"The Infinity Gamble"
EPISODE Three

Written by Zack Crane  
Note: This series is set prior to "A Secret War" (Pendragons # 15)

"What the hell were you doing back there?" Meredith yelled as the Doctor threw her into the TARDIS.

But the Doctor paid her no mind and he immediately rushed to the control center of the TARDIS. He pushed a pattern of buttons and then turned a large dial. The TARDIS began to hum rhythmically. The Doctor rushed back over to Merry.

"Are you alright?" he asked and he raised her up from the floor with his hand.

"No, I'm not alright!" Merry pulled herself away from him, "You almost killed me! What was that thing you held against my throat?"

The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. It was blunt on all ends. It was perfectly harmless in it's current state.

"Immortus expected you to kill me with that?" Merry asked, rubbing her throat.

"Immortus doesn't know what this is." the Doctor chuckled and he put the sonic screwdriver back in his pocket.

"Oh." Merry said, "Immortus has never met you before, Doctor? You talked to him as if you had met him before."

"I've definitely crossed paths with Immortus before, Merry, even when that was not his name." the Doctor walked over to his reclining chair, "I don't know why he seems to not know me. Perhaps the Infinity Gems have something to do with that as well. I can't imagine how he could think that he could control them..."

"Excuse me? What was that?" Merry asked, her tone was wet with sarcasm, "Infinity Gems? Feel free to go into detail whenever you feel safe enough."

The Doctor looked up at Merry with an _expression that Merry had not seen him where since she had met him. It was one of fear.

"Merry," the Doctor started to speak and he looked past Merry and stared into nothing, "The Infinity Gems are objects of immense power. Each is merely a physical manifestation of the ability to control absolutely everything. When collected together, as they have been before, they contain the power to rewrite reality, time, space...whatever the wielder wishes."

"But what does that have to do with me?" Merry asked, and the Doctor saw tears swelling in her eyes, "Immortus said I was made for it. What does that mean?"

The Doctor looked over at her, helpless to stop the tears from falling, "I don't know. I really don't know. I wish I could remember."

Merry threw her arms up in the air in desperation and then fell into a chair across from the Doctor. The tears still flowed freely, "I know he's right. I'm going to help him recreate reality. I can't escape it."

"Merry," the Doctor leaned in closer to her, "don't fall for his tricks. He's just trying to make you doubt yourself."

"No," Merry told him, "you don't understand. I know he's right. Just like I knew I had met you before last night. It's that same damn feeling. It's the same damn feeling I've had all my life."

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked, curious now more than ever about this young girl. After all that they had been through, the Doctor just now realized that he didn't actually know Merry at all. She was the key to all of this. Immortus even said so, and yet, the two of them still did not know exactly what Immortus was planning, nor why he wanted to do so with Merry. Maybe the Doctor could find some clue in Merry's past.

"I just knew that there was something I was missing." Merry continued, "It was like I could sense that there were places and dimensions and creatures and happenings beyond my wildest dreams. It's why I ran away from the home...it's why I hopped the first flight I could find to Europe. It's why I was in that shithole where you found me. I was looking for that adventure, that journey to find who I really am. Maybe I just had some crazy idea that I could conquer every world imaginable..."

The Doctor rubbed his chin and kept a thoughtful stare on her. Merry continued.

"Now, I'm told by the Lord of Limbo that my whole life has been leading up to helping him recreate reality. As ridiculous as that sounds, I just know that's the truth. My whole life, that feeling I've had, it's all just been a huge hook to get me kill and destroy everything in existence. My life has gone to hell in under four hours. I guess I should have figured I was doomed like this from the very beginning."

"Why do you say that?" the Doctor asked.

"Since I was born I've been cursed. My dad left my mom to die when my brother and I were born." Merry said quietly, "Then my brother died hours later."

"You had a twin, Merry?"

"Yeah." Merry nodded, "Marcus. That was his name."

"What?" the Doctor shouted, leaning in closer to Merry than before.

"His name was--" Merry sat up in the chair, puzzled by the Doctor's excitement.

"I know that!" the Doctor said and took Merry's chin in-between his thumb and forefinger and examined her face, "I don't believe it. I can't believe I didn't notice it before."

That's when everything fell into place. This was the missing link. All the pieces finally fit together in his mind.

"What?" Merry slapped the Doctor's hand away from her face.

The Doctor stood and rushed back to the control panel of the TARDIS, "Merry, you've said you had a feeling you were made for this. I'll tell you right now that it's no longer just a feeling. It's a fact."

"What do you mean?" Merry ran up behind him.

"Merry," the Doctor said, taking in a breath before he continued, "what I have to say may shock you. But, believe me, it is true, for my memories of reality before it was altered have returned."

"You remember everything now?" Merry asked, "Well, spit it out then! It can't be any more shocking than everything else that's happened to me since I met you."

The Doctor looked up at her and didn't speak for a moment. He finally relaxed his shoulders and began to explain.

"Merry!" the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, his sonic screwdriver in hand.

Complete darkness surrounded him. The only light came from the structure upon which he stood, which looked like a magnificent and monumental gazebo. The intricate designs that fully adorned the walls looked like the ancient language of a long lost civilization, asking for their secrets to be revealed. Sarcophagi lined the walls, as though there were ancient legends inside, awaiting their own return. The Doctor never came here. As beautiful as this place was, it was not meant for any living creature to behold. This was the Heart of Darkness.

"Doctor!" Merry yelled back to him.

The Doctor peered up a marble stairway to a great throne that seemed to rise from the floor like a tree made of stone. Sitting upon this grand throne, was Immortus. Upon his right hand was a golden glove. At each knuckle of the glove was a differently colored jewel. It was the Infinity Gauntlet. Scattered at Immortus's feet were the recognizable bodies of Adam Warlock and Gamora, the protectors of the Infinity Gems. Their heads were at the Doctor's feet. Flanking the sides of the Lord of Limbo were hundreds of Space Phantoms. They all had their eyes locked on the Doctor. But those images were not what frightened the Doctor.

In the air above both Immortus and the Doctor, floating and shaking and glowing with a sickly yellow, was Merry. The Doctor tried to rush up the stairs but he was stopped by the voice of Immortus, the holder of the greatest power ever known.

"You're too late, as usual, Doctor!" Immortus cackled, "Although I do admire your fortitude! I expect most enemies would have given up as soon as I captured Meredith, or took the Infinity Gems. Most enemies would have admitted that I have won."

"As long as one man stands against you, Immortus," the Doctor growled, "you will never truly win."

"How appropriate for the lost hero to say." Immortus sneered, "But, I have come too far to be distracted by the likes of you. Now, die."

Immortus raised his hand into the air and the gauntlet upon his hand began to glow ever so slightly.

"Wait, Immortus!" the Doctor called to his enemy, just as the villain was preparing to blink the Doctor out of existence, "Can you not fight me yourself?"

"Do not try and tempt me, Doctor!" Immortus laughed, "It will not work. I am not an idiot with some warped sense of honor."

The Doctor smiled at the last comment, "So, you're just resigned to let this be your final victory? Killing Warlock and Gamora with legions upon legions of Space Phantoms? Casually taking the Infinity Gems? This is what you call victory? You're a joke to the time stream you wish to conquer!"

Immortus frowned at him. The Doctor was right. This was not nearly as challenging as Immortus had thought it would be. If there was one thing that Immortus could not stomach, it was a foe laughing at him. "What do you suggest, Doctor?"

"We'll engage in the only decent form of violence, Immortus." the Doctor called to him and began to take off his overcoat, "We will duel to the death."

Immortus smiled, "How cute. I accept."

Every single one of the Space Phantoms popped out of sight immediately and in stereo. Immortus rose from the throne, with Merry still shaking high in the air over his head, and walked down the stairs to the Doctor.

"I will not use the gems," Immortus told him, "but I will keep them on my hand. I'm sorry but I don't trust you, Doctor."

"Well, of course I don't trust you to play fair either." the Doctor said, "So, I'd like to suggest that we use weapons, swords to be precise, so I can kill you quickly and efficiently before you use the gems to heal yourself."

"So be it." Immortus agreed. He clapped his hands together and two golden, black-tipped swords appeared in their hands, "Ten paces?"

"Indeed." the Doctor nodded, tightly grasping the golden sword in his hands, and he turned from Immortus and started marching the opposite direction. Immortus did the same in the other direction.

They counted out their simultaneous paces as they heard the echo off the heavy marble. They paused for a moment as they both reached ten and then turned around to charge directly at one another with an angry speed. Both the Doctor and Immortus raised their swords high above their heads, ready to bring the weapon down upon the other.

Immortus thrust his sword at the Doctor's midsection but the Doctor backed out of the way. The Doctor brought his sword at Immortus with a furious swipe, but Immortus bounded back from him. Once again, the Doctor raised his own sword and brought it down on Immortus, but the Lord of Limbo blocked the Doctor's attack with his own. Immortus then pushed the Doctor back, swinging his sword in a swipe at him. The Doctor twisted out of the course of the swipe and continued his movement until he was behind Immortus, where the Doctor brought his own sword downward.

Immortus screamed as his hand---the hand that wore the Infinity Gauntlet---fell from it's place on his wrist and flew lifelessly and bloody to the ground in front of him.

"No!" Immortus screamed, "I will not be defeated now!"

The Doctor rushed to where the severed hand lay on the ground. Immortus followed after him, forcing the pain from his body to finally taste the victory he had been longing for. The Doctor saw Immortus chasing him and leapt at the gauntlet, and Immortus followed him with his own leap. Immortus collided with the Doctor's back and with his remaining hand, he brought up his sword and drove it through the Doctor's side.

The Doctor could feel the blade run through his ribcage, his two lungs, both of his hearts, and puncture through the skin on his other side. Pain rocketed through him like hot magma in a rupturing volcano. But with his last gasps, he fell upon the Infinity Gauntlet. And when he felt his hot, bloody hands enclose around the soft, cold gauntlet, one thought entered his mind:

"I don't want any of this to happen."

There was a bright light and everything changed.

"Oh my god..." Merry put her face in her hands.

"Merry," the Doctor walked up to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "this man, Immortus, is truly psychotic in every sense of the word. I can't tell you anything that will make this all go away or even make sense to you. It's not fair that you're here and I know that. But I promise you, we will stop him. You must be strong and stand against him with me."

"But how can I?" Merry looked up at him with damp eyelashes, "How can I stand against him when he has those...those...gems?"

The Doctor stood upright and extended his hand to Merry, "Because he doesn't have those gems yet. I saw to that when I cradled the gems."

Merry's eyes widened and the Doctor saw her whole demeanor change, "So...you think we can defeat him?"

"Of course we can! I've already changed reality to give us the edge!" the Doctor yelled bombastically, climbing the stairs to the TARDIS's control panel once more, "What more am I going to have to go through to beat him?"

Merry hesitated as she followed him up the stairs, "You know Immortus would say the same thing."

"Yes." the Doctor turned and faced her, "He would, wouldn't he? We've both come too far to be stopped. There's only one place where we'll find who's come the farthest."

"Where is that, Doctor?" Merry asked. She was alert with adrenaline.

"The Heart of Darkness." the Doctor said quickly as he turned back to the panel and began to chart a new course.

"Sounds like just the place to save reality." Merry mused.

"It is a place outside reality, Merry." the Doctor explained, "It is the only place where the gems exist simultaneously with one another anymore."

"Great!" Merry said, "Now that we know what the hell is going on, this should be a piece of cake, right?"

The Doctor looked up from the panel as she said that, the excitement that had been there was inexplicably gone.

"What, Doctor?" Merry asked, her smile long gone now as well.

"I've just realized, Merry," the Doctor began to say, closing his eyes as he said this slowly, "if we now understand everything that has happened, then Immortus certainly does as well. We can only hope...that he didn't get to the gems first."

"Adam?"

"Yes, my dear?"

"You feel it...?"

"Of course."

"What is happening? What is this feeling inside of me? It's like Death herself is right behind me..."

"It is simply the anticipation that is agonizing, Gamora. Whatever threat there may be to you or the gems, I will destroy it."

Adam Warlock gazed at the infinite nothingness that surrounded the great structure on which he stood. He didn't know what strange feeling had beckoned him to this place once more, but Gamora felt it as well, and that was enough to bring Adam. He stood ever vigilant, in front of the mighty stone throne which could have sat a warrior ten feet tall.

"Do not worry about my safety, Adam." Gamora came from behind him wrapped her arms around his shoulders, "You know that any threat that makes toward the Heart of Darkness only wants the Infinity Gems."

He looked over at Gamora. Adam knew she was right. Her golden eyes flickered to contrast with her smooth, light green skin and dark, voluminous hair. He knew he didn't have to worry for her either. She was the most dangerous woman alive, trained by Thanos himself, her father. Adam smiled.

"Then we must be prepared for anything." he said.

It was at that moment that both Adam and Gamora looked down the stairs which led from the great throne and saw a flashing, pulsing image....of a telephone box. Gamora was ready to strike; Adam had seen that posture and glare in her before. But Adam stopped her from continuing. He knew that there was nothing to fear from this new arrival. However, now, Adam was sure of the grave danger to the gems.

"Warlock!" the Doctor leapt from the TARDIS and rushed toward him, "Then I am not too late!"

"Too late for what, Doctor?" Adam asked as he stepped gracefully down the stone steps.

"I am sorry that we meet again under such circumstances." the Doctor's face was alive with emergency, "You must gather the Infinity Gems! They must be protected, by any means necessary."

Adam frowned at the Doctor. Adam had only met the Doctor on one other occasion, during the sort of crisis that doesn't lend itself to friendly talk, so he didn't know the Time-Lord well at all. But he knew enough to know that if the Doctor was frantic of something, then it was very much worth looking into.

"Blast it, Warlock!" the Doctor drew closer to him, "There is no time to waste! Immortus could already be here!"

"Immortus?" Adam asked and he finally realized how true the danger was, "Gamora, wait here. I must retrieve the Infinity Gems."

Gamora nodded and watched the two figures disappear down a vast, dim hallway, even further into the Heart of Darkness. Adam brought the Doctor through a winding way deep within the colossal structure, to a point Adam had rarely ventured before. Gone were the sarcophagi and the designs. This room was simply domed and blank. But, hovering in the air above them, shining with their own life, were five brightly, multi-colored gems. This was the Infinity Chamber.

Adam reached to his own forehead and there was a crackle of green energy as the Soul Gem was removed. The gem then rose out of Adam's hands and joined the other five gems in floating and glowing high above them. But as soon as the Soul Gem reached it's brothers, they slowly began to draw ever closer to one another and a chain of white, blazing energy connected the gems to one another. The six gems then started to draw even nearer to each other and rotate as they started to move downward to the Doctor and Adam.

Soon, the six gems were close enough that Adam took them in his hand. He looked up at the Doctor.

"These gems must not fall into Immortus's hands, Doctor." Adam said as the gems started to float away from him, "Make sure they do not."

The gems floated slowly over to where the Doctor was standing and they started to hover gently over his hand. The Doctor looked up at Adam, his eyes wide at the sight that was now in his hands, "Don't fret, Warlock. You've done your part and I will do mine."

Adam nodded, "Then follow me back to Gamora. I am sure all three of us shall be more than enough to combat Immortus when he arrives. We might even be able to resolve this without a conflict..."

Adam started to walk back down the hallway, away from the Infinity Chamber, but the Doctor didn't follow. Adam turned around and saw that the Doctor was still staring at the Infinity Gems like a cheetah preying upon an antelope. He approached the Doctor once more.

"Is something the matter, Doctor?" Adam eyed the Doctor closely as he walked to him.

"Oh, no, Warlock." the Doctor said, now beginning to grin widely, "Everything is perfect. Or at least, it will be now."

Adam frowned at him, "What do you mean...?"

"Warlock!" a voice shouted from behind him.

Adam turned around quickly and saw three figures running down the hallway toward the Infinity Chamber. One was Gamora. The second was a young teenage girl with stark red hair. The other...was the Doctor.

"Adam!" Gamora shouted, "The gems!"

Adam whipped his head back around, his eyes now wide and his mouth gaped. He saw that the image that was behind him was no longer that of the Doctor. It twisted and morphed into a figure that was much more recognizably sinister.

"Immortus!" Adam yelled.

"Thank you for your help, Adam!" Immortus laughed, "Now, reality is finally mine!"

"Merry!" the Doctor yelled as the three finally entered the Infinity Chamber, "Get back to the TARDIS!"

"But--!" Merry tried to contest but the Doctor shoved her forcefully back down the hallway.

"Go now!" the Doctor yelled, drawing his sonic screwdriver from his pocket.

Adam reacted as quickly as he could and brought his arm forward with a devastating punch. But as it closed on Immortus, the Lord of Limbo simply faded from sight, making Adam Warlock swipe only the empty air.

"What have I done?" Adam asked as he turned back to Gamora and the Doctor.

Suddenly, all around the Infinity Chamber, there were dozens of images of Immortus. They were all laughing.

"You have underestimated me once again, Doctor!" the images said between cackles, "I cannot be defeated!"

Then, the images of Immortus faded and in their place, Space Phantoms began to pop into view. One right after another, until the entirety of the Infinity Chamber was filled with them. The Doctor, Adam and Gamora all tried to turn and retreat back down the hallway to strategically better ground but they turned to see that there were only Space Phantoms in their path. And they had Merry.

"Doctor!" she screamed as the Space Phantoms held her in place.

Soon, the three were surrounded by an entire army of Space Phantoms.

"We can fight them." Gamora said simply.

"Of course we can." Adam said, "But if Immortus has the gems, he can kill us at any time, regardless of how many Space Phantoms we take with us. It is not worth fighting at the moment."

The Doctor felt Gamora and Adam's eyes as they both turned their gazes to him.

"What can we do, Doctor?" Adam asked.

"Yes, Doctor!" Immortus's voice rang throughout the Infinity Chamber, "What can you do now?"

The Doctor could only watch the advancing Space Phantoms and listen to Immortus's cracking laughter. He wished he had an answer to the question.

NEXT ISSUE: Come on back next month for the conclusion of Doctor Who: the Infinity Gamble! All questions and mysteries will be revealed! I hope you're ready...