The UK Avengers

History is littered with its heroes, both real and fictional, but in all the tales of heroes to exist there hasn’t been one quite like this one, a tale of real heroes meeting famous characters of literature and myth, creating a team who would save the world from many threats, dangers and invasions.

And it begins with a ship impossibly and yet at the same time not quite impossibly bigger on the inside than the outside.

The Doctor looked up with a grin as Hannah came into the console room yawning and tying back her hair in its usual, as of late, plait. “Enjoy your nap?”

“Yeah, I did, actually,” Hannah agreed, stretching. She wore her favourite short, sleeveless blue dress with the halter neck, dark blue leggings and long ice-blue boots with the high heels, which were actually easier for running in than people thought. “I’m a bit peckish now, though.”

“Have a Jammy Dodger,” the Doctor said, pushing the plate over to her as his eyes flickered back and forth across the various buttons, levers and screens of the Tardis control panel. Everything looked to be in order, but even as he was thinking it, a small green light began to blip on the panel in front of him. He frowned. “Strange.”

“What?” Worried it might be something bad, Hannah jogged up to him.

“Some kind of signal pulling us off course,” the Doctor replied, checking the screen in front of him.

“Pulling us where?” Hannah asked, warily.

“Earth,” the Doctor replied. “Your time.”

She relaxed, and then frowned. “What kind of signal?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” the Doctor replied, busy fiddling with the Tardis console. While he was doing that, Hannah busied herself with monitoring the Time Path Indicator, just in case they were being chased by anything, although she doubted that. Inwardly she hoped that they weren’t being called back to Earth by some alien species intent on leading them into a trap so that their attempt to take over the universe wouldn’t be thwarted by a meddling Time Lord and his Mondasian Human friend. After all, they had only just finished saving the Earth of the future, in the year 6073 to be precise, from a race of savage Slitheen who wanted to destroy the planet to sell for scrap, again.

“Hm,” the Doctor said, suddenly, and she glanced up, hopefully. “Strange, just an ordinary computer signal, nothing alien about it, kind of like the signals they use to get in touch with us at UNIT.” Hannah felt relieved until he added “Only it’s not coming from UNIT HQ.”

“Well, where’s it coming from then?” Hannah asked.

“Don’t know, we’re going to have to follow it to find out.” The Doctor pulled a lever on the console and took hold of another one before fixing Hannah with a meaningful but gentle look. “Hold onto something, it’s going to be a bit bumpy.”

From previous bumpy rides in the Tardis, Hannah was wise by now as to what to grab hold of, and she quickly threw her arms around a railing as the Doctor jerked the second lever upwards. With a hollow variation on its usual grinding-and-scraping-of-gears take-off noise, the Tardis jolted into action and Hannah relaxed when she realised that the ride wasn’t quite as rocky as she had first imagined it might be. It was like landing a plane on a runway after a long journey, really, that kind of gentle but unsteady touching down, until suddenly the Tardis made its normal landing noise and the bumping stopped. The Doctor grinned up at her.

“Piece of cake.”

Hannah returned his grin and she straightened up, flipping a stray fluff of hair out of her eyes. “Nothing to it, Doctor.”

“Right, let’s see where we are,” the Doctor added, pulling open the Tardis doors. Hannah followed him through but the second they had stepped from the ship into a vast corridor, the pair of them found themselves facing ten armed men with military service weapons pointing right at them. Automatically, the Doctor and Hannah threw up their hands. “Okay!” the Doctor exclaimed, cheerfully. “What have we done?”

“Maybe it was that time we parked the Tardis on double yellow lines?” Hannah joked, feebly.

One of the men, clearly the leader, stepped forwards. “Are you the Doctor?”

“Yes, yes I am,” the Doctor chirped, “and this is Hannah.”

Hannah made a nervous wave with her fingers whilst still keeping both hands up in the air.

The man nodded. “This way if you please.”

Exchanging a look and a shrug, the Doctor and Hannah did as they were told and made their way, surrounded by the armed men, towards a door right at the end of the corridor. The leader knocked and a familiar bored voice intoned “Come.”

The Doctor and Hannah looked at one another again, as things began to make sense and confirmed with one voice “Mycroft.”

The man opened the door and announced “The Doctor and Miss Waters, Sir.”

“Ah, excellent,” Mycroft replied, in an easier tone than usual as he got to his feet and the Doctor and Hannah were shown into what appeared to be a miniature office. “Doctor, Miss Waters,” he added as the door was closed behind them. “Forgive the hostility of your arrival, these men are new, ex-army. I tell them to bring you two to my office when you arrive and they immediately assume you’re criminals.”

“Oh, we’ve had worse, Mikey,” the Doctor replied, cheerfully, and Hannah bit back a laugh as Mycroft looked slightly irritated by the Doctor’s use of the nickname he had always hated from his parents, never mind a 900 year old Time Lord. “So,” the Doctor added, casually, propping his feet up on the desk, crossing his legs and folding his arms. “What’s the problem?”

“The threat of an oncoming alien invasion, Doctor,” Mycroft replied, shoving a file across the desk to him. The Doctor picked it up and Hannah leaned over his shoulder to see that it contained blown up photographs. “Recognise them, Doctor?”

The Doctor nodded, grimly. The blurry ghost-like shapes, blurrier than he had seen them before but still undoubtedly caused by the same thing, were all too familiar to him. Hannah furrowed her brow. “They look like ghosts...wait...they look like what everyone thought were ghosts back when...”

“Back when the Cybermen invaded Canary Wharf,” the Doctor finished with a nod. “Yes.”

Mycroft leaned back in his chair. “Britain wasn’t prepared last time for such an invasion. These photographs have been taken by the good people at UNIT as well as some passersby, and thanks to them, we plan to be prepared this time, Doctor, which is where the two of you come in.” He picked up another file but didn’t hand it over just yet. “I realise it might be a touchy subject for you, but you’ve no doubt heard of SHIELD, Doctor?”

“The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division?” the Doctor replied, nodding. “Oh, yes.”

Hannah blinked. “Blimey, and I thought UNified Intelligence Taskforce was a mouthful.”

The Doctor grinned at her and then turned to Mycroft. “They’ve been in touch?”

Mycroft nodded. “As I suspected, news of the New York incident hasn’t reached you yet. Well, I will tell you that several months ago, an army of aliens invaded New York city, and were only stopped because SHIELD director Nick Fury launched what he called the Avengers Initiative – bringing together the most powerful people in America to defeat them with their own special skills and training.”

The Doctor nodded. “Right, but why would Hannah and I find that a touchy subject?”

Mycroft sighed and held out the file. “Because, Doctor, the aliens weren’t working alone. They had someone you knew with them, also trying to take over the Earth. His own brother joined the Avengers team to defeat him.”

Slowly, the Doctor took the file and opened it. This one contained case notes on these “Avengers” including photographs paperclipped to their pages. The Doctor flipped through a few of them until he realised what Mycroft was getting at. “Thor?”

“Loki?” Hannah’s head jerked up. “That can’t be right!”

The Doctor was also frowning. “No, that doesn’t make sense. Why would Loki want to invade Earth?”

Mycroft smiled, sadly. “His brother couldn’t get him to talk, I’m afraid. At any rate, he was arrested and sent back to Asgard, where apparently his father was all set to have him imprisoned for life, but Thor on the other hand had a better idea.” Confidentially he leaned forwards in his chair, fingertips pressed together in a professional manner. “Apparently, before the Avengers Initiative was launched, Thor spent some time on Earth and became a better person for it. Now he’s hoping that the same can happen for his brother, which is where you come in.” He took a deep breath. “The British Government wants to launch its own Avengers Initiative, for the UK, and in doing so Thor is hoping that not only can they protect the Earth but they can also pull Loki back from any desire to conquer it.”

The Doctor cocked an eyebrow at him. “In other words, Loki’s on community service by joining us in defeating the Cybermen?”

“You and the rest of the most intelligent minds this side of the universe, yes,” Mycroft smiled.

“No need, I’m going to bloody kill him when I see him,” Hannah muttered.

“Alright, Hannah, let’s at least hear him out first,” the Doctor replied, glancing at Mycroft. “And who exactly are the finest minds this side of the universe, Mikey?” He frowned. “Not the Judoon, please, we’ve had enough trouble with them already, haven’t we had enough trouble with them already, Hannah?”

“Yup,” Hannah agreed.

“They have been selected by Asgard’s gatekeeper, or so I am told,” Mycroft replied, getting to his feet. “People who exist in worlds parallel to our own, one who lived a very, very long time ago on this world and people who still live here now.” He smiled again at the bewildered looks on their faces and nodded to a door set in the wall to their right. “Some are already here, Doctor, and the others-”

He was interrupted by yet another knock at the door and this time the leader announced “Sir, Mr Holmes and Mr Watson.”

“Excellent,” Mycroft replied, tightly, and a second later Sherlock had strode into the room, followed by John.

The Doctor grinned at leapt to his feet to shake John by the hand. “Well, aren’t you two a sight for sore eyes?”

Hannah smiled at Sherlock, who looked rather irate towards his brother. “Have you been briefed?”

“Clean on this morning, Hannah,” the Doctor joked, and John laughed.

She shook her head. “Not you.”

“Yes, Hannah, in answer to your question, we have, and incidentally you’ve got a broken nail there that needs filing, left hand, third finger,” Sherlock reeled off, folding his arms. “And I think I speak for both of us when I say we do not appreciate being dragged away from home for something that hasn’t even happened yet, Mycroft.”

“Well, you can take your anger out on the Norse God who started it all in the first place, Sherlock,” Mycroft retorted.

“Alright, that’s enough,” the Doctor replied, testily. “Let’s go and see him...and everyone else,” he added, perking up.

Hannah got to her feet as Sherlock thrust his hands deep into his coat pockets and muttered “Most intelligent minds this side of the universe, probably a bunch of Cambridge scholars who wouldn’t know an alien if it was standing right in front of them.”

As it turned out, however, in a rare instance that neither the Doctor, Hannah, Mycroft or John ever thought they would live to see, Sherlock was wrong. When they walked into the adjoining room, they were met by the sight of three men, two young and seated, one closer to John’s age and standing. The four friends stopped in their tracks as Mycroft smirked at their reactions to the trio. They were certainly a strange trio, to say the least; the older man looking rather familiar, dressed in a suit and with close cropped sandy hair; one of the younger men dressed in what looked vaguely like a modern take on the costume of a medieval serf, his hair dark and his expression apprehensive, and the third, younger even than Hannah, they all recognised, even before taking in the black untidy hair, green eyes framed by round glasses and the lightning bolt shaped scar across his forehead.

Hannah was the first to recover from the initial shock as she grasped the Doctor’s arm. “Doctor, how is this possible?”

“Well, Hannah, you remember how I’m always telling you that every story ever written has an element of truth in it?” the Doctor asked. “Like that time we went to Storybrooke?”

“Yeah, but...Hogwarts? Seriously? You’re telling me it’s real?”

“What are you talking about?” Harry Potter asked, slightly suspiciously. “Of course it’s real.”

“Well, maybe in your universe,” Hannah agreed, “but here it’s just a story.”

“And a very good one too,” the Doctor smiled, stepping closer to the confused trio. “Gook old JK, I’m looking forward to finding out just how much of it is true. Mr Bond, I presume?” he added to the older man.

James Bond inclined his head, slightly. “Don’t tell me I don’t exist in this world either.”

“No, but you do look very much like the actor who’s been playing you in the films recently,” the Doctor conceded, nodding his head. “Let’s just hope we don’t run into him. As it is you’re already looking a little shaken...”

He winked at Hannah who quickly cottoned on. “But not stirred.”

John grinned. “Very funny, Doctor.”

“I thought so too,” the Doctor grinned before turning to the other man. “And you are..?”

Merlin sprang up at once. “My name’s Merlin.”

“Merlin?” the Doctor repeated. “The Merlin? The man who hangs around with King Arthur at Camelot?”

“Well, he’s not King yet and I’m actually just his servant,” Merlin admitted, “although I have saved his life more times than I can actually remember.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” the Doctor grinned, spinning around to the others. “I’d say Heimdall made a good decision here. Thanks, Heimdall!” he shouted to the ceiling before spinning around to face Mycroft as the others, sans Hannah, all glanced upwards and wondered who exactly he was talking to. “Right, now that we’re all here-!” Then he frowned. “Wait, wait, someone’s missing, who’s missing?”

“That would be me, Doctor,” sighed a rather bored voice from behind Mycroft.

Mycroft visibly jumped, which caused Sherlock to snigger, and then sighed. “Can’t you be a bit more subtle?”

Loki shrugged. “Where’s the fun in that?”

SLAP!

Everyone jumped at the sound, even those who knew Hannah well enough to know that this was exactly the kind of thing she would do at a time like this.

“That’s for invading Earth!” she snapped.

Loki smiled and straightened up. “Good to see you too, Angel.”

“Don’t you “Angel” me, Loki Odinson, I’m furious with you!” Hannah exclaimed.

Loki scowled at her. “Laufeyson, I think you’ll find.”

Hannah frowned. “What?”

“Alright, you two, you can flirt later,” the Doctor cut in, and then when he received death glares from the pair of them, threw up his hands and added “Sorry, catch up, whatever, right now we have more pressing problems, like an oncoming Cyber invasion!”

“I quite agree, Doctor,” Mycroft concurred, opening the door behind him. “According to UNIT statistics, we have at least a week, if that, before they arrive, by which time the British Government expects to have a fully-trained, fully-prepared team who can personally save the Earth from this attack.” He smiled as everyone glanced worriedly at him. “I’ll leave the seven of you to discuss how things will pan out.”

“Seven?” John repeated. “There’s eight of us.”

“Well, seven and one to make the tea,” Mycroft quipped, before leaving the room.

Indignantly, Hannah formed a large ball of snow, but before she could throw it after Mycroft, the Doctor, who wasn’t even looking at her, ordered “Drop it!”

Hannah sighed. “Fine!” And then she flung it at Loki instead. Instead of being cross, however, Loki brushed snow off him and stared at her in surprise.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” he said.

“And I didn’t know you could invade my home planet, seems we’re all learning new things today,” Hannah retorted, not looking at him.

“Alright, Hannah, that’s enough,” the Doctor said, turning about to face everyone. “Right, well since it seems that we’ve all been thrown together like this, I think the first thing we should do is-”

“Sorry, but who put you in charge?” James interrupted.

“Well, no one,” the Doctor began.

“I think you’ll find the Doctor knows more about aliens than anyone else in this room,” John put in.

“Well, that’s debatable,” Sherlock muttered.

“Sherlock!”

James raised his eyebrows. “You? No offence, but you don’t exactly look like an expert. More to the point, why should the three of us,” and here he indicated himself, Merlin and Harry, “worry about a universe we don’t even exist in?”

“Well, actually Merlin does-” the Doctor began.

“Because it’s the right thing!” Hannah interrupted. “Your universe, ours, it’s the same Britain!”

Harry thought about it. “Well, I suppose you do sort of have a point but...aliens? Really?”

“So you believe in unicorns but not aliens?” Sherlock queried, snarky as ever. “What must it be like living inside your mind?”

Harry bristled. “Well excuse me, but I’ve never had any experience with so-called alien beings. In my world, they don’t exist.”

The Doctor sighed. This was not how this was supposed to work, they were supposed to be a team and yet they were already bickering amongst themselves, well, all but Merlin and Loki, who looked like this was a debate they’d rather stay out of. He stepped forwards and took a deep breath.

“Alright, listen everyone-”

Before he could finish, however, Hannah grabbed him by the arm. “Conference,” she said, tugging on his sleeve, before turning to the others. “Excuse us a second.” The Doctor blinked at her as she pulled him over into a corner of the room. “You need to get their trust, Doctor, we need to show them that you do know what you’re talking about, whatever Sherlock says.”

“What do you suggest?” the Doctor whispered back.

“Easy. Show them the Tardis. That’s how you got me to trust you.”

The Doctor grinned broadly at her, grabbed her and kissed the top of her head. “Brilliant, Hannah! ‘Scuse me, everyone, won’t be a minute!”

“Please stop doing that!” Hannah groaned, touching the top of her head as the Doctor sprinted out of the room.

Harry blinked at her. “Sorry, is it just me or is your boyfriend always this-?”

“Bonkers?” Hannah finished, folding her arms. “Completely. And he’s not my boyfriend, people only think we’re together because we argue so much.”

A second later, the sound that filled the room caused those who weren’t used to it to back as far away from it as possible as the Tardis materialised right in front of them. The Doctor popped his head out and grinned. “Ok, you lot don’t believe in aliens? Well, take a look inside here!”

James, Harry and Merlin all glanced at Hannah, who gently indicated for them to do so. “Go ahead.”

After a brief hesitation, James ventured forth into the Tardis and then his exclamation of “Oh my God!” caused everyone else to run inside too, even those who were used to the inside-out dimensions of the Tardis by this time. Those who weren’t, though, stared around themselves in awe; even Loki, who had never actually seen the inside of the Tardis even though he knew what it was, looked amazed.

“This is...” James gasped, staring around and then fixating his expression on the Doctor. “How? Just...how?”

The Doctor grinned. “She’s alien.”

“She’s dimensionally transcendental,” Hannah explained, and when the others looked at her with curiousity, she shrugged. “I don’t know what it means either, but it always sounds good.”

“Well, I haven’t got time to explain it now,” the Doctor replied, going over to the console. “Let’s just say she’s the best time and space machine in the whole entire universe and by a complex series of technology from my own home planet, her interior and exterior dimensions co-exist in the same place at the same time, and leave it at that.”

“And she’s called the Tardis,” John added.

“That stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space,” Hannah finished.

Harry frowned. “Hold on, you say your home planet?”

The Doctor grinned again. “Oh, I’m not human. But you don’t need to panic. Unlike these aliens who are coming to invade Earth even as we speak, I’m on the side of good, and if there’s one planet I care about very deeply, it’s Earth, so I always do my utmost to try and save it.”

“And I’m glad someone does,” Hannah added, meaningfully shooting Loki a look as she went up to join the Doctor at the console whilst the others, sans Sherlock and John, gaped at what the Doctor had just told them.

Loki had had enough and he quickly folded his arms. “Hannah, I didn’t want to invade your home planet. I didn’t have a choice.”

The Doctor looked up at him as Loki’s expression softened and suddenly the Doctor was reminded of the Loki he had met as a young boy, the shy child in the library who had once told the Doctor that he wanted to be just like him. No, the Doctor realised, his first instinct had been right. Loki was not evil. He didn’t want to invade the Earth. Loki glanced back at him and the Doctor knew that he was uncomfortable from all this sudden attention.

Thankfully, John had picked up on it too, and he quickly said “Hey, you know, if we’re going to be staying in the Tardis, you lot should probably know where everything is. I can show you,” and beckoned with his head towards the door that led out of the console room and into the rest of the Tardis. Merlin and Harry certainly seemed eager to see the rest of it and James too had decided that perhaps the following conversation was best left between the Doctor, Hannah and Loki. Sherlock seemed keen to linger, but John grabbed his arm and tugged him out of the room too. After fiddling with something on the console, the Doctor gently turned to Loki and offered him an inviting smile.

“Alright, Loki,” he said, softly, “I know you didn’t want to talk to Thor or Odin about this, but do you want to tell us what really happened?”