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A weird wheezing sound interrupts the daily routine of the white collar office. It resembles the rattling breath of a dying man, refusing to die. The sound becomes louder and louder. By now most of the agents have stopped whatever they were doing and look around, trying to find the source of the noise. Jason feels dread bubbling up in his chest. This would really be the worst timing.

The Doctor is many things, but he has no patience for undercover work. He is too old to forget, to pretend, to wilfully pretend, that he is something he is not. He knows what he is. For all the masks he wears, for all the horrible things he has seen, he knows he is not the good man, many see him as. Yet Jason is fine with that. He respects the Doctor even, to come out on top of all the misery and tragedy of multiple lifetimes, it is not an easy thing to do.

That said Jason dearly wishes that the Doctor wouldn’t interrupt his (boring) day at the office. For the Doctor is attracted to danger or would it be fairer to say that danger is attracted to the Doctor?

The faint outline of a blue box appears in the middle of the office. Many of the feds hand are resting on their guns, ready to pull out at the slightest notice. Diana and Jones who are the closest to him, pull him behind them protectively. It suits Jason just fine, out of sight, out of mind. “What the…?” Diana whispers, aiming her gun at the box. Jones following her example.

With a flair the Doctor steps out. “Hello earthlings, we come in peace.” He says with a giant grin on his face. Clara steps out giving an awkward wave. “Hi.” Jason has to restrain himself from slapping his forehead. He wonders if the Doctor ever introduced himself tactfully. He must’ve, in such a long life he has led there must’ve been a tactful moment, wouldn’t there be?

“Who are you?” Asks Hughes, descending down the stairs.

“Ah yes, hello.” The Doctor turns around with a twirl, flapping his hand about while talking. “I’m the Doctor, this is Clara. We were just minding our own business, actually that’s a lie. I love minding someone else’s business. Anyway, sexy here picked up a very interesting signal.” He puts his hand against the TARDIS lovingly. “She brought us all the way here to New York, 2022.”

Confused looks are being exchanged, until one brave probie speaks up. “Uhm, sir. It’s not 2022.” The Doctor abruptly twirls around again, adjusting his bowtie. “Isn’t it? I could’ve sworn it was 2022. Interesting.”

Hughes signals his agents to put away their guns. “You’re an alien.” He speaks up. Jason eyebrows shoot up, how did he know?

The Doctor snaps his fingers and makes finger guns at Hughes. “Yes, I’m an alien. How did you know? Have we met before or will we meet in the past?”

“My grandfather told me about an alien named the Doctor, who showed up where trouble is.” Hughes is clearly not impressed with him.

“Oooh, that’s interesting and very right. I love trouble or does trouble loves me?” The Doctor snaps his fingers repeatedly. “Actually, it is because of trouble we are here today. Did you know that there are some very interesting gamma waves coming from this exact floor?” The agents look stupefied at the Doctor. “Now normally gamma waves aren’t a problem. Your brain sends out gamma waves each second. Gamma waves aren’t the problem. The problem is that somewhere in this room something or someone is executing gamma waves at a high frequency.” The Doctor wanders around the room, scanning it with his sonic screwdriver. He stops before the terrified probie who had spoken up earlier.

“Where did you get this beauty?” He gently shoves the probie out of the way and studies the item behind the probie. It looks like an abstract artwork, made out of an unidentifiable material. The longer Jason looks at it, the more it becomes clear to him that it is clearly alien.

“Are you saying that thing is radioactive?” Demands Peter, a hint of panic entering his voice.

“Yes, but that’s not important.” The Doctor waves his concern away dismissively. “Normally, you only find this high frequency of gamma waves near dying stars or black holes.” With each word the Doctor utters the agents become paler.

“Doctor, how is a radioactive alien artifact not a problem?” Asks Clara, clearly also a bit concerned.

The Doctor waves his hands at her. “Don’t worry, there’s a Telurian shield around it. It negates the more harmful effects of radiation.” He wrings his hands. “Now the real question is what is this doing in a FBI office in the twenty-first century?”

“And what exactly is this?” Clara mimics the Doctors handwaves he is so fond of.

“Excellent question, this is a transmat.” Jason has to hold back a groan.

“So who is at the other side?” Asks Clara.

“Not Telurians. Whoever did this clearly hadn’t the technical knowhow that the Telurian’s have. My best guess Xeneri. Nasty buggers.”

By now Peter has regained enough of his wit to start asking meaningful questions. “What is a transmat and what are Xeneri?”

“Transmat. Portal. Gateway. Whatever you want to call it.” Answers the Doctor. “As for Xeneri, they are a subspecies of the Danxeri. Excellent fighters, hard to take down, tricky bastards. Any long distance weapon is useless against them. A general pain in the ass, whenever I encounter them.”

Peter exhales slightly. “Are you saying that a hostile group of aliens can be coming through at any moment, because of an alien portal?” Peter looks disbelieving at the Doctor and Clara. “Why should we believe you? You don’t even look like an alien.”

“Because your boss told you.” The Doctor gestures at Hughes.

“You’re an alien with a British accent and a fifties police box and we are going to be invaded any moment now?” Reiterates Peter.

“Yes, well no. You are not going to be invaded in any moment.” The relief in the office is palpable. The Doctor waves his sonic screwdriver around the object and looks at it thoughtfully. “You are going to be invaded in exactly three minutes and forty-three seconds. Forty-two. Forty-one.”

“Can’t you close the portal?” Asks Clara. “Or reverse the polarity, like with Queen Elisabeth and other you?”

“Well yes, normally I would.” The Doctor suddenly turns around, pointing at the terrified probie. “You. Was there another piece of the transmat with it?”

The probie stutters. “The tr-transmat? Oth-other piece?”

“Yes, other piece. Can’t miss it. A big ball in a similar colour. Actually not that big, more like a small ball, but I love saying big ball. It just rolls off the tongue, a big ball.” Clarifies the Doctor.

“Doctor!” interrupts Clara.

“Ah yes, the small big ball. Seen it anywhere?”

“Y-yes. It’s in lock-up.”

“Well, go get it then. Chop chop. We don’t have time to be lurking around. You are going to be invaded in one minute and fifty-five seconds. Clara go with him.” The probie and Clara run out of the room. “Any of you any fighting experience that doesn’t involve guns?”

“What makes you think that killing them will solve our problems? We are not trained fighters.” Argues Hughes.

The Doctor looks up from the artefact to stare at Hughes as if he lost his brain. “Humans, always thinking of killing first. We are not going to kill them.”

“You just asked if we could fight against them.”

“Oh the Xeneri. They are not going to come down themselves, too much hassle. They are going to send fighter bots.” The Doctor claps his hands again and surveys the room. “Any fighting experience, hands up.”

Jones sticks his hand up. He’s the only one. Jason tries to subtly shuffle behind Diana. The Doctor looks at Jones. Diana tries to make herself bigger to hide Neal better. She doesn’t know why Neal is hiding, but if he isn’t comfortable with the alien staring at him. She will gladly help a friend out. “Ah perfect, Jason. We are going to need your fancy swords.” Jason closes his eyes and groans silently. He was having such a good day.

“My name is Jones.”

“Good, Jason, Jones. You are officially in charge of protecting the rest of the humans.”

“Just Jones, no Jason.” Argues Jones weakly and a bit confused. He doesn’t know why the alien insist on calling him Jason. The Doctor however ignores him in favour of waving his sonic at the transmat, trying to establish communications. “Thirty-two seconds remaining.”

Jones picks up the white collar’s baseball bat. Normally only used once a year during the annual baseball competition between the different divisions of the FBI office. He swings it around experimentally, trying to get a feel of the weapon.

A crackling sound indicates that the Doctor has successfully made contact with the aliens on the other side of the transmat. Jason nervously ticks his foot against the ground, impatient for Clara and the probie to come back in time. It would be really inconvenient to get his cover blown. He is lucky that the feds thought that the Jason comment was directed at Jones. Although Peter did get a slight frown in his eyebrows. One that usually indicates that his gut feeling is telling him that something is wrong.

Jason actually likes working with the feds. Not that he ever thought he would like it, but nevertheless he does enjoy his cover. They are good people and he really doesn’t want to come clean. They all know him as a charming, nonviolent conman, not as a slightly insane, very violent vigilante.

“Hello? This is the Doctor speaking. Please identify your place of origins and species designations.”

A slight crackle is followed by a deep, broken voice that echoes through the transmat. “Stand aside, doctor or you will regret it.”

Jones approaches the transmat. His grip tight on the bat.

“Are you aware that this is a level 5 planet? This breach is in direct violation of the Shadow Proclamation. According to the subsection of article 12.3, everyone is acquired to identify themselves when approaching a level 5 planet when asked.”

“We are Xeneri and you will stand aside, Doctor. This does not concern you.”

Jason subtly comes closer to the transmat, preparing to fight at any moment. A soft hand on his arm stops his approach. Diana stops him with a stubborn look on her face. She tries to pull him back behind her. Unfortunately their little scene is noticed by Peter who quickly comes to stand besides Jason and Diana. “Neal, what are you doing?” Peter hisses. “Get back behind us, you’re not trained to fight.”

Before Jason can decide to just ignore Peter and Diana or try something more subtle, the transmat lights us. A straight white light rises up expanding horizontally until a rectangle of light is formed. Metallic men enter the office. They are akin to cyberman, but more humanlike in their movement. It makes them all the more dangerous fighters. “Shit.” Curses Jason. Diana and Peter don’t even notice how highly out of character Neal swearing is. All of their attention is focused on the invading force.

Jason hesitates no longer and goes to stand directly besides Jones, ignoring the protests of Diana and Peter. “Neal, what...?” Jones looks surprised at Neal. He can’t say much however, because the Xeneri choose that moment to attack.

Time slows down for Jason as he inhales slightly.

He surveys the room.

Calm down.

Assess the situation.

Be aware of your surroundings.

Jones swings his bat and with a sickening crunch hits the closest Xeneri in the head. It goes down, the head is completely mangled. Similarly other agents have grabbed makeshift weapons to hit the Xeneri with. A few of them try to shoot them, ignoring the warning the Doctor had given them. It doesn’t do anything, except adding to the chaos.

All of this is happening in a millisecond.

Jason exhales.

In his hands appear the All Blades.

Time speeds up again. Without hesitation Jason decapitates the nearest Xeneri. One enemy down. He splits another in two. Ruthlessly he dismembers another one. They shouldn’t have tried to invade his home. Jason moves constantly. Standing still, slowing down means death. Hesitation means death. Never Hesitate. He falls back into the rhythm of fighting.
Jump.
Slash.
Parry.
Slash.
Stab.
Duck.
Roll.
Use one as a springboard to flip over them.
It all blurs together. He only has awareness of the position of his enemies and his allies. He’s not losing one of his allies today. Soon enough there is a small contingent of Xeneri lying down at his feet. He corrals the enemy back to the transmat. Effectively bottlenecking them. They won’t be able to hurt his allies this way.
He doesn’t know how long he is fighting.

Jason doesn’t feel the burn of his muscles. He doesn’t feel the stinging of his wounds. He doesn’t feel the blood dripping down his face and arms and legs. He only feels a protective rage. And maybe, if he had more awareness than the battle required he could see the way the agents could stop fighting, having no more enemies left.

Maybe if Jason wasn’t so focus on fighting the enemy, he could see the agents looking at him in shock. He doesn’t see Peter’s mouth falling open. He doesn’t see the way Diana clenches her fists so hard, her knuckles are white in worry. He doesn’t see Clara and the probie storming in again with the small big ball.

He only gains his awareness back when the Doctor interrupts the signals, effectively closing the transmat. Jason stands alone surrounded by his fallen enemies, blood dripping of his body. He makes a rather fearsome sight.

“Neal…” Jason locks his eyes with Peter’s. Worry, fear, concern and guilt meet each other.

“Peter…”

The moment is interrupted by the Doctor. “Yowza, that was just in time. Good job, everyone. Jason, Jones, good fighting.” The Doctor twirls around. Seemingly unbothered by the fallen enemies. “No one died. This is really making my day.”

“Still just Jones, not Jason Jones.” Says Jones, alert with the adrenaline left over from the battle.

Clara blinks a few times, looking as if she only recognising Jason standing in the middle of the battlefield just now. “Jason.” Her face lights up and she jumps in his arms to hug him.

With a laugh Jason picks her up and twirls around. It’s a bit jarring to go from battlefield awareness to back to the normal world, but like a true seasoned bat he flips between the two mindsets like a switch.

“God, I’ve missed you.” Clara smiles at him. She lets him go as the Doctor approaches. “Jason, chap, it’s good to see you.” Jason smirks and gives him a hug.

“Neal, what?” Peter stares at them in shock. “You know each other?”

“Yep, we met each other on Belrok-5. Well, actually we will meet each other on Belrok-5. Or have we already met? Well, we will definitively know each other even if a few of us know more about the other in the moment. But, that could change.”

“What?” Asks Peter confused. “Belrok-5 is a…”

“Planet. Well actually it wouldn’t be classified as a planet today. Wait, what year is it? Never mind it is after 2006, isn’t it? To answer your question, no Belrok-5 is not a planet. It would be classified as a dwarf planet at most.” The agents not used to the Doctors confusing speech pattern look at him with open mouths.

Diana frowns at the Doctor. “How can you not know whether you have met or not?”

“We have definitely met Jason. The question is he has already met us? I know for certain that we will meet Jason for the first time in sixty-three years.”

“I have already met you two.” Clarifies Jason, secretly loving the mayhem the Doctor brings. In his heart like all the other bats and birds he is a chaos gremlin.

The Doctor claps his hands in delight. “Perfect. So to clarify your question, we have already met.”

Diana and the other are only more confused. “How can you know when you will meet each other and in space?”

“Oh no, that already happened.”

Diana levels a flat look at the Doctor. “What?”

“Wibbly Wobbly, timey wimey. It’s complicated.”

“Are you really implying that time travel exists?”

“Well, I would love to chat, but we really do need to be going.” The Doctor ushers Clara back into the TARDIS. “Jason if you’re ever interested to go on an adventure, you have my number.” And with the same wheezing sound they came, they leave.

Leaving Jason alone to deal with a broken cover and a failed alien invasion.

Thanks a lot, Doctor.