Doctor Who and the Marvelous Muppets

[tutter_fan]

I can't wait to see how Beaker & Bunsen get involved in this. You also might want to get the Newsman involved at some point. Just a thought.

 

[muppetwriter]

Hey, everybody! Today being "Doctor Who Day," I came back with a special update on the next chapter!

The story is going to take a festive detour from the main plot. After nearly collapsing from existence within the infinite dimensional corridor from a freak accident, the Tenth Doctor’s TARDIS is spared by Wanda Maximoff, who uses her reality-bending powers to safely bring the ship to another realm - one where the story of “A Christmas Carol” is told from a Muppet perspective.

Look for Chapter Seven of Doctor Who and the Marvelous Muppets next month!

 

[Froggy Fool]

neat!! looking forward to it

 

[muppetwriter]

The special holiday-themed chapter of Doctor Who and the Marvelous Muppets is here! Happy Holidays, everyone!
-------

There was a space between the Time Vortex and the infinite dimensional corridor; a treacherous space that was presumably unexplored to any known being in the multiverse. This space was where the Doctor’s TARDIS careened out of control, after Ciciley Livingston’s bullet tore into the control console.

The Doctor fought to regain control over his ship. Ciciley did a number on the console. A section of it was fried from the gunshot, but it was nothing the Doctor couldn’t repair later when the worst was past them. That, however, seemed to be eons away, as the Doctor couldn’t get the TARDIS to respond to his commands.

“Let me try,” he heard Wanda say. Other than Vision, who might as well have been bolted to the floor (not budging an inch amid all the turbulence), she was the only other one who wasn’t panicking or holding on for dear life. She waved her arms around in the motion she commonly did whilst channeling her reality-based powers, her eyes glowing in correspondence with the color of the energy she manipulated.

Within seconds, the Doctor’s TARDIS stabilized, stilling everyone and everything. “De crazy witch-lady did it,” Pepe exclaimed with a victorious laugh.

“My name is Wanda, and you’re welcome.”

The Doctor quickly landed his ship, bringing it out from the dimensional plane that it detoured into. After doing so, he surveyed his companions, both Muppet and Avengers alike. “Is everyone alright?” he asked them.

“Define ‘alright’!” Piggy grumbled, straightening her long blond locks. “We wouldn’t’ve been in that hot mess, if it weren’t for the psycho lady with the gun!”

Upon Piggy’s reference to Ciciley, the Doctor suddenly noticed, “Where is the psycho lady with the gun?” He and the others discovered that neither she nor Agent X were in the console room.

“Where could they have gone?” Vision asked.

Not even the Doctor was certain. “We were fluctuating between dimensions after the console was literally shot.” It was an act that still angered him. “This is why I hate guns and never allow one to be brought aboard the TARDIS!”

“Good riddance to bad rubbish, is what I say,” Piggy said. “Are we still in Wakanda or not?”

The Doctor himself was anxious enough to see for himself if they were. He rushed out through the TARDIS doors with Piggy, Wanda, Vision, Pepe, Animal, and Beauregard following him. Together, they stepped out into a Victorian setting at night. Picking up on certain scents in the atmosphere, as well as all the snow that covered the buildings and streets, the Doctor accurately deduced, “19th century London on Christmas Eve.”

“You got all that just from sniffing the air?” the disbelieving Wanda inquired.

“That much, and I also recognize it from my many visits to this period during this time of the year,” the Doctor beamed with a smile. “I know my way around these parts.” His smile fell as he looked on Vision and the Muppets. “Though I fear the locals might not take to an android and a talking pig, shrimp, whatever Animal is, and a…Beauregard, what are you anyway?”

“I’m the cameraman,” Beauregard said, still recording. “Should I keep filming?”

“Yes!” Piggy snapped at him before she turned to the Doctor and said, “I’m certain the locals would not mind bestowing on moi’s magnificence.” She posed for no one in particular.

“Well, I would not want to frighten anyone with my appearance, so…” Vision commenced in camouflaging his android form, willfully generating a synthetic skin construct that made him look entirely human. His clothing was modeled after that of the 21st century, mostly to keep Wanda from feeling stuck-out with hers.

“It’s like we’re back in Scotland,” she told him, momentarily lost in his human eyes.

The travelers wandered through the Victorian town. While doing so, Pepe indicated the lack of activity in the streets. “Where is everybodies?” the king prawn asked.

“It’s Christmas Eve, remember?” Piggy said. “They’re probably all at home.”

“Not all of them,” Vision motioned his head towards one spot in a pile of garbage where a small shivering figure was nestled.

“Oh, no,” Wanda took pity on the creature. “Poor thing.”

She approached the shivering figure, seeing that it was a bunny bundled underneath a used newspaper. But, as Piggy and Pepe suddenly noticed, this wasn’t any normal bunny. “It’s Beanie Buns!” Pepe (half-correctly) identified. It did, of course, debunk the Doctor’s assumption of this dimension not having any Muppet residents.

“It’s Bean Bunny,” the Muppet bunny corrected the king prawn. “And I hate to be rude, but would you people leave me alone? I haven’t had such a good day.”

“Can’t imagine it being any better sleeping in rubbish,” the Doctor said.

“Well, I wouldn’t have to, if wealthy people like Ebenezer Scrooge just gave to the poor and unfortunate like me,” Bean retorted.

The Doctor’s ears tickled at the name Bean uttered. “What did you say?”

“I said, if wealthy people like Ebenezer Scrooge would just—”

“We need to get back to the TARDIS,” the Doctor urgently instructed his companions. “We didn’t just arrive in a 19th century London with Muppets – we’ve arrived in a ‘Muppet Christmas Carol’ reality!”

“Awe,” Wanda gushed. “How cute.”

“Not to me, it isn’t,” the Doctor refuted. “We need to leave before we disrupt the flow of events within this dimension.” He started leading the group away from Bean, who Wanda couldn’t leave without giving her coat to keep the small Muppet bunny warm. She smiled and waved goodbye, a gesture that Bean graciously returned, before catching up with the others.

They were only a few feet from the TARDIS when…

“Emily Cratchit, what’re you doing all this way from home?!” A character that bore a striking resemblance to one Kermit the Frog, adorned in Victorian garb, stepped right in their path.

“Kermie?” Piggy addressed him.

The frog’s face scrunched in confusion. “Kermie? Emily, it’s me. Your husband, Bob…Bob Cratchit.” Piggy heard the word “husband” and the world around her deafened, save for Bob’s voice. “What’re you doing here? You should be at home, watching our children!”

“Chil…dren?” Piggy’s voice trailed, ensnared in a deep trance.

“Piggy, listen to me,” the Doctor interjected. “No matter what you might think, the man in front of you is not Kermit!”

“Of course, I’m not!” Bob retorted. “Emily, who are all these people?”

“We have…chil-dren,” the entranced Piggy mumbled.

“Yes, two beautiful daughters and two handsome sons – one of whom I was on my way to pick up before I ran into you in this dead of the night,” Bob said. “Now, please return home. You must get back to cooking and cleaning, if we wish to have supper prepared in time for Tiny Tim.”

One could’ve heard a record scratch in Piggy’s head as soon as she heard those two words: “Cooking? Cleaning?!”

“Yes, as every wife does on Christmas Eve,” Bob added.

Piggy fumed. “MOI COOKS AND CLEANS FOR NO ONE!”

She delivered the most epic of all karate chops on Bob Cratchit, sending the frog soaring through the air, crashing through a snowman, and smacking against the nearest brick wall. His battered body slumped into an open alleyway barrel.

Piggy’s assault caught everyone by surprise – and more or less displeased the Doctor. “Remember what I said about disrupting the flow of events in this dimension?” he reiterated in frustration.

He herded them all back into his TARDIS. Just as they were about to depart from the dimension, they heard a familiar voice outside their party say, “You can’t leave! Not when everything’s been ruined!” They turned to one of the corners of the console room and noticed a Victorian-dressed Gonzo and Rizzo standing there.

“Gonzo? Ritzo?” Pepe reacted to their random entrance.

“Yo!” Rizzo responded to the king prawn. “I don’t know ya, but I’m sure in another life, we’re good friends.”

“Jou owe me fifty monies, h’okay,” Pepe said.

Rizzo cringed. “O.K., maybe not-so-good friends.”

“That’s not the important thing right now!” Gonzo groaned. “Look, I may appear to be this ‘Gonzo’ you know in your dimension, but in this one, I am Charles Dickens, and you’ve ruined this version of A Christmas Carol!”

The Doctor snickered. “You’re Charles Dickens?”

“That’s correct,” Dickens proudly verified.

“No, no, I’ve met Charles Dickens, and I don’t remember him having blue fur and a hooked nose.” The Doctor then reconsidered his statement. “O.K., he did have a bit of a hooked nose but definitely not blue fur.”

“You met a Charles Dickens,” Dickens told the Doctor, “but not the Charles Dickens, who I happen to be. I’m the definite article, you might say.”

“Careful holdin’ up dat ego, Mister Dickens,” Rizzo teased. “Ya might bust yer back.”

Going along with it, the Doctor asked, “Alright, ‘Mister Dickens,’ what brings you aboard my TARDIS? Matter of fact, how did you get into my TARDIS?!”

“Again, not the real problem at hand,” Dickens deflected. “Your presence here in this world has disrupted the story of A Christmas Carol.”

“Yes, we know,” the Doctor belligerently remarked. “Why do you think we’re leaving now?”

“Leaving won’t help,” Dickens said. “You all must course-correct the events that precede the redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge.”

“Say what now?!” an annoyed Piggy blurted.

The Doctor rubbed his face, his aggravations boiling over. “Blimey! You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Vision and Wanda, on the other hand, were overjoyed at the opportunity.

“Perhaps I could play the role of ‘Ghost of Christmas Past’,” Vision volunteered. “With Wanda’s help, of course.”

As much as he was against the idea, the Doctor saw no other alternative, unable to allow a reality to be destroyed by their actions. “It’s like I always say, ‘Parallel universe equals gingerbread house,’” he moaned.

“Did somebody say ‘gingerbread house’?” Rizzo thought with his stomach again. Needless to say, the Doctor wasn’t amused that was all the rat heard in his gripe.

----------------------​

Ebenezer Scrooge awoke to the grinding and humming that resounded through his bedchamber. Opening the drapes that hung around his bed, he spotted a peculiar blue box that materialized in the room. A set of doors opened from it and out stepped two figures – a young redheaded woman and an entity with a long, flowing gold cape.

“Ebenezer Scrooge,” the caped entity spoke, his voice hollowed and booming.

“Are you the spirits that have come to visit me?” Scrooge asked.

The redheaded woman nodded. “Yes, we are.”

“I was told by Jacob and Robert Marley that only one of you would come to see me first,” Scrooge indicated.

The two figures momentarily looked to each other, as if trying to come up with some sort of excuse. The best that the caped entity could say was, “There’s been a…um…change of plan.”

The young redhead moved in on Scrooge, twiddling her fingers near his head.

“Wh-What’re you doing?!” he asked her.

“Just relax, Ebenezer,” she told him. “And watch your past unfold before you.”

Scrooge’s eyes glowed in the same dark reddish hue as the mist of energy that swirled into his head, falling into a hypnotic spell. He then reacted in varying degrees of emotions, running happily towards people that weren’t actually there and crying as he witnessed a depressing memory.

Rizzo and Dickens watched the whole thing from the doorway of the Doctor’s TARDIS. “Dat’s just creepy,” the rat observed, and Dickens was at liberty to agree with him. Nonetheless, Wanda Maximoff’s mental manipulation over Scrooge proved to be effective so far.

Further inside the TARDIS, the Doctor had prepped his ship for its role as “Ghost of Christmas Present,” when he detected a series of beeps emitting from the control console. He only knew such beeps to emit when there was a distress call. Pushing one of the buttons, he answered it. A beam of light shot out from the console and projected a holographic image across from it. The Doctor could hardly believe the image he saw was that of Tony Stark, a.k.a. “Iron Man.”

“Hey, Doc…man, it feels weird calling you that, knowing this message was from you to you,” Stark babbled, clearly not making any sense. “Let me start from the beginning, ‘cause I’m trying not to channel too much Princess Leia into this message, but you are our only hope, Obi-Wan. Things have gone full-on F.U.B.A.R. and we need the Doctor. And I don’t mean the hot blond Doctor…we need you…whoever or whatever Doctor you are. I’ve transmitted the dimensional coordinates you’ve provided for yourself in this message. So, uh, good luck…and hope you pull through for us.”

The message ended with a freeze frame of Stark’s smirking face.

The Doctor couldn’t begin to fathom how Tony Stark of all people managed to deliver a message to him through his TARDIS. He only knew that this “Christmas Carol” reenactment needed to be cut short. Immediately, he rushed out of the TARDIS and told Wanda and Vision, “Wrap it up! We need to leave!”

“What?!” Dickens protested. “No, no! The story cannot be rushed, otherwise there’d be dire consequences.”

The Doctor tried to maintain his composure. “With all due respect, Mister Dickens – and I’m trying awfully hard to call you that while I’m looking at Gonzo’s face, but there are much bigger things happening here than your adaptation of a literary classic!” He then instructed Wanda, “Just move on with showing him his future.”

Wanda twiddled her fingers again, and the energy mist intensified.

All of the sudden, Scrooge suffered a nervous breakdown. He dropped to the floor, balled up in a fetal position and frenetically weeping.

“Yeesh! I think you mightuh overdid it,” Rizzo said.

“What did you do to him?!” the hysterical Dickens asked.

Curiously, the Doctor crouched beside the mentally-disturbed Scrooge, placing a single hand on Ebenezer’s forehead to telepathically see the images Wanda implanted in his psyche. What he saw was so bleak that it appalled even him. “Wanda!” he cried, looking to the Avenger. “Why did you have to show him that?!”

“Show him what?” Dickens inquired.

Wanda sheepishly shrugged. “That’s how it was in the story.”

“What did you show him?!” Dickens again inquired with more fervor.

“I’m sorry…I’m so sorry,” was all the Doctor told him before he, Wanda, and Vision retreated into his TARDIS and vanished, leaving Dickens and Rizzo standing over the quivering Scrooge.

“Wow,” Rizzo muttered. “I enjoyed the movie way better than dis. I bet youse probably floored with dis version of duh story, ain’t ya, Charlie?” He glanced over at Dickens and was surprised to see him dialing on a smartphone. “Hey, hey! What’s goin’ on here? Dere ain’t no phones in dis century!”

“I’m only using it ‘cause this is an emergency,” Dickens remarked.

“Well, who ya callin’?”

“The Time Variance Authority. That ‘Doctor’ and his friends are a menace to the entire multiverse as we know it.”

TO BE CONTINUED...​

 

[muppetwriter]

"If we're gonna crash a party, we're gonna have to do it the right way."

A new chapter of Doctor Who and the Marvelous Muppets is coming next week!

 

[muppetwriter]

Let's see what Thirteen, Kermit, and the rest of the team are up to in 1981 London, shall we?
------

“It astounds me that out of all people whose paths you would cross, one of them just happened to have been Thor’s brother – the God of Mischief himself,” Tony reacted to the Doctor’s recap of her previous visit in 1981 London to the group. “It didn’t seem odd to you that a guy dressed like the Great Prince of the Forest checked into a rat-infested hotel?”

“If we’re being honest, Mr. Stark, she would’ve noticed the bellhop rats first,” Kermit noted.

The Doctor shrugged. “I had no idea it was him at the time. But I do remember him having possession of the Mind and Space Stones.”

“Wait, certain facts aren’t lining up here,” Stark stated. “Loki didn’t have the scepter or the Tesseract until 2012.”

“Yeah, I’ve been meanin’ to tell ya,” the Doctor said, “while you were recuperatin’, we’ve discovered all of time and reality has shifted since we left Titan. It’s made it difficult for me to pinpoint the location of the remaining stones. Someone in one of the timelines has apparently been mucking around with time itself.”

“Says the woman with the time machine,” Stark rebuffed.

The Doctor scoffed. “Just for that, I’m takin’ away your gold star.”

Tony didn’t quite understand the reference. “When did you reward me with one?”

“It’s a thing she does, mate,” Ryan told Tony. “Just roll with it.”

Refocusing on the main topic of their discussion, the Doctor pondered aloud, “Whatever’s the source of the time-travel, it’s much stronger than my TARDIS. Regardless of that, we have to get Loki and obtain the last two Infinity Stones.” She then proceeded to use a phone Yaz loaned to her, giving it a small upgrade with her sonic screwdriver, and dialed in a series of numbers.

“Who’re ya calling, Doctor?” Scooter asked.

The Doctor held up one index finger to Scooter, signifying that she needed a moment as she heard ringing on the other line. After a few seconds, the voice of an old codger answered with a slight country accent, “You’ve reached the Happiness Hotel. If ya ain’t got no cents, this is the place ya wanna be, ‘cause it’s free.”

The Doctor recognized the voice as that of Pops, the owner of the Happiness Hotel, who checked him, Romana, and Adric in all those years ago. “Hi-ya, Pops,” she greeted the old Muppet. “Is Adric there?”

“Who?” the baffled Pops remarked.

Of course, he wouldn’t know who Adric is – he only just met him! The Doctor rationalized. She then clarified for the elderly Muppet man, “Just a short moment ago, you checked in three people: a man with a long scarf, a girl, and a boy.”

“Oh, yeah!” Pops comprehended. “Funny-lookin’ characters – especially the one with the scarf.

“Yeah, I had a bit of a fashion crisis at the time,” the Doctor admitted. “Anyway, can you put Adric on the phone for me?”

“That depends: which one’s Adric?”

The Doctor groaned, though she did it away from the phone, so that Pops wouldn’t hear. She gathered herself and again clarified, “The boy who’s with the man with the ridiculous scarf!”

“Oh, yeah!” Pops uttered in the exact same comprehending tone as before. “Sure, I’ll get ‘im for ya.” The Doctor was relieved to hear this, until Pops once again asked, “What’s his name again?”

If it hadn’t been Yaz’s phone she was using, the Doctor would’ve hurled it across the console room.

---------------------​

“Gentlemen, it’s imperative that we get this right. I wouldn’t want the TARDIS – or us – to be split into atoms on the first trip.”

Bunsen and Beaker were impressed by the vast, complex knowledge this man who called himself “Doctor” maintained beneath all those curls on his head. Since the Doctor, Romana, and Adric checked into the hotel, they spent a majority of their time in Bunsen and Beaker’s makeshift laboratory, chalking down random equations on the board.

Bunsen gawked over it all for minutes, barely able to keep up with it. “W-What you’re proposing is…well, it’s…Oh, dear. I don’t even know how to begin with the intricacy.” Beaker meeped in agreement with him.

“But it is possible, isn’t it, Dr. Honeydew?” Romana inquired.

“Y-Yes, it is,” Bunsen verified, numbing on his fingers. “At least, I think it is.”

“Well, of course, it is,” Adric voiced. “I’ve done the numbers myself. It’s the perfect solution to how we can finally leave E-Space.”

Beaker meeped in confusion over what Adric just said.

Bunsen corresponded with his assistant’s confusion as he asked, “I’m sorry…did you say ‘E-Space’?”

“Yes,” Adric said. “It’s where your universe exists.”

Bunsen and Beaker’s confusion boosted. “Our…universe?”

“Hey!” Pops suddenly popped his head through the doorway, addressing the group of brainiacs. “Is there an ‘Ad-Rick’ in here?”

“That’s Adric,” the mathematician exasperated.

“Well, whoever ya are, someone’s callin’ fer ya on the phone,” Pops notified.

Adric rapidly blinked, unsure what to make of this circumstance. “For me? That’s impossible. I don’t know anyone here in this world.”

“Well, they sure know you,” Pops said. “Called ya by name and everythin’.”

“C’mon, Adric, don’t be rude,” the Doctor goaded his young companion with a gentle pat on the back. “See who it is.”

Adric did as he suggested, leaving him and Romana to explain to Bunsen and Beaker what he meant when he spoke of universes and E-Space (a topic that was certain to go over the heads of the Muppet scientists). He went to the front desk to answer the phone that had been left off the hook by Pops. Adric hadn’t exactly used a phone before, but he figured it was no different than most communication devices he had seen once or twice in the past, even those in the Doctor’s TARDIS.

“Who is this?” he asked the caller.

“Adric!” It was a woman’s voice, sounding as young as Romana. “Good lad! I’ve missed hearing your voice!”

Adric started to feel uncomfortable talking to this mysterious woman, who seemed to know him. “I don’t know who you are, but it’s not possible for you to know who I am,” he told her.

“E-Space, right?” she said, surprising the young mathematician.

“How do you know about that?!”

“‘Cause it’s me, Adric. I’m the Doctor.”

Adric snickered at her claim. “Don’t be silly. I’m with the Doctor, and the Doctor isn’t a girl.”

“Think about it, Adric. Who else would know that you, me, and Romana are trapped in E-Space and need the help of Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker – in the Happiness Hotel of all places – to gain access to the Quantum Realm in order to escape?”

“Quantum Realm?” Adric pondered on the unique name.

“Your equation, Adric. That’s where it leads.”

Adric was struck cold. “You are the Doctor! But how…?”

“Never mind that now, Adric,” the Doctor urgently interjected. “Right now, I need you to remember that man you saw checking in after we did.”

He harked back on that moment, which only happened a half hour ago from his perspective. “Yes, that man with the long hair,” he recalled. “There was something about him that I didn’t quite like.”

“You always did have such a keen intuition, Adric,” the Doctor praised. “I need you to spy on him for me. Do you see Pops’ ledger on his front desk?”

Adric looked on the desk, seeing many items in front of him – the biggest one being a book with a list of names. One line of names included his, Romana’s, and the Doctor’s written across from their room number. “There’s a book here with our names and room number, Doctor,” he described. “Is this the ‘ledger’ you were talking about?”

“Yes! Romana signed all our names on there,” the Doctor cheered. “Now, do you see the name ‘Loki’ on there?”

Adric checked, and he did see “Loki Laufeyson” written on the line beneath where he, the Doctor, and Romana were signed on. “I see it, Doctor,” Adric confirmed. “He’s in the room across from ours.”

“Brilliant!” the Doctor again cheered.

“Who is this man, Doctor?” Adric asked. “Is he dangerous?”

“Very. Be careful, Adric. Leave the phone off the hook and come back once you’ve found out what Loki intends on doing with the scepter and the Tesseract that he has in his possession.”

Adric still could not get over the fact that he was following on another mission with another Doctor – one that happened to have been a girl. There was still a lot he didn’t know about the Doctor’s race: the Time Lords. But if they were capable of changing their genders, that was something he would one day want to discuss with his Doctor.

In the meantime, he carried out the other Doctor’s orders and went to the room where Loki Laufeyson had been staying. His door was carelessly left unlocked, permitting Adric to walk right in. Loki was nowhere to be seen, but Adric did see the scepter and the Tesseract that the Doctor mentioned, sitting out on the bed.

There was a knock on the door, driving Adric to hide behind a changing screen.

“What is it?” he heard Loki gruffly ask from the bathroom.

Adric saw a bear poke his furry, hat-wearing head past the door. “Sorry to bother you, neighbor,” he told Loki, “but we were wondering if you might have any shaving cream we could borrow for my friend, Kermit.”

Loki walked out of the bathroom with a revolted look (and not because of the conditions of the bathroom itself). “He’s a frog,” Loki told the bear. “Why in the world would he require shaving cream?”

“Well, uh, he’s gonna be on an important date with Lady Holiday at the Dubonnet Club tonight,” the bear explained, “and he really wants to make a good impression on her. Ya know…Hand him his cuff links / and straighten his tie / just drench him in rich cologne / and don’t ask me why / pluck him a boutonniere / movin’ up and walkin’ on air…”

“I get the picture,” Loki interrupted before the bear flew into the whole song. He then began to take interest in what he just told him. “Did I hear you say Lady Holiday will be there at the…what was it called again?”

“The Dubonnet Club,” the bear restated.

Loki devilishly grinned as he picked up the scepter from off his rickety bed, gazing on it with the same sinister demeanor. “Well, then…I suppose you wouldn’t mind if I join you as your plus one,” he requested.

“Uh…gee, mister, I’m not too sure,” the bear fretted. “Ya see, Kermit seems…”

“You will take me with you,” Loki now demanded, tapping at the bear’s furry chest with the tip of his scepter.

Adric noticed how the bear’s eyes glowed in a bluish hue. “We will…take you with us,” the bear complied in a mesmerized tone. “I’m sure Kermit wouldn’t mind…not one bit.”

Satisfied, Loki gathered his coat and the Tesseract, making the latter disappear in his grasp, along with the scepter. He walked out of his room with the bear, closing the door behind them.

Adric wasn’t sure what type of man this “Loki Laufeyson” was, but he was fairly certain he wasn’t a man at all. He waited long enough for Loki to join the bear in the adjacent room before rushing back to the lobby and relaying the entire scene he witnessed over to the other Doctor.

----------------------​

“Loki plans to use the scepter in enthralling Lady Holiday into handing all her riches over to him,” the Doctor deduced after ending her phone call with Adric. “What a textbook criminal thing to do. I’d expect more from the God of Mischief.”

“We can’t let him get away with that,” Fozzie said. “And we especially can’t let him get away with brainwashin’ me into lettin’ him come with us…er, I mean, with the past version of us!” He felt a headache coming on. “Boy, all this time-travel really messes with the senses.”

“Physical or verbal?” Gonzo inquired.

“Both!” Fozzie replied.

“Fozzie’s right,” the Doctor said. “We have to go to that club and stop Loki from not only committing his nefarious scheme but also from abusing his control of the Mind Stone and take it from him.”

“We got your back, Doc,” Graham assured.

“Not this time, Graham,” the Doctor negated. “You, Ryan, and Yaz stay here in the TARDIS.” She saw Yaz on the verge of insisting and quickly added, “Loki is too dangerous. He’s not like Tim Shaw or a Dalek. He’s a god…and I’ve dealt with their lot plenty of times before.”

“Ditto,” Tony remarked. “That’s why I’m definitely coming with you.”

The Doctor nodded in approval. “I’m gonna need an Avenger at my side.”

“What about a Muppet?” Robin asked.

The Doctor knelt down to his level to tell him, “Sorry, Robin. You have to say here with your uncle and everyone else.”

“But why?” Robin disputed. “I wasn’t afraid of Thanos, and I’m not afraid of Loki! And neither is Uncle Kermit!”

“Uh, speak for yourself, nephew,” Kermit gulped.

“I know, Robin,” the Doctor acknowledged. “You’ve been the bravest one of us this whole journey. And your uncle, Fozzie, and Gonzo obviously can’t come and risk runnin’ into their past selves.”

“Yeah, let’s go with that,” Kermit was quick to agree.

“If we’re gonna crash a party, we’re gonna do it the right way,” Tony declared.

“I hear ya, Mr. Stark,” the Doctor said. “Let’s suit up.”

------------------------​

Stark and the Doctor dressed for the event, utilizing some spare tuxedos that the Doctor kept in the TARDIS wardrobe room. Tony was a little surprised to see the Doctor had chosen a tuxedo of her own rather than an evening gown. “No, no, I don’t do gowns,” she told him. “I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”

In all honesty, her tuxedo of choice wasn’t all too different from her usual garb.

They hailed a cab once they were out of the TARDIS. Unfortunately, their driver was none other than Beauregard, so they held on for dear life during the entire ride to the Dubonnet Club. There, they spotted Loki arriving in an overcrowded Happiness Hotel double-decker bus with Kermit’s 1981 counterpart and his date, Lady Holiday. The Electric Mayhem wildly played “Night Life” on the open-top deck.

“Wait, that’s not Lady Holiday!” the Doctor observed. “That’s Miss Piggy!”

Tony shrugged. “Both were pretty big divas. Hard to tell the difference.”

Neither of them paid much mind to the random occurrence, which was literally all in the past to time-travelers such as them. “C’mon,” the Doctor beckoned Tony. “Let’s get in there and catch Loki red-handed.”

“What color are his hands now?” their taxi driver inquisitively asked.

Ignoring that old running gag, Tony and the Doctor exited from the taxicab and approached the nightclub. Unbeknownst to them, however, a certain little frog had stowed in the taxi and snuck into the club unnoticed…being rather small, it was a piece of cake for him.

TO BE CONTINUED...​

 

[muppetwriter]

Passed by this image on Facebook today, and it made me wonder: Should I include the Weeping Angels in the sequel?

 

[muppetwriter]

I'm finally back with a brand new chapter! Things are about to get even crazier from this point forward!
-----------

​

There was nothing better than a lovely, quiet evening stroll down a London street corner, particularly for a Muppet couple like Wayne and Wanda. The air was clear enough for them to see the stars twinkling in the sky. Such a tranquil setting beckoned for a song that the pair sung together…

When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls
And the stars begin to twinkle in the—
​

Before Wayne and Wanda could get past the first verse of their rendition of the Nino Tempo/April Stevens tune, they were suddenly interrupted by a strong gust of wind that tried to blow the Muppet couple away. At the same time, a large wormhole portal opened just a few feet from them, and out from it emerged a massive purple man whose body was badly burnt along one side. His mere presence terrorized Wayne and Wanda, urging the Muppet couple into running as far away from the purple man as possible.

The couple’s screams of terror agonized Thanos’s senses, disrupted from his prolonged exposure to the Time Vortex. There was no telling how long he spent in the dimensional plane. It battered every part of his body, right down to his molecules. Another minute and he certainly would’ve died. Thankfully, he still had the Space Stone to help escape his plight.

Kneeling on the street corner, it took Thanos a long time to recover.

“You look like you’re in dire need of assistance, my friend,” someone told him.

Thanos barely caught onto the voice addressing him in such a calm manner. He knew it was Earth that he emerged on, recognizing the atmosphere. Any of its inhabitants would’ve fled from him, just as that annoying couple did.

But not this stranger. He spoke to him as if he were an old associate.

The Mad Titan struggled to look up at the stranger and, through his hazy vision, he noticed that he was dressed in a hooded robe that looked as purple as his own skin. He couldn’t make out any discernable features past the hood, only a pair of glowing white eyes that stared back at him.

“You…do not…fear me?” Thanos struggled to ask.

“Why would I fear my equal?” the stranger asked. “We’re after the same goal, Thanos…except I am after much greater prize. Whereas you wish to control the order of the universe, I wish to control the order of the multiverse.”

“Multi…verse?” Thanos huffed. “You speak nonsense. Who are you? And how do you know who I am?”

“Your reputation howls through these very stars and beyond. That’s why I’ve chosen you to be one of my acolytes in the war to come. But, first, you must obtain the other Infinity Stones.”

“Even if I bought any of what you say, stranger, the other Stones are far out of my reach…no thanks to the Avengers and that woman in the strange blue box.”

“You mean that blue box?”

Thanos saw the hooded figure point towards the other side of the street where there stood the very object that became the bane of his existence during his time in the vortex. An inferno exploded within the Mad Titan as he laid eyes on it, gaining the strength and determination to stand on his two feet again.

Noticing his full recovery, the hooded stranger took satisfaction in it. “Yes! You feel it, too, don’t you? There is another just like the Doctor, somewhere out there in the multiverse, disrupting my plan!”

“The Doctor?” Thanos focused on the name uttered from the stranger’s lips (if he had any).

“It’s what she calls herself…or the name that others have christened for her.”

Having a name to associate with his latest complication made no difference to Thanos and how he intended on overcoming it. More than anything, he was astonished to realize that the Space Stone brought him to the exact time and place where this “Doctor” was. Whether it was serendipity or the connection of the Stones, he couldn’t decide.

“It wasn’t entirely the Stone, my friend,” the stranger said, seeming to have read Thanos’s thoughts.

“Who are you?” he asked again. “Why are you helping me when I don’t even know who you are?”

All that the stranger told him was, “If you succeed in your plan, then we will have much to discuss thereafter.” Upon making this promise, the stranger’s hooded form dissipated, fading into the wind like a purple haze.

Thanos still wasn’t entirely certain what that interaction was all about.

One thing he was certain about was getting into that blue box across the street and reobtaining the Infinity Stones that the Doctor stole from him.

-------------------------​

“I may be stupid, but I ain’t that stupid! You really expect me to believe you three old geezers are on this list?!”

Sweetums had recently been hired as bouncer for the Dubonnet Club and, on his third night on the job, he had to deal with a trio of practical jokers. Three old men – one an actual man, the other two Muppets – who claimed that their names (Lee, Statler, and Waldorf) were on the list that he had in hand.

“Oh, c’mon, we’ve gotta be on the list,” the one named “Lee” stated. “Do you know how long we’ve been comin’ to this joint? The owner happens to be a good friend of mine!”

“Ha!” Sweetums scoffed. “That’s what they all say.”

“I bet ya can’t even read from that blasted list!” the one called “Statler” criticized.

“Shows what you know,” Sweetums retorted. “I happen to have perfect reading skills! Had ‘em ever since first grade!”

Before Mr. Lee could’ve made another plea to the big furry monster-bouncer, two individuals cut in front of him and his associates: one was a young woman with short blond hair, the other was a man with a beatnik-looking goatee. The young woman flashed a paper to Sweetums and told him, “We’re V.I.P.”

Sweetums looked on the paper and acknowledged the credentials. “That’s what it says, alright. Go right on in!”

Mr. Lee caught a fleeting glimpse of that paper the woman showed Sweetums and noticed there was no printing on it. “Hey, wait a sec!” he bellowed as the woman and her friend with the goatee walked into the club. “What happened to your ‘perfect reading skills’? Didn’t you see that paper was blank?!”

“Duh…you might wanna get your eyes checked out, buddy,” Sweetums advised.

Mr. Lee couldn’t believe the night he was having. It didn’t get any better when Waldorf belittled him, “That’s the last time we bring you into a cameo!”

“Gladly,” Mr. Lee rebuked. “Muppet Babies was better than this gig.”

-----------------------​

Robin remembered the stories his uncle, Fozzie, Gonzo, and Miss Piggy often shared with him about their time in 1981 London – how Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo were fresh new reporters for The Daily Chronicle on their first scoop in interviewing Lady Holiday, who Miss Piggy pretended to be. It was the first time his uncle and Piggy ever met – and nearly the last time, after Piggy was arrested for “stealing” the real Lady Holiday’s jewelry, a crime pinned on her by Lady Holiday’s crooked brother, Nicky.

“The Great Muppet Caper” was what they called it, and Robin was there to witness it all firsthand.

The Dubonnet Club was a lot bigger than his uncle described. It made sneaking past Sweetums and the front entrance that much easier. He knew the Doctor wouldn’t have approved of him leaving the TARDIS, in spite of her telling him not to, but he had to at least try and warn the 1981 counterparts of his uncle and their friends about Loki.

Weaving in and out between so many fancy-dressed people in sparkling gowns and pressed tuxedos, he finally spotted the Muppets he was looking for. They were sitting together at one of the tables closest to the dance floor. Thankfully, Loki was nowhere to be seen near them. Now’s my chance, the little frog thought determinedly.

He quickly hopped over to their table, hearing his uncle gripe about the price of the club’s roast beef being the same as an Oldsmobile. “Uncle Kermit!” he called in a huff. “Boy, am I glad to find you guys!”

His uncle’s 1981 counterpart looked on him inquisitively. “I’m sorry, but…do I know you, little fella?”

“I-It’s me, Uncle Kermit – your nephew, Robin!”

“You have family here in London?” Piggy asked Kermit.

Kermit hesitated on his response. “Erm, not that I knew of.”

It soon dawned on Robin why his uncle and his friends didn’t recognize him. “Of course! It’s 1981! We hadn’t met until a lot later in time!”

“Excuse me, young man,” Piggy addressed Robin. “But aren’t you a little young to be in a nightclub without adult supervision?”

“That’s not what’s important right now,” Robin retorted. “You guys gotta get out of here! That man you came into the club with – Loki – he’s not who you think he is! He’s a…”

“I’m a what?”

Robin froze when he heard Loki’s voice speak right beside him. There the God of Mischief stood, having returned from wherever in the club he went (possibly to see if the real Lady Holiday had arrived). He looked down on Robin from his imposing height with that devilish grin of his. It made the panicked Robin scurry away, not saying another word.

“Somebody really should find that kid’s parents,” the concerned Fozzie suggested.

“Yes, someone should,” Loki coldly concurred, his gaze locked on the fleeing little frog and his suspicion aroused from how he knew who he was.

----------------------​

It was a lot busier in the Dubonnet Club than the Doctor or Tony anticipated. With so many fancy-dressed people and the fact that Loki wouldn’t have just rolled into the club wearing his Asgardian garb, it was going to be a challenge to scout him out.

“Your call, Doc,” Stark said, following her lead.

“Right,” the Doctor nodded. “We’ll split up and search. When one of us finds him, don’t hesitate to make a move. He’s gonna be a tricky one.”

Stark approved of the plan, putting on his special-made sunglasses. They housed an A.I. system, allowing its user to communicate and use the A.I. for a multitude of tasks. This pair specifically housed F.R.I.D.A.Y., Stark’s Irish-accented A.I. program. Though F.R.I.D.A.Y. was only in the high-tech glasses, her connection allowed for Stark to commune with someone as he scouted for Loki.

“What’s the floor plan like on this place, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

“One entrance/exit in the front, one in the back, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a V.I.P. lounge, one ballroom, and a storage closet.”

“Mmm-hmm. And none of them would happen to have a god hiding in one?”

“Unfortunately, boss, you didn’t program me for ‘god detection’.”

“Remind me to give you an upgrade when we get back.”

“However, I do detect another person who might be of interest for you.”

Stark watched as the A.I. interface drew his attention to one of two individuals that walked into the Dubonnet Club. One of them was the glossy Lady Holiday herself. The man who accompanied her was whom F.R.I.D.A.Y. highlighted on the interface.

“Is that who I think it is?” Stark asked F.R.I.D.A.Y.

“It certainly is, boss…Nicholas Holiday.”

A burst of new resolve sparked in Tony as he gazed on Holiday’s smug face through the user interface, seizing in a rare opportunity. “Track his movements, F.R.I.D.A.Y.”

“I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept of temporal paradoxes, boss.”

“Trust me, F.R.I.D.A.Y. History will thank me for what I have in mind.”

----------------------------​

The Doctor couldn’t afford to forget why she was at the Dubonnet Club, but she also couldn’t help to take in such a festive atmosphere. It played with all her senses. The smell of the exquisite cuisines, the sound of the swinging band, and the sight of the high-class architecture.

And, of course, there were the drinks being served.

She snatched one off a tray as it was carried by one of the waiters. She took a big sip and immediately spat it back into the glass, once she realized it was champagne. “Ugh! Don’t like champagne,” she griped to no one in particular. “Not even when it’s not the right year!”

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice shout out, “You know, if you put enough sugar in this stuff, it tastes just like ginger ale.”

It was a brilliant idea that the Doctor was eager to try out, until she recognized the voice as that of Fozzie Bear – or his 1981 counterpart. The Doctor spotted him sitting at one of the tables closest to the dance floor, sipping on his sugar-filled glass of champagne/ginger ale and watching Kermit and Piggy share in a romantic waltz to the band’s serenading tune of “The First Time It Happens.”

Only Loki sat with the bear, eyeing Lady Holiday, who sat a few booths near theirs with her scheming brother, Nicky. It seems like there’s a lot of suspicious activity floating around this club tonight, the Doctor mentally reflected.

“It’s impolite to spy on others.”

The Doctor jolted when she heard the voice of Loki speak out from behind her, twirling to see the God of Mischief standing there behind her. She gazed back to the “Loki” sitting with Fozzie, realizing that it was just a conjured illusion, either to get close enough to Lady Holiday or corner the snooping Doctor.

“Clever,” the Doctor half-heartedly applauded.

“Thank you,” Loki returned in the same demeanor. “Now then…tell me why you’re spying on me.”

“I’d rather not,” the Doctor refused.

Loki cackled. “Ohh, I was hoping you’d say that.” He materialized his scepter in his hand and tapped its razor-blade tip to the Doctor’s chest. The hazel in her eyes turned to a fluorescent blue color, signifying a successful enthrallment. “Let’s try this again, shall we? Why are you spying on me?”

The Doctor put up a struggle to respond, much to the confusion of Loki, who had never witnessed such an effect in his usage of the Mind Stone. The God of Mischief’s bewilderment was amplified as he saw that fluorescent blue color rescind from the Doctor’s eyes, returning to their usual hazel color.

Followed by a quick gasp, the Doctor regained her senses, smirking at the god in front of her. “Nice try,” she told him. “But you’re gonna need two of those scepters, if you plan on mind-controlling me.”

Loki couldn’t quite figure what she meant by that. “What are you? Why have you come for me?”

“That’s just it – I’m not here for you,” the Doctor said. “I’m here for the Mind and Space Stones you have.”

“Ah, yes,” Loki smiled, figuring it all out. “You’ve come to stop me from abusing them, is that it?”

“That and to stop Thanos from using them.”

Loki was crestfallen when she uttered that name. “That’s a futile effort.”

“Maybe. But we’re not lettin’ you leave this club with them.”

“I’m sorry. Did you say ‘we’? You and who else?”

It was at that moment Loki heard a mechanical whirring noise near his left ear. He didn’t have to turn very far to see the familiar repulsor gauntlet aimed straight for his head. Beyond it, he could see Tony Stark, not entirely clad in his armor – just his left hand and forearm.

“Her and me,” Tony said in response to Loki’s inquiry.

“Pleasure to see you again, Tony,” Loki said, frozen in place.

“It’s ‘Mr. Stark’ to you, Prancer. Now hand over the Stones, so we won’t ruin the frog and the pig’s nice lil’ dance number.”

“Speaking of frogs, I believe there’s one other the both of you should be concerned about.”

Stark and the Doctor noticed Loki nodding in one direction near their location. Initially, they were both hesitant to look, thinking it to be a ruse. But they gave in and turned their heads to see yet another one of Loki’s allusions – or possibly the real Loki – holding Robin at bay with his scepter.

“I-I’m sorry, Doctor,” the little frog whimpered.

Although the Doctor was displeased to see him there, she was even more so to see Loki holding him hostage. Turning back to the Loki that she and Stark had cornered, she assertively demanded, “Let him go.”

“First, let me go…with the Stones,” Loki countered.

“Not gonna happen,” Tony denied.

“Then I guess I’ll be enjoying frog legs while I’m still here,” Loki sneered.

BOOM!

Their dispute came to an abrupt conclusion once the entrance to the Dubonnet Club exploded inward, shooting debris and the body of Sweetums into the establishment. All activity, both festive and hostile, ceased as soon as Thanos entered with his Infinity Gauntlet – now fused with the Space, Time, Power and Reality Stones – and his hostages: Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Scooter, Ryan, Yaz, and Graham.

TO BE CONTINUED...​

 

[muppetwriter]

Chapter Ten is a major turning point for the tale. As such, I've chosen to limit my use of visuals for this one. Enjoy!
---------

​

“A-Are you guys seeing what I’m seeing?”

Kermit’s 1981 counterpart, shining in his pressed tuxedo, huddled behind an overturned table with the 1981 counterparts of Gonzo and Fozzie, along with “Lady Holiday.” What was supposed to have been an enchanting evening took a bizarre turn with the explosive arrival of a giant, bald purple man with one-half of his body badly burnt and a shimmering golden gauntlet worn on his left hand.

But he wasn’t the strangest part about the unsettling spectacle they were witnessing. Cowering beneath him were three individuals – another frog, another bear, and another weirdo – who looked exactly like them.

“Gee, who figured we’d have another pair of twin brothers we never knew about,” 1981 Fozzie observed.

Though Kermit was grudgingly compelled to remind him, “We don’t, Fozzie.”

“Oh, wow, this is gonna make a big scoop for the Chronicle!” 1981 Gonzo proceeded to snap photos with his flashbulb camera. Each flash shot he took only irked the giant purple man, as it flashed in his field of vision. Provoked, he aimed his gauntlet towards the weirdo and his camera, using one of the gems embedded in the gauntlet to melt the camera right in the weirdo’s hands. “I’m gonna need a big scoop for my camera,” he lamented.

------------------------​

The Doctor was mortified to see Thanos in the Dubonnet Club, but no more so than Loki was. His past dealings with the Mad Titan, particularly the one that led to an invasion over New York City in 2012, were about to catch up with him – and he didn’t plan on staying any longer. The Doctor could hear the God of Mischief making a hasty exit, leaving behind the scepter and the Tesseract. In his haste, his illusions vanished, including the one holding Robin.

Freed from captivity, the small frog joined at the Doctor’s side. “I’m really sorry, Doctor,” he told her. “I should’ve stayed behind in the TARDIS like you said.”

The Doctor gave the little frog a comforting pat on the back. “Right now, I’m glad you didn’t, Robin, or you’d be taken hostage with your uncle and the others.”

“How’re we gonna help them?” Robin inquired.

She attempted to formulate a plan in her head, just as she heard Tony whisper to her, “Doc, you get the stones and our pals out while I take care of the big purple nightmare.”

The Doctor didn’t like this plan of his. “The last time you challenged Thanos, he nearly destroyed you!”

“I don’t have to beat him. I just have to distract him.”

He had already reactivated his suit and rocketed straight for Thanos before the Doctor could make another protest. The Iron Man fired his repulsors at Thanos’s head, forcing the Mad Titan to conjure a force field with his gauntlet to repel the blasts. He returned fire with a concentrated beam that Tony dodged in the nick of time, although it struck the massive chandelier hanging above the dance floor, sending it crashing down. Thankfully, the people below got out of its way just in time.

Stark’s distraction seemed to have worked to perfection. Thanos’s attention was solely on the flying man in the nanotech-powered suit of armor and not on the group he held hostage. “Now’s our chance to save Uncle Kermit and everybody else, Doctor,” Robin directed.

The Doctor seized the chance, taking the scepter and the Tesseract and running along with Robin towards the hostages. She didn’t say a word as she passed them, merely nodding her head in the direction of the flaming crater that used to be the front entrance/exit of the Dubonnet Club. Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Scooter, Ryan, Yaz, and Graham caught on immediately, following Robin and the Doctor out.

Their retreat wasn’t as clean as they hoped. While fending off Stark, Thanos detected the Doctor escaping with two of the stones and his hostages. “Not this time,” he grumbled, finishing off Stark with a purple shockwave that he created by clenching his gauntleted fist and channeling the Power Stone. Tony was knocked off-course immediately, tumbling backwards through the air until he smacked against the wall. The collision rendered him unconscious, his limp body peeling off the wall and falling onto table with all of its contents hurled off upon impact.

With the Iron Man no longer a threat, Thanos generated a portal through his acquired Space Stone, stepping through it to emerge outside the Dubonnet Club where he cornered the Doctor and her friends. He aimed his gauntlet straight for her head and demanded, “Give me the stones!”

The Doctor stood firm against him. “No!” she refused, ever so boldly.

“I won’t ask twice.” To make his point clear, Thanos redirected his aim from the Doctor’s head to those of her friends.

In spite of his fears, Graham made it clear to the Doctor, “Don’t give ‘im those stones, Doc. Don’t matter what he does to us.”

“Are you nuts?!” Fozzie argued. “It matters to me!”

“Don’t do it, Doctor!” Robin cried. “He’ll destroy everyone we care about!”

But the little frog did not have to remind her of that. She knew the level of destruction Thanos would bring with all six Infinity Stones. She also couldn’t allow him to destroy her friends with the five currently in his possession. This wasn’t a crossroads she hadn’t been to before: the universe or her fam.

And then she remembered something in their conversation with Doctor Strange back on Titan…

I know you’ve recently used that stone to look into several possibilities of winning the fight with Thanos – fourteen million six hundred and five outcomes, correct? How many of those outcomes did we win?

Two…but the other outcome is too much of a risk to the multiverse.

It’s the Doctor, isn’t it? Her presence here and now has changed everything.

Trust me when I say that I know the risk, and I will do whatever’s necessary in preserving the multiverse when I’m finished.

Adamant as he was to keep the Time Stone out of her hands or anyone else’s, Strange would not have given it up so willingly if he hadn’t already seen how they would win against Thanos.

Fourteen million six hundred and five outcomes…only two in which they win.

The Doctor couldn’t guess what that other outcome might’ve been, but she knew this one had to involve the next move she would make there and then.

-------------------------​

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Tony hated this recurring theme with getting knocked out by Thanos – no more than he hated the constant tapping that resonated over his helmet. The HUD display was still up when he opened his eyes to see the 1981 counterparts of Kermit, Gonzo, and Fozzie standing over him. “Excuse me…uh, sir?” the tuxedo-wearing frog addressed him. “Are you still alive…er…switched on?”

A sudden explosion of bright white light flashed right in the face of the recovering Iron Man, emitted from 1981 Gonzo’s camera. Tony’s nanotech-powered helmet retracted as he blinked a few times. “Thought I’d be used to that by now, after so many paparazzi encounters,” he griped while sitting upright.

“So you are human,” 1981 Kermit said, looking on Stark’s face. “That’s a relief. I don’t think we could handle another robot or alien here in the club.”

“Yeah,” 1981 Gonzo concurred. “Who was that big purple guy with the golden glove anyway?”

“And who were those three guys who look just like us?” 1981 Fozzie followed.

“Don’t worry, fellas,” Tony remarked. “Those are problems you won’t have to worry about for another forty years.” He got to his feet and headed on his way out of the Dubonnet Club. Along the way, he pointed at a dazed Nicky Holiday and shouted to everyone in the club, “Check this man’s pockets. You’ll find Lady Holiday’s jewels in one of ‘em.” And Lady Holiday did just that, not too shocked when she caught her brother red-handed (not just figuratively but literally from ketchup stains).

Tony ran out through the demolished club entrance to find the Doctor and the rest of their friends standing out in the middle of the street. He didn’t see Thanos anywhere in sight. “Where did he go?” he asked the group, noticing how disgruntled a few of them were, specially towards the Doctor.

“He’s gone,” Yaz replied in anger. “And the Doctor gave him the last Stone he needed.”

“What?!” Tony’s gaze fixated on the Doctor, now feeling the same confusion and frustration that the others felt. “Why would you do that?”

“Because it was the only way,” the Doctor said. “Don’t you see? This was one of the outcomes Doctor Strange told us about. One of the ways in which we can beat Thanos. This is where it starts – the endgame.”

“You’re risking all life as we know it on a hunch?!” Kermit retorted. “He’s somewhere out there right now, ready to wipe us all out! How’re we gonna survive to beat him after that?!”

The Doctor shook her head assuredly. “He only wants to carry out his plan in the present, Kermit. As long as we’re here in the past, we’re safe.”

“You sure ‘bout that, Doc?” Graham asked, his voice shaky and his hand clutched against his chest. “‘Cause I’m not feelin’ too good right now.” He suddenly collapsed into the arms of an alarmed and baffled Ryan.

Ryan gently settled Graham down on the ground. He removed his jacket and bundled it to support Graham’s head. “Grandad,” he said. “What’s wrong? What’s the matter?” His initial thoughts were on his cancer, which had been in remission for quite some time.

Graham tried to speak to his grandson, but all that came out were soft gasps.

And then, to the horror of Ryan and everyone else, Graham’s frail body disintegrated into dust. Ryan was overwhelmed with bewilderment, looking on the spot where Graham’s body lied for a long moment until he directed his attention to the only person who could’ve explained what just happened. “Doctor,” he gasped. “W-Where did he go? Where’s my granddad?”

The Doctor stood frozen, her mouth agape in total shock.

“Doctor…” She heard Yaz call out to her in the same shaky voice Graham had. Turning in her direction, she saw Yaz looking down at her hands, which were slowly starting to disintegrate.

“No…no…” the Doctor muttered, her lips quivering.

Yaz stared at her with a frightened gaze that soon evaporated into total absence.

It wasn’t very long before Ryan himself faded into oblivion.

“What’s happening to everybody?!” a terrified Fozzie shouted.

“I don’t know…but I think the same thing’s happening to me,” Scooter directed all attention on him as his arms and hands crumbled until he was nothing more than a head, torso, and legs. “Oh, man! This feels so weir—” His statement was cut short once his head dusted along with the rest of his form.

“Uncle Kermit…where are we going?”

Kermit didn’t quite comprehend the context of his nephew’s question until he looked his way and saw his tiny figure disintegrating just as Graham, Yaz, Ryan, and Scooter all had. He didn’t want to panic – panicking would only scare him. Sometimes he forgot how brave his nephew was. It certainly showed at this very moment.

“I…I don’t know, Robin,” he answered.

“Are you coming with us?”

Kermit looked at himself. His body remained intact. “I…I don’t think so.”

Robin’s head dropped in disappointment. “B-But we will be together again one day, right? We’ve always been togeth—”

The tiny frog was robbed of his final words as he disappeared before the very eyes of his grieving uncle and his surviving friends. Kermit’s eyes, usually filled with composure, were flooded with rage not often seen in the frog.

And the Doctor was the unfortunate recipient of that uncharacteristic rage.

 

[muppetwriter]

Hope everyone had plenty of time to recover from the events of the last chapter, because Doctor Who and the Marvelous Muppets is back with the first chapter of "Act Two," which draws heavy inspiration from the recent Loki series on Disney+! Enjoy!
------------

​

“Time to get yourself up, hon.”

Beneath the fluff of fuzzy eyelids opened the beady eyes of Bobo the Bear, waking to the cheery voice of the TVA’s A.I. mascot, Miss Minutes. As judge of the Time Variance Authority, Bobo was allowed frequent naps, since time flowed differently in the TVA, making hibernation difficult.

The orange tiny, shimmering form of Miss Minutes floated over Bobo as he sat up in his bed. “Anything I can get for ya, boss?” she asked.

“Anything I can get for ya, boss?” Another A.I. construct by the name of “Waldo” materialized right next to Miss Minutes. This one was uncanny in appearance compared to her. He was more a personal assistant for Bobo, gifted to him by “The Conqueror” for his good work and dedication to the TVA.

This, of course, only brought out Miss Minutes’ competitive nature whenever Waldo was around. “Hey, I asked him first!” she griped to Waldo.

“Well, I was here first!” Waldo retorted.

“No, you weren’t!” Miss Minutes fired back.

“Yes, I was! You just didn’t see me!”

Before the two constructs exploded further into their heated debate, Bobo told them, “You two are the best friends a bear could ask for. If it’s not too much trouble, Waldo can handle my bath and suit. And, Minutes, you can fetch me my breakfast. Oh, and put ‘Track 47’ on the speakers, will ya?”

“You got it!” Minutes acknowledged before twirling out of Bobo’s sight.

Immediately, Bobo’s favorite tune played on the surround-sound speakers from his bedchamber to his office:

Think about it, there must be a higher love.
Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above.
Without it, life is wasted time.
Look inside your heart, and I’ll look inside mine.

Things look so bad everywhere.
In this whole world, what is fair?
We walk the line and try to see.
Falling behind in what could be.

Bring me a higher love!
Bring me a higher love, oh!
Bring me a higher love!
Where’s that higher love I keep thinking of?
​

Bobo knew the lyrics by heart, and Waldo and Miss Minutes were pre-programmed to know them regardless. Waldo sang along with Bobo in the shower and afterwards as he dried off and got dressed up in his suit and tie. Miss Minutes sang while preparing Bobo’s favorite breakfast: honey pancakes with honey-flavored syrup.

Of course, with time being nonlinear in the TVA, it could’ve been lunch or dinner and Bobo would still eat honey pancakes with honey-flavored syrup.

The hour got better with the arrival of Bobo’s close friend and loyal TVA agent, Mobius M. Mobius. He performed a little shuffle dance along to the music on his way into Bobo’s office. “I gotta say, my favorite part about walking in here every time is hearing Steve Winwood on your stereo,” he told the bear judge.

“Steve Winwood?” Bobo said, smacking on his pancakes. “Who’s that?”

Mobius looked right at him, unsure if he was joking or not. “Steve Winwood. The guy who sings your favorite song in the multiverse?”

“You mean that’s not Huey Lewis?” Bobo asked in a moment of realization.

Moving on from the awkward exchange, Mobius refocused on his entire reason for visiting Bobo. “So, uh…the Variant’s representative is here.”

“Already?!” Bobo exclaimed, nearly choking on his pancakes. “Aw! But I just started eating!”

“I know, buddy,” Mobius sympathized. “And I debated whether I should’ve come here to tell you or wait ‘til you were finished, but I didn’t want to keep her waiting any longer than she already has.”

Bobo groaned, looking on his half-eaten plate of honey pancakes. “Oh, alright. Waldo, do me a favor and put the rest of these in the disposal, would ya?” Waldo seemed more than happy to carry out the order, considering it was Miss Minutes who made the pancakes.

After cleaning off the bits of pancake stuck around his furry mouth, Bobo followed Mobius out of the office and to the nearest waiting room. Standing there at the time they arrived was a tall black, rectangular solid. Its tip nearly touched the ceiling. Its door was opened to reveal a much bigger space inside.

“You know, before today, I always thought this place was a myth.”

Bobo and Mobius turned their heads when they heard a woman speak near them, not having noticed her until that very second. She was a rather beautiful individual, presumably in her late forties with long blond hair and aquamarine eyes. She was donned in a black hoodie, purple shirt, skintight blue jeans, and beige boots.

“You’re the representative for the Variant on trial?” Bobo asked her.

“I sure am,” the woman confirmed, walking up to Bobo and shaking his paw. “Name’s Neas. Some call me the ‘Gladiator of Gallifrey,’ others just call me ‘Time Lord.’ But, in this regeneration of me, you can call me ‘Kara.’” After shaking Bobo’s paw, she detected some sticky residue on her hands.

“Sorry about that,” Bobo told her. “I didn’t finish breakfast.”

“No prob,” Kara said, taking a cloth from out of her hoodie to wipe her hand with.

Wasting no time, Bobo and Mobius walked her into the TVA courtroom. There, they spotted two characters who sat waiting in one of the pews. To Kara, they looked a lot like the Muppets known as Gonzo and Rizzo, except dressed in Victorian garb. But, reading the case profile before she arrived, she knew these two individuals were their variants – Gonzo’s specifically being a version of famous author, Charles Dickens.

The case profile also contained details of the variant on trial: the Doctor.

Kara was amused to discover this to be a female incarnation of her old mentor and friend. She was hunted down by the TVA sometime after returning from the year 1981 of Earth-M with Kermit the Frog, Gonzo, Fozzie, and Tony Stark. The file did not specify what they were doing in 1981, other than the fact that it created a nexus event that splintered from Earth-M’s timeline. The Doctor was eventually detained about a year later – a year she spent being a fugitive of the TVA.

She was described as being “unhinged” during her imprisonment, scribbling on the walls of her cell. The file included photographs of the scribbles, most of which were equations and scenarios that all connected to one person: Thanos. There were also details about Infinity Stones and the Doctor’s obsession with them. She was reported having escaped multiple times to break into the TVA archives, until she one day requested her only reliable contact in the multiverse – Neas – to represent her on trial.

Shortly after Kara, Mobius, and Bobo congregated in the courtroom, the Doctor was escorted in by one of the TVA’s Hunters (whose face reminded Kara of that of her previous regeneration) while accompanied by a Minuteman – though she was more “Minutewoman” by her features.

The Doctor herself appeared starkly different than in the photo that the TVA took of her at the time of her arrest. Her hair was darker, as opposed to the sunny blond locks in her profile photo, and she sported equally dark makeup. Her entire demeanor was that of a woman who had experienced great loss and battled deep depression, all while serving time for crimes against the multiverse.

Her trial began once Bobo took his place at the bench.

“Doctor. Variant B2552 is charged with sequence violation 7-20-90. Uh, how do you plead there, Doctor?”

“Guilty!” Dickens blurted out in a fit of rage. “You ruined the story of A Christmas Carol! The whole of our existence!!”

Bobo banged on the gavel, the sound of which jittered the bear himself. “Wow. This thing’s loud.” Once he was over the fright, he addressed Dickens, “Now, uh, hold it right there, Mr. Dickens. I asked the Doctor to plead for herself. You don’t get to plead for her.”

“I’m sorry, Your Honor,” Dickens said. “I’m just so angry because of what she’s done! Our reality is in shambles!”

“Let’s not be too hasty there, Mr. Dickens,” Bobo said. “Our guys planted a nice little reset charge to undo all the damages. Your reality is fine.”

“I know, but still…” Dickens moaned.

Through the TVA holoprojector, they viewed the events of the crime. The Doctor, who Kara saw to be that of the tenth incarnation, was with two Avengers (Wanda Maximoff and Vision) and four Muppets (Miss Piggy, Animal, Beauregard, and Pepe the King Prawn). The Doctor momentarily stepped into his TARDIS while Wanda and Vision played “Ghost of Christmas Past” to Ebenezer Scrooge – Wanda manipulating the old miser’s mind. And then, the Doctor rushed back out, urges his companions to leave but not before instructing Wanda to rush with her mental manipulation of Scrooge, leading to his mental breakdown. The footage ended there.

It was a pretty serious crime. But Kara spotted a major hole in it.

“Your Honor? If I may?” she stepped forward. “There’s one important facet of this case that we’re not considering: the ‘Doctor’ we have on trial here isn’t the one responsible. She wasn’t even there. It was the tall, lanky man in the suit and tie.”

The Doctor smiled with immense satisfaction of Kara pointing out this loophole.

Even Bobo couldn’t argue with that logic. “That does appear to be the situation here,” he noted.

“Don’t be fooled by that technicality, Your Honor,” Dickens objected. “Time Lords like her are one-in-the-same, regardless of how many faces they take on from regeneration. Therefore, by all counts, the Doctor present at the crime is the same one here before us.”

Kara was taken aback by Dickens’ stern and on-point rebuttal.

“Dang, he’s good,” she muttered.

“May I speak on my own behalf?” the Doctor suddenly requested, opening her mouth for the first time since she was brought into the courtroom.

“You may,” Bobo permitted.

After a brief pause, the Doctor stated, “All I was trying to do was save the universe from Thanos. We nearly had all the Stones until…” She briefly choked on her words, having a moment of bereavement before she continued on. “Thanos wiped out my fam…he wiped out two of my friends, one of them only just a child. It happened right in front of his uncle, who could only just watch as his nephew had no idea why he and the adults around him were dying. Now, you tell me…after witnessing a scene like that, wouldn’t you do anything to get back to reality and set things right?”

There wasn’t a single dry eye in the courtroom, following the Doctor’s statements.

Not even Dickens – the Doctor’s accuser – could hold back his tears.

“Yeah, I would,” Bobo whimpered, blowing into a handkerchief. Once he was able to compose himself, he told the Doctor, “I can’t just let ya go though. You still have to face judgment for your—”

“Hey, ya’ll!”

Everyone in the courtroom jumped with fright when Miss Minutes randomly appeared out of thin air. Her form was slightly bigger than it was when Bobo saw her earlier in his bedchamber.

“Geez, Minutes!” Bobo grumbled. “How many times do I have to tell ya not to do that?! Ring a bell or somethin’ next time!”

“Sorry, boss,” Minutes innocently remarked. “I just came to deliver a message for ya’ll from the big boss.”

Bobo stood attentive at this news. “T-The C-C-Conqueror?” he stammered. “W-What…What does he want?” Miss Minutes shrunk down to a form small enough to whisper something into Bobo’s fuzzy ear. His mouth gaped open in surprise at what he heard. Soon after the news was delivered, Miss Minutes vanished and Bobo addressed the court. “Well, uh…it seems that all charges against the Doctor have been dismissed. She’s free to go.” He banged his gavel to make it official, scaring himself once again.

“What?!” Dickens screamed in anger and disbelief. “This is outrageous!”

“If you’re unhappy with the decision, Mr. Dickens, you can take it up with the Conqueror himself,” Bobo suggested.

Dickens’s conduct quickly changed at the TVA judge’s suggestion.

“Erm…I’m good,” he said, before pointing in one random direction and turning to Rizzo. “The, uh, exit’s this way, right?”

“I believe it is, Mr. Dickens,” the rat verified, although he didn’t seem entirely sure of it himself, wanting to leave just as fast as his associate.

Kara and an immeasurably grateful Doctor were just about to leave themselves.

“Hold on there one sec,” Bobo told them. “The Conqueror did add one condition to the agreement: he wants Hunter C-88 and Minuteman 20122016 to accompany you back to Earth-M.” He gestured to the two TVA agents who escorted the Doctor in.

The Doctor shrugged. “Sure. No problem.”

While Kara and the Doctor freely departed from the courtroom in the accompaniment of Hunter C-88 and Minuteman 20122016, Mobius approached Bobo at the bench, his curiosity piqued. “Did the Big C really request C-88 and that agent to go with the variant and her representative?”

“He sure did,” Bobo substantiated.

“Any idea as to why?”

“None I can think of.”

-----------------------------​

“I’ve lost count how many favors you owe me for saving your butt,” Kara expressed to the Doctor as they headed back to the waiting room where Kara’s Type-Z TARDIS itself waited. Hunter C-88 and Minuteman 20122016 followed close behind.

“Keep countin’, ‘cause we’re not done yet,” the Doctor told her. “I’m gonna need the Type-Z in reobtaining the Infinity Stones. There were many I found all over TVA headquarters – being used as paperweights of all things – until they were discarded through an interdimensional furnace when they began to clutter the office space.”

“Those equations I saw in your case file,” Kara indicated. “I thought I’d recognized them. I’d seen Pop write the same ones over parts of my ship that I had the darnedest time cleaning off. They’re multiverse equations.”

“Yeah,” the Doctor confirmed. “I have some theories of where each stone might’ve gone to after it was discarded. But, first, we have to return to Earth-M and gather a team. We can’t do this alone and with only one TARDIS.”

Kara nodded in agreement. She then glanced back at the stoic TVA agents that followed them into her TARDIS. “Are we sure it’s such a good idea having these two tag along with us? They do work for the same agency that kept you prisoner for God knows how long.”

“It’s O.K.,” the Doctor reassured. “I trust these TVA agents more than any other.”

“You know them?”

“The TVA took them in when they got lost traveling with me. They were classified as Variants of a lost realm. The one we’re about to save is the only home they have left.”

“What’re their names? Their real names, I mean.”

“Ciciley Livingston and Agent X.”

TO BE CONTINUED...​