THE CULT OF THE DOCTOR

Chapter Nineteen

Everyone waited by the TARDIS for the soldier to emerge from the Citadel. After twenty minutes, Eleven shifted his foot and sighed as he checked his wristwatch.

"I'm not waiting all day for this…bloke to get out here," he said to the others. "We have things to do and I'm not thrilled that a soldier is following us now."

"There he is," Clara said, pointing.

They turned to look and noticed a lone man was coming out of the Citadel. The Doctor got a good look at him and was shocked when he realized the man looked like he was barely out of his teens. He was tall and lean with a slight muscular build and an angular face. He had tousled brown hair and a smooth baby face. From the looks of him, the Doctor doubted he'd ever seen combat. But to his relief, the man was dressed in a simple black uniform instead of battle armor. The Doctor felt someone come up beside him and looked over to see Ten gazing at him.

"Seems a bit young to me," Ten said to him.

"Yes, but maybe he'll prove useful," Eleven replied as the man walked up to them.

The man stopped a few feet from them and bowed.

"Greetings, I am Darius," he said to them. "The General wished me to come with you while you're on Gallifrey."

"I am the Doctor and this…" Eleven said, looking at Ten, "is also the Doctor. And this is Rose, Clara and Robert."

Darius bowed again.

"It is a privilege to work with the Doctor. Your exploits are legendary," he said to Ten and Eleven.

Ten and Eleven glanced at one another and rolled their eyes.

"Okay, before we start working together, that's enough of the fawning," Eleven said to Darius. "I've heard it all before about how legendary I am and it gets boring and tiresome. If you're going to be a part of this group, you have to get the stars out of your eyes. Agreed?"

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir," Darius said.

"And no "Sir", just the Doctor will do," Ten added.

Darius nodded. The two Doctors glanced at one another before turning and walking back towards the TARDIS. Darius followed with the other companions but was frowning when Eleven opened the door of his TARDIS.

"Are we…going somewhere" Darius said hesitantly as he looked back at the Citadel. "The General told me to keep an eye on you while you were here."

"Then we have no further need of you," Eleven said. "However, I'm not leaving yet. Just running a few scans. You're more than welcome to come inside or you can go back to the Citadel, whatever suits you best."

"I want to stay with you," Darius said.

"Then quit worrying about whether or not we're leaving," Ten said. "They know us. They know we travel and we'll vouch for you if you get in trouble for leaving. Now come on inside and help us."

Darius nodded. He entered the TARDIS with the others and his mouth dropped open at the sight of it.

"The TARDIS," he said in an awed whisper. "I'm actually inside the TARDIS."

"Ugh," Ten said to Eleven while Rose and Clara giggled. "Rose, I'm glad you weren't this overawed when you started traveling with me. Otherwise, I would have chucked you out the door."

"I wasn't interested in the TARDIS, I was interested in the person flying it," Rose said.

Ten and Eleven looked at each other while Rose and Clara giggled.

"Should I puff out my chest at that and act all arrogant?" Eleven said to Ten.

"Nah, act modest. It looks better," Ten replied.

Rose and Clara snickered when Eleven lowered his head and looked humble for a second before grinning and dashing around the console to his monitor. While he was doing that, Ten continued his teasing as he turned to Rose and Clara and leaned back against the console.

"So…you like science-y men, eh?" he said to them, not noticing the stunned look on Eleven's face when he saw his monitor.

Rose and Clara glanced at one another with a gleam in their eyes.

"I do," Clara said, "but I like tall, thin geeky men with floppy hair."

They laughed when Ten clawed at the front of his hair, trying to bring it down over his face like Eleven's hair. While he was doing that, he could hear something on Eleven's monitor and he was vaguely aware of his own voice coming from it while he smiled at Rose and Clara and kept his eye on Darius and Robert who were now walking around while the explored the interior of the TARDIS.

"Doctor, I think you need to see this," Eleven called out to him.

"Pardon me, I must go be science-y," Ten said to Rose and Clara before walking around the console.

The girls stepped away from the console, watching while Ten walked up to the monitor. They heard Ten's voice coming from the monitor and then saw Ten's shocked expression while Eleven gave him a pointed look.

"What?" Ten said as he stared at the monitor.

Rose and Clara shared a look before they walked around to the Doctors. They stopped near Ten and turned to look at the monitor. Rose frowned when she saw someone that looked like Ten talking to a female interviewer. They were both sitting in leather chairs in a TV studio, facing one another while they chatted.

"So, what finally made you decide to come out of the shadows, Doctor?" the woman was saying.

"Well, I just thought it was time to let the world know that the rumors about my existence were true," the Doctor was saying to her. "It's time that humanity knew they had a friend out there who was concerned about their welfare."

"What? When did you do this?" Rose said to Ten.

"I didn't do it, Rose. That's not me," he said, giving her a pointed look.

Realization dawned on Rose's face and her jaw dropped open.

"That's John?" Rose said, pointing to the monitor.

"It's John or someone that looks remarkably like him. All I know is that's not me," Ten said.

"What's he doing?" Clara said.

"Um…at a guess, I'm guessing he's pretending to be you and pretending to be a god," Eleven said as Darius and Robert came up behind him.

Rose looked at Ten and noticed his jaw was clenching as he stared at John with silent rage.

"Doctor, he wouldn't do something like this voluntarily. I know you think he's dangerous but he would never endanger you like this. Someone is forcing him to do this, I'm sure of it," Rose said, putting her hand on his arm.

"That could be true," Eleven said. "He was taken. For all we know, someone has brainwashed him and controls him."

Ten sighed and gave a begrudging nod.

"Fine. Let's find him then and get to the bottom of this and for his sake, he better be under someone's control," he growled.

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