things just rang through my mind then." The Doctor, disorientated, begins to shake his head uncontrollably. "Does anybody else suddenly feel... cold?..."
Lethbridge-Stewart knew this would happen. "Never argue with your classical self," she says. Two medics from the Taskforce rushes to the Doctor's side, before he falls unconscious, into their arms. Golden regeneration energy exits the Doctor's mouth, as Jago-Stewart smiles as she's finally been there for her first regeneration, of the Doctor.

Eliza herself notices a dramatic drop in temperatures, perhaps excusing what the Doctor said about the sudden chill that befell the area. An interesting development. One she would instruct the Taskforce to keep heavy eye on. As for the crashed TARDIS, the Taskforce would of course use their helicopters to transport it with the Doctor to the hospital, to be reunited with the Doctor when he is ready.

*
David read the text again. It was so very rushed and unconvincing. To boot, Diana hadn't even responded to his text, querying about her whereabouts. Pacing around the living room wasn't going to cut it for him. He HAD to get to the hospital. Maybe he'd be able to find out which way she drove home from there? The sudden disappearance from their voice call certainly helped to fuel anxieties within him. They knew who he is, and this let him assume he would be able to get in the hospital. Grabbing his coat, he prepared to leave, but just as he did, his phone finally indicates a call is being received from Diana.

"Where have you been?" were his first words. "I've been panicking for the last twenty or so minutes."
"Work," Diana simply replied.
"When is it not? I'm on my way," he retorts.
"Stay at home. There's been some sort of important code that even I don't know about, I'm assuming so secretive that they felt they had to kidnap me," she reveals.
"They what?!" the enraged David shouts.
"Quieten down, I won't be long I promise," Diana finishes. "I love you."
"I love you too," David reciprocates the declaration, before ending the call. No, it was not the satisfying end to the call he was ambitious for, but at least it provided closure. He would wait. As always.
*
Diana finally arrived at the hospital. She was allowed to finally exit the car, after a short journey to her destination. And yet, the Taskforce had still managed to identify the location of the code 'Blue Box' and managed to return before she did. Remarkable, she thought. It couldn't have been that hard, they must've known what they were looking for. Shivering, from the returning cold, she walks towards the hospital she had left merely moments before. Just around the back corner, she spots the outline of a blue coloured police telephone box, causing great confusion, as she thought that box was the stuff of myth. Yet, for her, it provided closure as to why the code was nicknamed 'Blue Box'.

"Greetings, Miss Walker," the receptionist chimed. "Room 876 is requiring your immediate services, regarding the Doctor himself. At least, I am told the Doctor is a he."
The Doctor? As in, the Doctor that was regarded as the entire basecode for U.N.I.T. operations, Doctor? She had heard some lingering rumours about this renegade before, but the idea of a person flying around in a time machine and having many faces seemed too fiction to be reality. Yet, here she was, recalled to help with something to do with the Doctor.
After contemplating all the rumours she had heard about him, she finally arrives at Room 876, exactly where the receptionist had indicated she was required at. The moment was now, did the Doctor really exist?

"It is too cold, Jago! Did you feel that outside? I had this perfectly under control until not only you showed up, but the Sun went away," the muffled voice of the Doctor said.
"Doctor, you must calm down. You are showing signs of dazedness from concussion. Our scanners say you were knocked unconscious soon after the completion of the regenerative process," Eliza stated back.
"How many times have I told you, human scanners do not work on a man with double the amount of hearts that you have!" he shouts, before storming through the door. "It is too, cold!"
Diana decides now is the time to jump into the conversation. "Excuse me, Sir?"
"It's the Doctor, ma'am. Or at least I think it is. There's too much going on anyway without it being so cold that even I feel it," the Doctor responds, storming down the corridor in nothing but the simplest of hospital gowns.
"Could it be something to do with what you're wearing?" Diana responds, following the Doctor past the corridor.

"Probably," he said. "I'll get changed later."
Jago-Stewart decides to allow the Doctor to investigate, much to the confusion of the rest of the Taskforce. "He can barely even form coherent sentences, how is he meant to find out something so insignificant as the cold?"
"It's not insignificant. And it's because he's the Doctor." Eliza responds.
"Maybe the cold is because we live in Britain," Diana responds, now following the Doctor to the possessions of people who are currently in the hospital.
"Even for Britain, this is too much," the Doctor states, as he begins to search for at least temporary clothes. "Where even is this?"
"Portsmouth," she answers. Diana watches as the Doctor fishes through for some clothing to temporary provide some exterior skin shelter from the cold whilst the TARDIS isn't able to be accessed. "You can't just go and steal people's stuff here to wear."

"Why not? I've done it before. Once in San Francisco and another time in... Leadworth was it? I can't remember," the Doctor says. "I might remember it soon."
"That doesn't excuse it this time," she says. The Doctor cuts her out before she can start her second sentence.
"Red or blue?" Diana is questioned. She rolls her eyes. "Come on, miss. Red or blue?"
"Blue," is the answer. "But don't think it's what you're wearing forever.
"Haha," the Doctor answers. "I completely forgot to ask, whilst I was busy picking, what's your name?"

"Diana. Diana Walker," she calmly responds, to the character she thought only to be of myth.
"Well Diana Walker, maybe you can help me pick red or blue later when it matters a bit more," the Doctor smiles at her broadly, reciprocated by Diana, unable to fathom that this man of myth truly does exist. "I need to find a blue box. It's got everything I need, I promise."
"Operation Blue Box..." Diana said, faintly.
"Sorry?" the Doctor asked, without being able to hear Diana. His ears were still ever so slightly ringing. Not anything long term that would stick with him, but just a reminder that this painful regeneration was still in progress.
"I saw the outline of one outside!" she cheers. "But I don't see how that's going to be any help?"
The Doctor grabs her hand, and runs with her out of the room. "Show me! And you'll see!"

*
Diana leads the Doctor to the location of the blue box in which she saw whilst entering the hospital. The Doctor shares a little triumphant chuckle.
"Hold onto your lunch," he says rather hubristically, expecting Diana to be amazed by the true wonders of the interiors of this seemingly useless blue box. But as he pushed against the door, we saw that yes, for now, this was just a blue box.
The TARDIS groaned.
"Oh come on, now?" the Doctor complains. "Of all the times you pick, you pick now?" The TARDIS groans again.
Diana pokes the Doctor on the shoulder. "Can I let go of my lunch now?" she cheekily says. The Doctor generates a sarcastic laugh as if she was funny, but a tone of seriousness arises straight after.

"This is important. I need a base to actually get to work and figure out why on Earth, pun intended, it is so cold. That box would've been a greater help than you could imagine. But, you seem like you're bright enough to help me out here. Any ideas?" he enquires
Diana contemplates for a second. "You know what? I think that I know just the place."

*
In pure and utter boredom, David switches on the television, waiting for the return of Diana. Switching over to BBC News, the main story revolves around abnormally cold temperatures in Portsea Island, the island of which the city of Portsmouth is encompassed on, which have hit as low as below freezing.

"Our top story concerns the remarkable drop in temperatures on Portsea Island within the last week. Temperatures of pure cold, even as far as below freezing, have been reported throughout the island, rather bizarre giving that the month is June.
"June 18, 2022 has now recorded some of the lowest temperatures on record for Great Britain and the surrounding Isles, and experts are calling this a phenomena previously indescribable even in the winter months, and some are predicting a cataclysmic event to occur in the weeks to follow. More to follow."

David noticed the drop in temperatures over the last seven days, and was bemused but pretty much apathetic. In the modern age of social media, nobody really contemplated the events all that much. It was just weird to the general public, but a select minority cried panic and with justification. Scientists were bemused, governments insecure.
Knock knock.
The door went, and David went to answer it. Before he could get there though, a faint sonic sound could be heard as the door opened, before Diana finally returned home.
"Di!" David swoops in and raises her in the air, before his face deflates as a man enters in the background.

"Doctor, meet David. David, meet the Doctor. I've brought him here so he can work on the weird temperatures lately," Diana proclaimed.
"Doctor?" David enquired, looking at the Doctor square, which the Doctor replied with the same stare blankly. "Doctor Who?"
The Doctor laughs. "I don't even know myself. We'll see." He listens into the news, and using his intuition, correctly assumes the previous statements of the news broadcast regarded. They don't have a clue, he thought. They need a Doctor, eh? It suddenly hit him.
"That was why that erm... that... small bossy woman let me investigate!" he said, forgetting who Eliza was for a split second, and only Diana knew anything of what he was talking about. "U.N.I.T. had no idea, compelling the TARDIS to the area so I would be present in order to investigate. Genius if I don't say so myself, and I know a thing or two about that."

The Doctor plants himself on the sofa. In the hospital, he picked the simplest of dressing, but an interesting colour code. A deep blue shirt, almost the same shade of his beloved TARDIS, was tucked into a plain set of black suit trousers, with an interesting pattern on the brown lace ups he stole. Deep in thought, he rewinds the television to gain images of the surroundings of Portsmouth on the news, and question why it is so cold.
David pulls Diana to the side. "Another man?" he angrily whispers. "Have you been cheating on me behind my back?"
"What?" she chimes back, confused. "I've only just met the guy."
"Clever nickname, the Doctor. What, because you're a nurse and you can play happy doctor and nurse?" he mocks.
"He is literally called the Doctor, you moron. He's a bit of a 'legend' at work. Just not for what Doctors normally are 'legends' for," she replies.
"NOTHING!" the Doctor exclaims, startling the couple. "Nothing at all! Just a bunch of pictures and they're saying it's below zero degrees?"
"Doctor, it's just a bunch of pictures," David responds, unimpressed.

"Below freezing, they said?" the Doctor asked. David nodded awkwardly in agreement. "Then why is there no ice at all?"
The seemingly obvious statement causes Diana and David to think. Well, he's right: where is the ice?
The Doctor stands up from the sofa.
"When you two were children, did you ever stop and think about how big the universe really is?" the Time Lord simply asks, still facing the television.
"A lot," Diana responded. "So does he. It's too vast for us to be on our own, surely. There is life somewhere." She says this whilst pointing at David, implying that he too believes the same.
"Yeah, the universe has been expanding for billions of years, surely there has to be another planet out there that harbours life like ours," David says, with a bit of cockiness to attempt to match the Doctor's intellect.

The Doctor turns to face the pair. "You're right, and wrong. Right because yes, there are plenty of life forms out there in the universe, too vast to be empty bar your species. Wrong, because it could be as close as Mars..."

*
A military base on Portsea Island is under attack from a group of mysteriously shadowed, yet awkwardly moving and slow, tall figures. A distress signal is sent out to the government, acknowledging defeat in the defence of the base. Audible screams can be heard as a young man, seemingly below twenty and a new member of the army, runs away in fear.

"Base compromised! Unknown assailants have breached the compound and have slaughtered most of the troops stationed! Portsea Base compromised! Send he-"
One of the assailants picks up the soldier by the neck. In a chilling voice, it declares, "Distress is futile." The warrior snaps the neck of the soldier, leaving his broken and battered body on the ground. The assailant steps from the shadows, as the Ice Warriors present seal the base, and begin to lower the temperatures.
The warrior communes to the Ice Lord. "Captured. Commence Big Freeze."

*
Jago-Stewart filles out paperwork regarding the operation in her office. Describing it as a 'complete success', she even mentions the Doctor's immediate desire to return to action, and investigate the sharp decrease in the local temperatures, something which had stumped the Taskforce for a while. She hears a crunch from the distance, and rises from her seat to look outside. To her utter horror, she watches as the ground of Portsmouth itself freezes over, and rushes for her phone to alert the government that the situation has reached a dramatic escalation.

The phone rings and rings, with no immediate answer. Yet eventually, she is through to who she wants, to the Prime Minister. "Prime Minister, Sir, I think we have a massive, massive problem."

*
The Doctor detects the crunch himself, as the surrounding area outside of the home of Diana and David suddenly turns very, very physically bitter. This confirms to the Doctor the only possibility left is in fact the adversary here: the Ice Warriors of Mars. But why? What are they doing here?, a pairing of thoughts the Doctor began to rummage through as Diana and David rushes to the windows in horror, as the floor freezes over.

"Don't go outside," the Doctor coldly blunts. He turns back over to face the television, and with no means of communication with U.N.I.T., will have to use his untampered and new initiative to think of something. He's fine with that, you'd think. Even just fresh from regeneration, he is still the Doctor. Sixteenth or First, there is always that undeniable genius rooted to the Doctor's person.
"Doctor, what is going on?" Diana asks, with a hint of desperation present as the severity of the situation sets in. The Doctor has no response. He sits there, waiting for the next new story on the television. Soon enough, it arrived, as the breaking news of the Big Freeze of Portsmouth was followed by the fall of the Portsea Island Military Base.

The Doctor cracks his neck and knuckles. "I'm going to find out." He gets up from the sofa and determinedly marches towards to the door, using his predecessor's decaying sonic screwdriver to unlock the door. Diana naturally goes to follow him, having done so for the last however many hours. David is less keen, noting the extreme danger that this journey, and the confrontation with the creatures themselves, pose to the safety of himself and Diana.
"With all due respect to the fact you're, you know, clearly a smart guy with some weird ass ability to just think of everything, you can't be bringing me and Di into this? Risk your own life sure, but not ours," David implores to the insulted Time Lord.

The Doctor looks directly at David, the look seeping through him. "I'm no ordinary smart guy, you'd know if you listened to her." He points at Diana. "And risking my own life? I've just began this one. I have no intentions of letting it end, or bringing you two to yours. Feel free to huddle up freezing cold in your home, praying that I somehow fix things, and if I don't, you die the most agonizing and painful death imaginable, as every single cell in your body reaches absolute zero, and the very kinetic energy between your cells freezes."
David begins to look at the floor, desolated and overcome with fear, but the Doctor continues. Diana seems already won over, desperate to see Portsea Island restored, and salvaged.

"Or, you can come with me, make yourself useful, and go down in your human history books as the ones who helped defeat some remarkable creatures from Mars with a plan even I haven't figured out yet. Would make for a pretty good story to tell your kids, wouldn't it?" the Doctor grins, knowing that speech should be enough.
"What if we don't, and we can't have kids to tell?" Diana surprisingly interjects, with a worry of her own. The Doctor sighs, cursing as 'they never understand', and brings their heads up with his hands, to tell them a story.
*
The Big Freeze causes immense panic in the city of Portsmouth, the island of Portsea, and the United Kingdom as a whole. People in certain areas of the city outside as the Freeze occurs are simply turned into ice, that with the slightest of touches is demolished, into several fragments, ending their life as they stand.
BBC News interrupts regular programming across the nation to provide the first emergency alert titled 'National Extraterrestrial Crisis' in the history of the corporation. The world watches, as Portsmouth freezes.

But it was unusual. Most invasions involved bloodshed. Terror. Fear. This one just involved...

The cold...
*
"About twenty four hours ago, you woke up to a relatively normal life. About twenty four hours ago, I was a black haired woman with an accent that probably even I couldn't understand. In twenty four hours, everything can change like the flick of a switch, and this isn't the first and won't be the last times you will see this, whether you come with me or not," the Doctor states. "People like you two are the ones that drive me, to be me. Coming with me wouldn't just let you help save your own city, but it would bring out the best in me, and we can get you back to your boring old lives of chips and work and EastEnders."

The two seem slightly unconvinced. "Or," the Doctor starts. "I have a little blue box stashed away somewhere, inside of which is the key to worlds and times restricted to the works of your fictional writers. And you two could have first class tickets on the Rollercoaster of the Universe."

Diana raises her head. "So, the TARDIS is real? We were always told it was mythical, just a story so we didn't ever think to look."
The Doctor once again shares a little chuckle. "Oh, Diana Walker, I'm a rather mythical person." Diana and the Doctor smile at each other, a symbolic 'yes', and she moves to stand by his side. David still has not changed his mind. "What's your surname David?"
"Redgrave," he somberly responds.
"David Redgrave. There's one more vacancy. I'd like to invite you to apply," the Doctor offers, one final time. David raises his head to make direct eye contact with Diana, whose pleading eyes change his mind instantly.

"Well then, we better get going," David proclaims, much to the Doctor's satisfaction. The Doctor pivots to face the outside, the cold, desolate outside. The roads remained unfrozen due to their covering with grit, and construction of tar. It provided therefore the most logical way for the Doctor, Diana and David to reach the overrun military base of Portsea Island.
"Well then," the Doctor begins, after assessing his and his companions' options. "Time to get running!"
*
The Ice Warrior contingent responsible for the overrunning of the Portsea Island base begin to settle in to their head of operations.
"The Big Freeze proved to be an existential success," one Warrior began. "The city of Portsmouth can prove to be our base for Earth colonization, as an outpost for our species."
The Lord laughs. "What is one island, to the Isles, or the World?" The Ice Lord arrives through teleportation in the centre of the converging Ice Warrior contingent. "It will soon be time to press ahead."
"How shall we use this outpost?" the Warrior replied.

A tall, lean figure wearing a blue shirt leaps into the scene. "Yeah, that would be quite nice to know actually," a familiar voice said.
The Warriors and Lords immediately point their laser weaponry at the Doctor, demanding he identify himself.
"Woah! Calm down Lizards. Only here to have a chat," the Doctor calmly jokes.
The Ice Warriors relent. "State name, intentions, planet of origin."
"The Doctor, fun, Gallifrey."

Lord steps forward. The Doctor does the same. They inch closer and closer forward, until the tip of Lord's helmet directly faces the new face of the Doctor. The Doctor sticks his hands in his pockets, unnerved by the intimidating warrior.
"The Doctor..." the Lord begins. "It sounds familiar, it sounds interesting. For our language, your name means fear."
The Doctor furrows his brow in disbelief. "It seems to be almost every language I mean something like that. Well, only Dalek, Ice Warrior, Sycarox. And they all hold one thing in common." The Time Lord takes one more step until their faces were directly in front of each other. "They're upset that I stopped their plan. They're upset that they weren't able to colonise this world. You'll be next."
*
"What are we looking for again?" Diana asked.
"Anything that looks suspiciously odd. Blue cylinders, specifically," recalled David. "Apparently this isn't the first time a species has attempted to alter the physical properties and weather of a planet."
"Unsurprising," Diana laughs with David. She reaches for his hand, and he obliges, as the pair search for what the Doctor said.
"The species are called the Ice Warriors. They originate from the planet of Mars, just up the big galactic road. Bit of a nuisance...
They tried to terraform Mars in a similar way once, and I had to stop them. A long time ago, now. Clearly, they didn't get the memo. But, it was the same back then as it will be now. Look for the blue cylinders..."

Diana contemplates the Doctor's words, before they split outside the base and infiltrated at different ends. Do they destroy them? Do they simply take them to the Doctor? He wasn't really clear, but he didn't have a lot of time, so that's perhaps understandable for him, but it still left David, and especially Diana, with some crippling insecurities.
A distant stomp is heard. Diana and David expect the Warriors the Doctor had mentioned, but had no way of knowing what they actually looked like, and couldn't predict anything. Their perfect plan to hide was contravened, as David stepped on Diana's toe, causing a wince of pain to alert the Warrior of the duo's location.

The relative short time between the base's capture, and the infiltration by the trio, allowed them to sneak in relatively unnoticed. Once the Doctor burst through to show his face, the rest of the complex was under high alert for other infiltration and potential intruders. And they had been found. The Warrior sounded the alarm, and slowly began entering the enclosed, dead end room that Diana and David found themselves in, as the two began to fear for the worst.

*
The sounding of the alarm meant only one thing, and the Doctor knew that: Diana and David had been located by the Ice Warriors. He needed to think, and now. His concentration was deep. When it is, the Doctor can contemplate complex and extraordinary plans in merely seconds. His genius mastery of time so evident through his intellectual haven. Welcome, to the Doctor's mind palace.
—
The Doctor's POV – Mind Palace
Not long to think. Possibly thirty seconds, got to be fast. Ice Lord is the leader, obviously. He's a Lord. Imagine calling yourself a Lord; how modest. Enough though, think. How are you going to stop the Warriors here, and somewhere else across the enormous complex from brutally executing us and turning the Earth into a frozen pit of hell?

I so wish Ice Warriors had the little thing on the back of their heads that with one hit knocks them out. Would be so easy. But here we are. Think. Th- THERMAL. THERMAL ENERGY. Freezing the kinetic energy between particles takes an awful lot of energy to maintain and commit to in the first place, and reversing that could generate enough thermal energy to counteract the changes within the base! I need something frozen, something large...

Or, a large amount! This room, frozen over for their survival! Only one way, and that would probably involve having to destroy my sonic screwdriver, but hey ho, when she's ready the TARDIS will just zilch me a new one. Only a casing, anyway.
—
The Doctor zoned back into the room once again, plan devised and flawless.
"Three seconds to spare," approximates the Doctor. "Maybe." He raises his sonic screwdriver in the air, still directly placed in the face of the Ice Lord.
"Time for a hot shower!" he triumphantly proclaims, as he uses his sonic screwdriver to burst the lights in the front of the base, to generate the energy to break the bonds between the frozen particulates of the main base. The cruel and excruciating loud sonic-sound causes the Doctor and the Ice Lord and Warriors to collapse to the ground. Only the Doctor would stand, with the ringing in his ears now ceased. The energy released is gigantic, causing the Warriors to retreat, but the true Ice Lord is left, and the heat turn up is proving too much.

The Doctor stands over the melting Ice Lord, withering and praying for salvation through a return to Mars. The antagonistic creature looks at the Doctor mercifully and asks,
"Who. Are. You?"
The Doctor reacts with glee at being finally asked.
"Good! Someone bothered to ask. And here's your answer."

*
Diana and David cower in the corner, as the Ice Warrior enters the back end, intending on executing them for trespass. It scans the room thoroughly, until it turns behind. The Warrior spots the defeated duo in a panicked huddle in the corner, but just as the Warrior prepares to execute them, he collapses to the ground, simultaneous to the Doctor finally melting the Ice Lord. The Warrior prepares to teleport away, presumably to meet his comrades on Mars. But not before uttering: "The Oncoming Storm..."

*
"My last regeneration was so painful, I couldn't even remember the basics of who I was, but now I remember truly, who I am. I woke up as just a man. In a box. Without a clue. I still don't, and I probably won't ever. I travel, with friends, never stopping for too long. Yet, that's what makes me, me, and that's who I am. But if you're not convinced that's enough, here's a name that you can attach to me."

"I am the Doctor. I am who you answer to. I am the one who sets the bars and will sort you out if you do anything to contradict those bars, or cross my line. My. Line. Today is one of those times you did cross that line," the Doctor coldly states. "Consider yourself lucky that this time, I was not alone."
Diana and David arise from their panicked huddle and are overwhelmed with a sense of relief. Embracing one another, Diana truly remembers finally, the David she loves. And David feels the reunion too. But for now, there was work to do, and a group of blue cylinders had to be found.

The pair scanned the area for a few minutes, before finally locating them below the mainframe computer. Now, was the time for initiative. Diana and David destroyed them, and stood in triumph.
The Ice Lord disappears, with the Doctor aware the blue cylinders would transport him to Mars, with the remainder of his comrades. It leaves him crouched, alone, as always.
Not for too long, as a rushing Diana and David enter the base front without the Doctor even noticing, to embrace him warmly. Not to be alone. It was not the Doctor's destiny.

*
A few days later, the ice around Portsmouth begins to thaw, as temperatures return to normal. Diana and David return to U.N.I.T, as personally requested by the Doctor, who had disappeared for a few days following the defeat of the Ice Warriors. Diana and David were irritated, as the Doctor promised them, but did not take them. They had waited, excited and ready, to face the universe with the Doctor, and more importantly together. They understood the Doctor had a lot to do, but still felt slightly underwhelmed by the amount of time that they had to wait in order to see him. Eliza Jago-Stewart enters the waiting room the duo were sat in.

"Ah, Miss Walker. Mr Redgrave. Wonderful to see you," Eliza starts. "You're aware you are here today for the Doctor?"
"We haven't seen him," Diana starts. "If that's what you're asking.
"We know, Miss Walker," Eliza batters her eyes.
David looks puzzled. "So, why are we here?"
A wooshing sound, accompanied by wailing engines is heard faintly by the three in the waiting room. Eliza knows that's the signal.
"That is the Doctor's signal, and you'll see when you are there what I mean. Goodbye you two, for now. And enjoy. Enjoy your many travels, whilst they last," Jago-Stewart casually salutes them, as Diana and David are intrigued to know how that is the Doctor's signal.

Exiting U.N.I.T HQ, a 1960's police box stands firm on the ground. A deep blue, with jet black windows, save for the middle bottom on each window set being stellar white, with it fitting the exact description of what the legends of Diana's workplace stated it would be.
Both doors are pulled open, and out steps the Doctor. Freshly dreshed, with a tinge of what they wore together. The hair and stubble stays the same, the blue button up shirt with tight suit trousers sticks the landing, as the Doctor had donned too a sharp red velvet jacket, with black braces over his shirt. The perfect contrast to Diana's earlier decisions, and a nod to his long, long past.

"So, what do you think?" the Doctor grins, clearly loving the attire selection, and spinning on the spot.
David applauds. Diana is unconvinced. The Doctor doesn't care for the outfit, because the one thing he wanted to show them was how they were going to traverse through all of time, and all of space. He steps out of the TARDIS entrance, and clicks his fingers to turn on the lights of the shadowed interior, smiling at the duo as they enter the coded 'blue box'.

*
Holding hands, to face this marvel together, the pair are amazed. Diana is more full of awe, expecting this after realizing that the mythical man was truly real, but David was astonished.

"How... can it..." David stammers. The Doctor smiles profoundly, as he always does at this reveal.
"It's bigger on the inside!" Diana revels, excitedly prancing around and looking around the TARDIS which she thought was constrained to the imagination. The Doctor laughs with a hint of restored vigour and happiness. The neon blue flooring was complemented perfectly by the golden time rotor, the hum, large screen and scanner, a Victorian-style console. The deep black walls, the platform, rings, and chairs and the...

"Round things! I love the round things! But I still don't have a clue what they are!" the Doctor shouts, jumping up to his console. "Right then. Diana Walker, David Redgrave. Welcome aboard the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. It can travel throughout all of space and time. And it's mine."
Diana and David share the most beaming smile imaginable. This was their dream, to go travelling together, to see everywhere and everything. And it was about time, they were about to do it.

The TARDIS generates a sonic screwdriver from her time rotor, with a core of pure silver and an emitter of blue pure sonic waves. The Doctor catches it, admires it briefly, and stuffs it into his inner jacket pocket.
"All of time. All of space. Everything in the yesterday, today and tomorrow. All up to you... where are we heading first?" the Doctor inquires, and the couple consider where to pick their first trip.

In all of time, and all of space.

*
Next time:
Diana and David's first trip in the TARDIS - the Doctor takes them to the American Civil War, a personal favourite of the joining duo. But in the shadows an old enemy of the Doctor lurks, attempting to pervert the course of human history at this crucial time.