Honed Honor (Toofers and 10)

The Intergalactic Museum of Space was one of the best attractions of the 30th century. It featured some of the most interesting and exotic things the Intergalactic Guide could find, including anything from refurbished Daleks to decommissioned Cybermen, and anything in between. The museum often received millions of visitors on a daily basis, inspiring and encouraging the imagination of all who passed through their doors. But there was something that would do even more than inspire and learn, something that could bring the museum to it's knees and learn that sometimes, earning the buck was the last thing you ever wanted to do...

Curator X'ligat stood in the chilly inspection room as the scientific excavation team brought in the specimen that would make this museum (and her) millions of dollars. The specimen in question was enclosed in a large block of ice, clouded and thick. The dark outline of a figure that loomed nearly 7 feet tall stood ominously as the men sat the block of ice upright.

X'ligat waved her tentacley appendage to shoo away the team and came up to the specimen. She rubbed his tentacles together with glee and giggled with excitement. The team had found this spectacular thing deep in the arctic mountains, brought it here for the Museum, and went back to work without even a mention from any press or media about how this thing was obtained, or how many indigenous species had to be relocated in order for it to be excavated. Only how awesome this new specimen was going to be!

The only thing that could be improved upon here,X'ligat thought, was if the thing was exposed entirely. She grabbed some heat lamps from the storage room and surrounded the specimen in an even equidistant fashion, and put them all on high. Within moments, the water was pouring off the block and onto the floor. This was going to take a while...

X'ligat spent the hours waiting for the ice to melt in the presentation room preparing the exhibit for the new specimen. When she had returned, the specimen was fully exposed. The dark green scaly armor stretched from head-to-toe. The hefty clamps that were attached at the end of each arm were (thankfully) stationary and menacing. The reptilian mouth was accented by a similar scaly helmet and blood-red goggles. A perfect model of terror.

X'ligat wheeled the figure to the exhibition room, and positioned the creature in a menacing position. She laughed at her genius as she picked up all her equipment and brought them back to her lab. As she turned off the lights for the lab, she heard a curious thing coming from the exhibition: a small, barely audible hiss. He attributed the noise to perhaps the air conditioning units that kept the room chilly.

Never did she thought that her new exhibit could have been the cause of the noise....

The bright, colourful pamphlet the Doctor held in his hands crumpled slightly as he browsed through the featured sites that existed at the museum. It had been a long time since he had visited last, chuckling at the thought of Susan, Barbara, and Ian's reactions to all the spectacular sites that laid there. On the back page of the pamphlet was a bright, eye-catching header that read "Come see the spectacular new exhibit guaranteed to give you a spine-chilling experience! Opening soon!"

The Doctor was intrigued, taking into consideration that museums were one his favorite things to visit. And as he stood in front of the massively huge space museum, the special pamphlet in his hand, he observed the obnoxiously large blue and green banner flapping in the wind above the entrance. His scarf blew gently across his boots as he scaled the Olympiad sized set of stairs, and up to the entrance of the building.

BAM The TARDIS shot through the time vortex, spiraling and whirling in a circle as smoke lifted from the open doors. A closer look revealed a figure dangling off of the edge of the open doors, frantically trying to climb back into his time machine before the light atop the TARDIS began to light up. Just as quickly as the TARDIS entered the time vortex, it exited the whirlpool of time energy and into reality, Dalek command ships moving in after the blue box as it hurled forward. Peering back behind him, The Doctor glared at the Dalek ships with widened eyes as a laser shot roared underneath him, missing his TARDIS by a mere foot, missing his legs my mere inches.

Painstakingly, The Doctor reached into his pocket and yanked out his sonic screwdriver, flopping his arm out onto the ramp floor with a thud as he activated it. The main lever thrust down with authority followed by a loud groaning noise emitting from the time rotor. "I don't care where, just get us out of here!" The Doctor exclaimed as if replying to his time machines melancholy noises and echoes. Out of nowhere, the sound of an incoming laser from the nearby Dalek command ship smacked into The Doctor's attention, causing him to peer back behind his left shoulder with widened eyes. "Aaahhh!!" He proclaimed, lifting up his legs as high as he could just in time to dodge the incoming shot. Although it missed The Doctor, it hit the frame of the TARDIS foundation boards, impacting with a burst of energy.

WAM The thrust from the hit flipped The Doctor into the TARDIS, his slim figure set tumbling down the ramp and smacking into the side of the control console, back first. "I need something to cool me down" He mumbled with a groan as the doors creaked shut; the TARDIS quickly re-entered the time vortex with three glorious moans and with another three, it landed. The sound of the time machine landing echoed throughout the control room as The Doctor rose up to his feet, dusting his suit off and finally straightening his tie as he peered over to the TARDIS double doors. "This better not be another Dalek controlled planet" He mumbled as he strode down the ramp, snagging his trench coat and flipping it on as he exited his time machine. Gazing around, The Doctor stepped out and shut the door behind him, a grin quickly emerging as he realized where he was, "I haven't been here in years!" he exclaimed happily, nonchalantly placing his hands into his pockets, "Oh but this is brilliant! The Intergalactic Space Museum! Forever changing the way you look at a floating banana..what a show that was!".

Groups of tourists past by The Doctor, on their way to the stairs leading up to the gargantuan, Olympus styled, museum in front of them. Their curious eyes passing over the mad man as he spoke to himself. The Doctor glanced over to them, arching his eyebrow as he sniffed and nodded his head, "Talk about a boring crowd. Blimey" he mumbled before turning to the building and beginning his saunter towards it. Luckily, the TARDIS was parked off to the side of the main entrance, hidden behind several columns on the right hand side, the dark hiding most of the infamous vessel apart from the glowing windows, top light and police box sign. Looking up to the entrance of the museum, The Doctor quickly peered over the signs and new exhibit signs, his attention and curiosity peaking at the Come see the spectacular new exhibit guaranteed to give you a spine-chilling experience! Opening soon! flags dangling down from the top of the building. "Well i know where i'm going first" The Doctor mumbled as he caught up to a man in a brown top hand, brown coat and long colorful scarf, his mind not connecting the imagine as he was focused on the new exhibit signs, not even as he walked up the steps beside him.

As the Doctor approached the mighty, automated doors of the museum, he happened to take keen notice in the reflection of the glass that a young man had followed him up. The Doctor gave him a smile and observed his eagerness to get to the museum. His brown suede coat flapped in the breeze, revealing a matching red pin-striped blue suit and a delightfully complimenting tie. I like his style! he thought. His hair was youthfully gelled up in an excellent up-do, putting this man around mid-to late Earthen 20's. At least he seemed humanoid...

The Doctor walked though the doors with the man, pausing a moment to take a deep breath of the museum and enjoy the history. He turned to the young man and gave him a brief smile. "It's been years since I've been here, you know. You must be here to see the new exhibit? I wonder if it's even open yet..."

The Doctor came up to the reception desk and inquired from the automated receptionist, who had a friendly but choice face. "Yes, my good...um, lass. Is the new exhibit open?"

The computer fizzed a bit, then responded. "The new exhibit is currently still under construction, sir."

"Well, I don't suppose you could let me take a small peek? After all, I am an investor of this museum you know..."

The computer receptionist lit up mildly, letting out a small dial-up tone, and immediately printed out two VIP passes. "Here you are, sir. One for you and your friend. Enjoy!"

The Doctor, confused by what she meant, took the two passes and turned around to see the man he had walked in with standing behind him. "Oh you mean--well, I suppose he wouldn't mind. Here you go!"

He handed the man a VIP pass for the new exhibit. "She thought you were with me, so here you go young man."

The Doctor slowly turned his attention to the man walking beside him, but just as he was about to see his face, the overwhelming feeling of entering the museum hit The Doctor like a brick wall. Once more his attention was shifted away from the man and onto the building, more specifically this time the computerized voice that spoke to the man. "Frien-" He went to protest before the man turned around and gave him the tickets, and for the first time he saw his face.

Immediately a grin plastered itself across The Doctor's face, "Thanks" he replied to, who he now knew as, The Doctor, taking the pass gratefully and turning with The Doctor to begin heading towards the exhibit. Hovering over the gates to the new exhibit hung a mighty drag, displaying the words Coming soon! The Frozen Horror!. This, of course, only peaked The Doctors interest even more, now to the point where he was like a child seeing a candy store. Bolting over to it, holding out the vip pass so that the advanced security droid could let him pass instead of raising its gun. "Halt!" The droid proclaimed before The Doctor thrust his pass in front of the droids face, "VIP pass for me and...my friend. Compliments of the curator".

Hesitatingly, the droid took the passes and allowed them to enter through a service door behind it; the cool feeling of refrigeration immediately overcoming The Doctor as he passed through. "What do you think it could be? Most of the frozen wonders of the universe have been discovered..i mean..that's..that's what i hear these days" He spoke back to The Doctor, trying to conceal his identity under later when it was needed, "You seem like an intelligent man..with that amazing scarf and all" he continued, mentally getting a kick out of finally meeting this incarnation and thanking him for wearing the iconic item.

The Doctor watched as his new friend eagerly took his ticket, and with a childlike enthusiasm, began to walk over to the service door where a terrifyingly menacing looking security droid was guarding. The closer he got to the door, the more anxious he got to see what was behind the mysterious sealed doors. The Doctor paused for a moment to take in the sight of the museum.

There were tentacled patrons and feathered friends floating in and out of exhibits. A large group of what could be considered school children were heavily surrounding the large, antique Emperor Dalek that resided in the middle of the room. He laughed with nostalgia. It had been too long since he had returned.

The Doctor then turned his attention back to the door, where his friend had already arrived. A quick, brisk jog brought him to the door within a few seconds. There was a slight chill in the air near the door, but the Doctor reveling in his long scarf, which was wrapped around his neck once and dangled lovingly to both sides of the floor.

When they entered the chilled room, the new friend spoke. "You know, I haven't the slightest idea. Being a traveler like myself comes with the unfortunate price of meeting a lot of chilly people. But considering how long i've been traveling, it could be anything from an old friend to a new foe. Who knows?"

He looked over at the man, and have him one of his trademark ear-to-ear toothy smiles, and thanked him generously for the compliment. As they walked further into the fog of the room, a tinny audio recording began to play.

"Prepare yourselves to meet a terrible foe of the seven ice planets! He walks in the fog, concealed in the ice for thousands of years, he awakens, with a vengance! Meet...THE REPTILLIAN ICEFIGHTER!"

The Doctor looked around in the fog, trying to make out any distinguishing shapes or sizes that could have helped figure out what this new exhibit was. The room seemed almost massive and expansive, complete with a holographic weather simulation that gave the room the appearance of being in a terrible snowstorm.

As the holographic ice crystals passed through the men, the Doctor saw something in the corner of the room. A large, looming figure that seemed to be moving. He turned to the man. "Ah! There we are. There's our suspect."

He began to walk closer to the object, only noticing that as he neared, his hearts began to pound with an insatiable fear. He had his suspicions of what this terrible, icy thing could be. He knew that those terrible icy things were not to be taken lightly. And he knew that these terrible icy things were not called Reptilian Icefighters. They were Ice Warriors.

The Doctor carefully entered the exhibit, peering from wall to wall, his eyes grabbing everything they could pick up and sent the images to the brain for processing. Anything could be in this room He thought to himself before the voice roared overhead, "Prepare yourselves to meet a terrible foe of the seven ice planets! He walks in the fog, concealed in the ice for thousands of years, he awakens, with a vengance! Meet...THE REPTILLIAN ICEFIGHTER!". The Doctor almost chuckled at the thought of a reptilian ice fighter; the image of a lizard smacking a block of ice flashing into his mind before the sight of the Ice Warrior replaced the thought.

His eyes widened as he approached, trying to conceal his actual fear and matching facial expression of that of The Doctor's, who strode forward beside him, to conceal his identity that much longer. "An Ice Warrior..." The Doctor hissed, the words unconsciously slipping out from his lips, "I mean..that's..that's what i reckon it is from the intergalactic records" he sniffed, retracting further thoughts before they gave away who he was, "I wonder what it's doing here..long way from Mars..i-i mean..that's what i found out through the records..you know..where they live and all".

Not taking any particular notice of his friend's astounding knowledge of the creature, the Doctor and his friend approached the creature with severe caution. The Doctor knew that his was not something to be toyed with, and the Ice Warriors, though being tremendously honorable, were terrible enemies to be had. Seeing the creature again brought flashbacks of his younger years, with Jamie and Victoria in the Arctic, and at Peladon. Those were the good years...

The fog lightened up as they neared the creature. The Doctor inspected the menacing thing, taking into fare consideration that the creature was a lot shorter than he had remembered. Then again, he DID grow a foot or so since they last met...The forest green scales of it's armour was clean, but covered in a light dew from the mist. The clawed hands reached out in a menacing manor, but it appeared that upon closer inspection, the arms were positioned intentionally to be scary and frightening. After all, the patrons paid for exciting.

While the Doctor was observing the massive specimen, he paused. His friend's words had finally sunken in, resulting in a delayed reaction. "You know, my new friend, you're quite right. These things are indeed the terrible Ice Warriors from Mars, nonetheless. A most honorable race, i'd say, but quite fierce. I'm sure you'd read it all in your research I suppose."

He turned to him and gave him a cheeky smile and a small elbow nudge. He pulled out a small waxed bag from his pocket, took something orange from the bag and popped it into his mouth. "Jelly baby?"

The Doctor grinned widely, nearly copying his previous incarnations smile as it flashed from ear to ear as he was offered a jelly baby. "Oohoho yes" The Doctor whispered, taking two of the jelly babies and popping them into his mouth, "You have no idea how much i love those things..my favorites the blue. Surprisingly good if you think about how long they've been around....just like a lot of things around here, huh?" he asked, speaking about more than just the objects within the museum, hinting at his knowledge of The Doctors age at this point in time.

"Oh yes, i would quite agree with that" A voice hissed out from the misty fog of the exhibit, immediately catching The Doctors attention, his eyes shooting over to the direction it came from as he finished chewing the last bits of the jelly babies. From the mist strode a woman, her body covered in a long black formal dress, the top portion shinning in a way that looked as if stars were scattered across it. Her hair, an almost matching black shade, was tied up into a bun in the back, her eyes a glowing brown, "I am Curator X'ligat..i own and run the museum around you. I know everything in and around this place..oddly enough this place has never had VIPS..well that is..until you two arrived. It seems as if you've got everyone convinced of your identities..apart from me. No one is going to get in my way of revealing this exhibit! Don't think for a moment i don't know who you are! Universal museum inspectors none the less..come to make sure this will never open. Well that'l never happen! I guarantee you that!"

The Doctor was caught up in his jelly babies when the hissing voice startled him from behind. He turned around to face the striding woman (or at least he thinks it was female) coming at them with ferocity and intention. Her hair, pulled back tightly, revealed her slick, nearly slimy purple face. The lines and wrinkles shifted almost humorously as she spoke, tossing threatening and nearly empty promises towards them both.

The Doctor, determined to calm the agitated woman, put his jelly babies away safely in his pocket and tipped his fedora. "That's certainly right, madame! Universal Museum Inspectors. And some of your most highest paying ANONYMOUS donors I might add. We want to know what our money went to, don't we?"

He prodded his friend, seeking a nod or approval of his story. "Now this specimen, Curator, is one of the best looking ice war--oh pardon me, Reptiallian Icefighters--i've ever seen. The armor is preserved very nicely, all of the scales are nice and clean, even the goggles are glistening with a nice sheen! You've certainly put our money to good use!"

Curator X'ligat gave a huff of frustration, apparently not believing the strange man with a long scarf. "Why you arrogant, human FYPHGORK! You think I was hatched yesterday? I may not know who you are, or why you're here, but I'm sure SECURITY will have no problem getting some answers out of you!"

With a flurry and twist of mist, the black gowned curator slithered out of the room. The Doctor turned to his friend with a chuckle on his lips, which quickly turned grave. "What an odd woman, but there's more going on here than meets the eye, would you agree?"

Not taking in his friend's response, he stood up on his tippy-toes to look at the face of the creature, then returned to normal flat-foot. "I don't suggest we hang around here long, my friend. If she's coming with that protocol droid, we might as well surrender our sanity. Besides, do you notice anything odd about this specimen?"

The Doctor listened closely to the bicker between his previous incarnation and the curator, starting to answer the question posed to him before four began to speak once more. This time he turned the Tenth Doctor's attention to the Ice Warrior itself. In the moment, the Tenth Doctor hadn't paid much attention to the Ice Warrior since entering the room, his attention had been fixed on the rambling curator. But indeed, something had changed from last time he had seen it.

Flipping out his brainy specs, The Doctor walked two steps closer then peered up, squinting to try and get as much detail from it as possible. "Yes..." He mumbled a reply, his eyes landing on where the mouth of the creature should have been, "Something is missing...the Ice Warrior himself" he concluded, "It seems in our little talk with the curator we failed to notice it crawling out of its armor..i've never seen one outside of its armor before...there's no telling what its capable of at this stage.". As he stopped talking, The Doctor turned his attention to the dark corners of the room, and even, eventually up to the ceiling. Curiosity and a rush of fear shivering up the base of his spine as his eyes lingered, searching, through the darkness of the exhibit.

The Doctor, not taking any notice of his friend's very keen observation, started getting hands-on with the creature. "It appears that the creature has--that's right. You've got impeccable sight, my new friend. By the way, I'm the Doctor."

He held out his hand in a gesture of kinship, but was rudely interrupted by an unexpected blackout. The museum held an eerie silence for a moment, before the emergency sirens and lights began to go off. The lights were barely noticeable through he misty fog. The large, metallic door swung open, shedding a bit more light into the room.

The familiar figure of the curator appeared before them. Her silhouette held a terrifying outline of a phaser gun. She began to enter the room, letting the door slam behind her. The Doctor grabbed the arm of his friend, ready to run. As the emergency lights flashed, the silhouette of the Curator flashed closer and closer to them.

In between the pulsating horns of the emergency sirens, a spine-chilling gurgle and scream came from the dark. The figure of the curator was thrown before them, pooling in the orangish-yellow blood and releasing a stench of putrid sulfur into the air. The Doctor ran to the figure laying limp on the floor, quivering and spasming, ending in a deathly stillness.

The Doctor peered back to his friend with a look of stoic terror and mouthed, "We are not alone..."

"Joh-" The Tenth Doctor stopped his reply as both their attentions were shifted to the silhouette of the curator as she made her way down towards them. His eyebrow arched with curiosity as he watched the figure closely before it rag dolled and plummeted to the floor before both of them. Without further thought, The Tenth Doctor rushed to the woman's side and scrutinized her with his eyes before unconsciously flipping out his sonic screwdriver.

At this moment, The Tenth Doctor's false bravado, like the curator moments ago, fell down. His mind didn't bother to make sure to remind him he was supposed to be concealing his identity, instead he shifted into full Doctor mode. "This wasn't a shot..." The Tenth Doctor concluded, tucking his sonic screwdriver away as he peered up from the body and around the exhibit room, "Ice Warrior technology wouldn't leave blood to fall from the wound...it would have vaporized immediately....something tells me this was made by from the warrior itself..outside the armor".

Quickly standing up, the Tenth Doctor spun towards the entrance of the exhibit, "We need to get every single person out of this museum" he exclaimed, "Contain it in this very room..don't let it get out then we can work out a plan. Last thing we need is a crazed Ice Warrior running around terrorizing people left and right. Next thing you know we'd have the Shadow Proclamation bursting through the doors.". Stopping, The Tenth Doctor peered back over to The Fourth Doctor and grinned widely, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the same bag of jelly babies Four had out just moments ago and popped one into his mouth, "Allons-y?" he asked, extending the bag out to his former self.

As a smile smeared itself across the Doctor's face, he stood up and leveled with the man. Not breaking eye contact, he took a jelly baby from the bag and popped it into his mouth. In an instant, he knew exactly what was going on. This man was the Doctor. HE didn't know which one, perhaps he SHOULDN'T know which one he is, but he knew that this was perhaps good news indeed!

The fourth Doctor examined the body through the fog, then walked over to the giant metal door. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and whirred it across the door. The metal door slammed open, releasing a small layer of fog and mist onto the floor immediately outside of the door. The place was already eerily empty, void of life and civilization. He ran over to the front desk where the kind receptionist was earlier, and leapt over the desk, scarf flapping in the wind. He began to type on the databank computers.

The computers showed that the building had been put on emergency lockdown, and all of the entrances and exits were sealed shut. At least momentarily they were sealed. The security cameras flipped through the rooms of the museum, showing the void and empty rooms all about. He stood up behind the desk. "Well, my Doctor friend, it looks like we're the only two in here. Well, besides the body of the Curator. Poor girl, she was very pretty, I'm assuming."