#oncetheirsoldier

[omniuniversal]

💬

For every 💬 I get in my inbox, I’ll post a quote from my own writing that I’m proud of!

(( Once upon a time, a friend named @oncetheirsoldier accidentally spammed my Tenth Doctor @drthetasigma10 repeatedly with the prompt to introduce their character to other characters I’ve played. This kicked off a sequence of interconnected mini-fics in which Sumner fell into a temporal anomaly and found himself unceremoniously hopscotched down The Doctor’s timeline, running into other friends of The Doctor’s along the way. 

It ended with this. My first foray into writing a canon-style Ben Tennyson, and the first appearance of the @omniuniversal name years before @kimbermcleod kindly put me together a blog for him. ))

–and then he was standing next to a fast food joint named “Burger Shack” and The Doctor was waiting for him, standing next to a lad in a green and black t-shirt with the number “10″ emblazoned upon it–

“Now!” The Doctor trumpeted, “BEN! GO CHRONOSAPIEN! NOW!”

The boy– Ben– slammed his hand down on the face of his bizarre hi-tech wristwatch– “It’s HERO time!” –and in shattering emerald light he turned into a giant, potbellied metallic creature with a wind-up key atop its head and a cybersteampunk design, if there was such a thing– and a German accent– “CLOCKWORK!”

Throwing up his hands, Clockwork cast a green light across Sumner, and Sumner felt the world quiver around him– stabilize–

–he dropped to his knees, suddenly feeling exhausted, but he– he didn’t jump anywhere, didn’t skip, didn’t go–

“Oh, thank goodness,” The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief, and as Clockwork became Ben again in another crash of green light, The Doctor shook his hand. “Cheers, Ben. Love that ‘10′ motif. Give Professor Paradox my best.”

“Always,” Ben nodded, then hesitated. “And maybe you could put in a good word for me with Jenny?”

The Doctor arched an eyebrow, and Ben backed off, chuckling, hands raised. “Yep, no, worth a shot.”

The Doctor turned and offered Sumner a hand up. “Come on, mate. Let’s get you home, eh? Maybe some beer and peanuts, I’m told that helps.”

(( Oddly enough, this is the second old fic of mine tonight I’ve read with that old Hitchhiker’s Guide reference to salt and beer being curative of teleportation sickness. ))

[memoirsverse]

“Oh!  So sorry, but you’re a bit too late.”  Evelyn didn’t look quite as penitent as her words indicated as she moved the doorstop away from the glass-paned door, though her face held a rather plastic, oft-practiced Retail Smile.  “I’m about to close up shop.  You can come back tomorrow if you like; I open up at nine a.m.”

@oncetheirsoldier

[drthetasigma14]

👫

–and then he was standing next to a fast food joint named “Burger Shack” and The Doctor was waiting for him, standing next to a lad in a green and black t-shirt with the number “10″ emblazoned upon it–

“Now!” The Doctor trumpeted, “BEN! GO CHRONOSAPIEN! NOW!”

The boy– Ben– slammed his hand down on the face of his bizarre hi-tech wristwatch– “It’s HERO time!” –and in shattering emerald light he turned into a giant, potbellied metallic creature with a wind-up key atop its head and a cybersteampunk design, if there was such a thing– and a German accent– “CLOCKWORK!”

Throwing up his hands, Clockwork cast a green light across Sumner, and Sumner felt the world quiver around him– stabilize–

–he dropped to his knees, suddenly feeling exhausted, but he– he didn’t jump anywhere, didn’t skip, didn’t go–

“Oh, thank goodness,” The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief, and as Clockwork became Ben again in another crash of green light, The Doctor shook his hand. “Cheers, Ben. Love that ‘10′ motif. Give Professor Paradox my best.”

“Always,” Ben nodded, then hesitated. “And maybe you could put in a good word for me with Jenny?”

The Doctor arched an eyebrow, and Ben backed off, chuckling, hands raised. “Yep, no, worth a shot.”

The Doctor turned and offered Sumner a hand up. “Come on, mate. Let’s get you home, eh? Maybe some beer and peanuts, I’m told that helps.”

[drthetasigma14]

👫

–he suddenly stood in the headlights of an oncoming pick-up truck in the dark, the truck screeching to a halt–

–a brown-haired girl stuck her head out of the driver’s side window and frowned at him. “In the middle of the road, really? At least wear something less dark than that coat if you’re walking at night, if my spider-sen– uh, reflexes–”

–but then The Doctor stuck his head out of the passenger side– “SUMNER! Oh, mate, it’s been a bit, been getting worried! Missed Bellwood by a mile, you’re on the wrong coast, try again!”

The girl stared at The Doctor. “Man, Claire was right about you, always picking up strays.”

“Peta Mary Parker,” The Doctor admonished her, “it’s hardly his fault, he’s a bit unstuck in time, like–”

“–Sheridan in that one episode of Babylon 5,” Peta realized with eyes wide. “Oh, frell, I’m sorr–”

[drthetasigma14]

👫

–an explosion rocked the entire battlefield and a beautiful redhaired woman in a blue-green coat reached up and dragged Sumner down into a trench before the next volley turned him into a crater.

“Keep your head down!” she demanded. “Sontarans don’t care about civilian casualties!”

“Not precisely a civilian, Jenny,” The Doctor corrected her, “this lad’s been a soldier in his day. Sumner, have you met my daughter?”

“Right!” Jenny processed this immediately, and twirled a pulse pistol out of a holster and offered it to Sumner. “Tell me you’re fuzzy on the subject of kneecaps. Dad, you’re on cat duty, we’re making a run for the next bunker!”

The Doctor scooped up an orange cat, who looked rather panicky and might have been swearing telepathically in a Tasmanian accent. “Allons-y! Sumner, the next time you shift, try and aim for Bellw–” 

[drthetasigma14]

👫

–the world shuffled, and The Doctor and a blue-furred, pointy-eared creature with a lashing tail were back to back and fighting off soldiers of The Hellfire Club with flashing rapiers–

“Achtung, Herr Doktor!” the fuzzy elf alerted, “Another one! Another teleporter?”

“Nein, Bruder Wagner,” The Doctor dismissed, “he’s a friend! Sumner, you’re in for a bumpy night, just try to stay calm, you’re hopscotching down my timeline, don’t worry, I’ll help you, just, brave hea–!”

[drthetasigma14]

👫

“Sumner!” The Doctor bellowed in horror, and the onetime soldier would only hear him as though from a great distance, and seemed to be falling as though down a well– “YOU’VE STEPPED INTO A TEMPORAL AFTERSHOCK, HANG ON!”

–then, abruptly, spaciotemporal whiplash, like a DVD skipping tracks, Sumner would find himself standing on top of a skyscraper in Manhattan, The Doctor standing beside him and a quick-witted slender lad clad in red lunging to grab Sumner to make sure he didn’t teeter over the edge.

“Watch that first step, my man,” the masked fella quipped. “It’s a doozy!”

“Ah!” The Doctor nodded. “There you are, then! Sumner, Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Sumner, now, mind your pints and quarts, lad, because–”