Blue Box at the Hexgstes
Chapter 1
The alleyway blazed with streaks of violent blue laser fire.
“LEFT!” the Doctor shouted, skidding around a corner so sharply her coat practically snapped behind her.
“I DID GO LEFT!” Yaz yelled back, nearly colliding with a stack of glowing cargo crates. “You said your left!”
Behind them came another deafening KRA-KRAK! as energy bolts exploded against the metal walls, showering sparks everywhere.
A mechanical voice echoed through the neon-lit corridor.
“TEMPORAL THIEVES DETECTED. SURRENDER.”
“Oh, honestly, dramatic,” the Doctor huffed while sprinting full speed. “We borrowed one tiny quantum regulator.”
“You stole it!”
“I improved ownership arrangements!”
Another blast hit beside them.
Yaz ducked. “Doctor!”
“I know! I know! Running now, explaining later!”
“You said that twenty minutes ago!”
“Well it’s still true!”
The Doctor slammed her sonic screwdriver against a rusted maintenance door. It screeched open just enough for them to squeeze through.
The blue police box stood wedged absurdly between futuristic cargo containers like it had parked illegally across several centuries.
The Doctor grinned wildly. “Oh, beautiful girl, never been happier to see you!”
Laser fire rained toward them again.
“MOVE MOVE MOVE!” Doctor yelled
They practically threw themselves through the doors.
Once inside the Doctor sprinted straight for the console while Yaz leaned against the railing trying to catch her breath.
“You know,” Yaz panted, “one day I’d like an adventure where nobody’s trying to vaporise us.”
“Where’s your sense of wonder?”
“It got shot at!”
The Doctor yanked a lever and the engines groaned. Usually that sound was comforting butthis time it sounded… wrong. Deep. Strained.Like the ship was grinding against something enormous.
The Doctor froze. “Oh.”
Yaz narrowed her eyes immediately. “What does ‘oh’ mean?”
“No reason.”
“Doctor.”
“Tiny hiccup.”
The central column suddenly slammed downward with a violent THOOM. Sparks exploded from the console.
Yaz jumped back. “That’s not a hiccup!”
“No, that’s more of a catastrophic mechanical tantrum..”
The floor lurched sideways. Both of them screamed as the entire TARDIS tilted violently.The Doctor grabbed the console. Yaz crashed into a railing.
“What’s happening?!”
“Okay!” the Doctor shouted over the screaming engines. “Slight issue with the vortex!”
“Slight?!”
The rotor blasted upward again with blinding orange light. Every monitor erupted into static.The TARDIS gave a horrible metallic groan like reality itself was bending around it. Then the sound echoed through the ship like glass splitting across the universe.
The Doctor’s expression dropped completely.“Oh that is very bad.”
“What is?!”
The entire console room exploded in white light.
—
Meanwhile in Piltover.
Late afternoon sunlight reflected off of windows of a small bakery tucked beside one of the upper promenade bridges. The smell of fresh cinnamon bread and tea filled the air around it pouring onto the street and the small terrace in front where several tables were already filled with people enjoying their afternoon tea and a delicious cake.
At a corner table, Caitlyn sat with perfect posture, holding a teacup.
Across from her, Vi lounged sideways in her chair enjoying sun on her face and long waited lunch break and a snack. Her gauntlets sat on the floor next to her.
“I’m just saying,” Vi argued, pointing with half-eaten pastry in hand, “technically I did not destroy the councillor’s car.”
Cait stared at her over the rim of her cup.
“Vi.”
“What?” She took another bite and tipped her head back closing her eyes enjoying the warmth.
“You threw a man onto it.”
“Yeah but I didn’t know he’d bounce.”
“He did not bounce.”
“He absolutely bounced.”
Cait closed her eyes briefly, already exhausted.
“The entire roof of the car collapsed.”
“That sounds like poor construction.”
“Vi.”
“What?!” Vi laughed squinting her eyes against the sun giving her a side look “You should’ve seen him! Arms everywhere.”
Cait pinched the bridge of her nose. “One day I would like to go a full week without hearing the sentence ‘it wasn’t my fault’ immediately before paperwork.”
Vi smirked. “You love my paperwork.”
“I absolutely do not.”
“You keep all of it though.”
“That’s evidence.”
“That’s sentiment.”
Cait rolled her eyes but there was the faintest smile tugging at her mouth.
Then suddenly the table rattled.
Vi frowned. “You feel that?”
“What was that?” Cait sat the tea cup down looking around worried.
A low rumble rolled beneath the streets. Glasses trembled on the table and something smashed inside the bakery. People looked around nervously.
Then the ground started shaking violently. Goasses and plates shattered against the floor. Someone screamed. The woman across the road picked up her daughter frantically. Everyone looked around in shock as the ground kept shaking. The ceiling inside the bakery split with a horrible cracking sound.
Vi looked up at the building as few roof tiles fell on the floor “CAIT!”
She launched towards Cait just as a massive slab of stone tore free from above. She grabbed Cait around the waist and yanked her backward.
The slab smashed into the ground where Cait had been standing half a second earlier. Dust exploded through the streets as more stones hit the growing from surrounding buildings. People now ran for cover. Two cars smashed into each other on the street. Alarms began horning across Piltover.
Then came the sound Not thunder. Not machinery. Something deeper. A colossal, pressure-crushing boom that rolled across the entire city like the sky itself had cracked open.
Everyone froze. Far in the distance, the Hexgates suddenly erupted with violent arcs of electric blue energy. Lightning-like streams snapped wildly across the tower then another sonic detonation hit. Windows shattered up and down the streets. The air distorted.
Cait covered Vi’s head with her hands as shard of glass scattered around them.
Vi stared toward the gates . “Uh… Cait?”
The Hexgate ring pulsed blinding white.
“What is going on?” Cait gasped in absolute horror
At the Hexgates tower suddenly something enormous burst out of thin air above the docking platforms. A blue telephone box spinning wildly.
“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!” One of the men yelled.
The object hit the platform sideways with a deafening screech. Sparks exploded everywhere as it skidded across the docking station, tearing grooves through steel and stone.
Workers scattered screaming.
The blue box smashed through crates, spun once, then slammed hard into the wall.
Silence.
Smoke hissed upward.
Workers blinked in utter confusion.
“What is that?”
Back at the bakery Cait was already standing, stunned but focused, eyes narrowed toward the Hexgates.
“Quickly, we need to see what’s going on” she grabbed her rifle, Vi shook some dust off her gauntlet and they were on their way.
……
The strange blue box creaked ominously. Inside the TARDIS the Doctor lay upside down against one of the pillars.
Yaz groaned from somewhere under the console.
The Doctor blinked at the ceiling.
“…Good news.”
Yaz’s muffled voice answered “If you say we’re alive, I’m gonna hit you.”
The Doctor grinned despite herself. “We’ve landed.”
…..
Piltover streets were absolute chaos.
Sirens echoed across the bridges while citizens flooded the streets pointing toward the Hexgates where smoke still curled into the sky.
Caitlyn and Vi shoved through the crowd toward the nearest side street.
“Vi!” Cait pointed suddenly. “Car.”
A sleek dark-grey vehicle sat parked crookedly beside the curb, abandoned in the confusion.
Cait immediately moved toward it.
Vi slowed, watching her suspiciously. “...Why are you walking at that car like you know something?”
“I do know something.”
Cait crouched beside the driver’s door panel and pulled a small toolkit from inside her coat.
Vi blinked.
“You carry burglary equipment now?”
“It’s not burglary equipment.”
“You literally just unfolded burglary equipment.”
Cait ignored her, popping open a small plate beneath the steering column. A cluster of wires glowed faintly inside.
Vi leaned on the door watching with amusement “Since when can you do this?”
Cait calmly crossed two wires together.
“Since I was fourteen.”
The engine suddenly ROARED to life.
Vi’s eyebrows shot up.
“Let’s go” Cait slid into the driver’s seat with entirely too much composure.
Vi climbed into the passenger seat staring at her like she’d grown a second head.
“I used to find mechanical manuals entertaining.”
“You were reading manuals for fun?”
Cait adjusted the mirrors. “It was informative.”
“You are such a nerd.”
“You say that like it’s a revelation.”
“Oh my god, Cupcake, you definitely took apart clocks as a child.”
“One time.”
“One time?!” Vi laughed loudly as Cait hit the accelerator. “You absolutely terrified your parents.”
“They were very supportive. Well my father was.”
“You were a tiny little menace in suspenders.”
Cait pointed. “Seatbelt.”
Vi grinned. “Make me.”
Cait slammed the vehicle into a sharp turn so violently Vi nearly fell sideways into the door.
“SEATBELT,” Cait repeated.
Vi burst out laughing while pulling it on. “Okay, okay! Damn!”
The car sped through Piltover streets toward the docks.
—
Meanwhile, inside the TARDIS…
The Doctor scrambled around the console flipping switches while sparks occasionally spat from the damaged panels.
Yaz stood nearby trying unsuccessfully to untangle a bundle of wires from her hair.
“You alright there?” the Doctor asked.
“I’ve got spaceship in my scalp.”
“Good sign. Means the TARDIS still likes you.”
“She’s currently trying to electrocute me.”
The Doctor leaned over a monitor. Her smile slowly faded.
“…Huh.”
Yaz immediately noticed. “What’s ‘huh’?”
The Doctor frowned harder, sonic screwdriver buzzing rapidly over the controls. “That can’t be right.”
“Doctor.”
“No temporal coordinates.”
“What?”
“No galactic registry.”
“Doctor.”
The Doctor looked up.
“We are,” she said carefully, “officially somewhere I have never been before.”
Yaz stared. “You’ve been everywhere.”
“Not everywhere.”
“You literally said once you visited a planet made entirely of sentient frogs.”
“And lovely frogs they were.”
“Doooctoor!””
The Doctor grinned suddenly, excitement bursting across her face despite the situation.
“We’re outside my universe.”
Yaz blinked. “…What?”
The Doctor’s eyes sparkled now. “Parallel reality. Different dimensional structure. Completely separate universal system!” She laughed in disbelief. “Oh that is brilliant!”
Yaz looked horrified. “You don’t know where we are.”
“No!”
“You don’t know how we got here.”
“Not exactly!”
“You don’t know how to get back.”
The Doctor paused. “…Working on that one.”
“Doctor!”
But the Doctor was already buzzing with energy again, practically bouncing.
“Oh this is exciting.”
Yaz pointed at the sparking console. “This is concerning!”
The Doctor spun on her heel toward the doors.
“Well there’s only one thing to do!”
Yaz groaned. “Why do I know I’m gonna hate this?”
“Cheer up it’s gonna be fun!”
The TARDIS doors swung open dramatically and both women froze.
At least twenty Enforcers stood outside in formation with rifles aimed directly at them. Nobody moved.
“HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!” One enforcer shouted
Yaz slowly turned toward the Doctor.
“…Tell me one more time this is fun.”
The Doctor raised her hands innocently.
“Honestly? Better than the last Tuesday I had.”
Another voice cut through the crowd. Cool. Sharp. Controlled. “Stand down! What in the name of Runeterra is goin on here??”
“Sheriff” one of the enforcers nodded “Apparently this….box..” he pointed towards the TARDIS “just came through the gates ma'am. It appears to be some sort of a vehicle”
The enforcers parted just enough for Cait to step forward. Her rifle lowered but ready. Vi walked beside her, gauntlets already on her hands.
Both of them stopped dead upon seeing the inside of the TARDIS through the open door.
“Hiya!” Doctor grinned waiving one hand as she held both up
Vi blinked. “…Okay.”
She pointed into the impossible blue box. “That’s bigger on the inside.”
The Doctor immediately lit up.
“Oh! Clever girl…You noticed! Most people take longer!”
Yaz rolled her eyes “Of course she noticed. She has eyes.”
“Exuse me…” Cait stepped forward “Who are you and how did you get here?
The Doctor absolutely beamed. “Oh this is fascinating.”
Yaz sighed immediately. “Here we go.”
The Doctor stepped forward despite the wall of rifles aimed at her. “Structured tailoring, reinforced shoulder plating “ she said excitedly, gesturing at the enforcers. “.. industrial-era influence but modern fabrication techniques…bit steampunk, bit late-Victorian military, bit post-energy-revolution adaptation…”
Vi looked at Cait.
“…Is she on shimmer?”
Cait blinked in utter confusion as the Doctor continued blabbing.
“And the weapons!” the Doctor continued, eyes darting at Cait’s rifle. “Chemical propellant? No…compressed energy discharge with crystalline focusing chambers. Oooh very clever.”
One enforcer shifted uncomfortably.
The Doctor suddenly pointed at Vi’s gauntlets.
“And those.”
Vi blinked. “What about them?”
The Doctor leaned forward with utter delight.
“Hydraulic amplification?” she guessed. “No wait, magnetic recoil stabilisers? Ohhh don’t tell me those run on some sort of energy conduction system.”
Vi slowly looked down at her gauntlets.
“…They punch things.”
The Doctor gasped softly like she’d just seen art.
“They punch things scientifically…Brilliant.”
Vi stared. “…I have no idea what half those words mean.”
Caitlyn stepped forward at last, patience visibly evaporating. “Enough!” Her voice cut cleanly through the chaos.
Immediately the Doctor stopped rambling.
Cait’s rifle remained lowered, but only barely.
“You arrived through an unknown spatial event that nearly destabilised the Hexgates,” Cait said sharply. “You appear inside a machine that should not physically exist, and neither of you have identified yourselves properly.”
The Doctor nodded politely. “Fair.”
“Start talking.”
The Doctor smiled brightly. “Right! I’m the Doctor.”
“…Doctor what?” Cait asked.
“Just the Doctor.”
Vi snorted quietly. “That’s suspicious as hell.”
“And this is Yaz.”
Yaz gave a tiny awkward wave. “Hi.”
Cait narrowed her eyes. “Where are you from?”
“Thirty-fourth century.”
Yaz looked at her.
“But also not really.” The Doctor immediately added:
Vi threw both hands up. “What does that even mean?!”
“It means time travel.”
Silence. Several enforcers exchanged looks.
Vi blinked slowly. “…Right.”
The Doctor pointed at her approvingly. “You’re handling this surprisingly well.”
“I grew up in Zaun,” Vi replied. “After a while weird just becomes Tuesday.”
The Doctor grinned. “Oh I like her,” the Doctor announced to Yaz.
“Please don’t adopt random people again.”
Vi frowned. “Again?”
“Long story.”
“How did you two get here?” Cait raised her voice, her patience wearing thin at this point.
“Right…good question. I would love to know the answer myself “Her eyes flicked toward the distant Hexgates. “Oh hold on…”
Before anyone could react she pulled the sonic from her coat and waived it around the space.
Cait moved instantly. Her rifle snapped upward aimed directly at the Doctor’s chest.
“Put that down.”
The enforcers all raised weapons simultaneously.
Yaz groaned quietly. “Doctor…”
Vi stared between the screwdriver and Cait’s rifle.
“…Wow, lady,” Vi muttered to the Doctor. “Read the room.”
“I am” The sonic whirred rapidly as she scanned the air, eyes widening more and more with every reading.
“I said put the weapon down!” Cait snapped, rifle aimed straight between the Doctor’s eyes.
The Doctor finally stopped scanning.
Slowly, she looked up at the gun.
For the briefest moment the manic excitement faded from her face.
“I really hate guns,” she said quietly.
Then she slowly lifted the sonic screwdriver
“And this isn’t one. It’s a sonic screwdriver. Bit of scanning, bit of computing, opens the occasional door, very multipurpose. Brilliant for flat-pack furniture.”
Yaz muttered under her breath, “Not helping.”
The Doctor ignored her completely, eyes still fixed on Cait.
“You want answers? So do I. Because your giant sparkly gateway thing out there just dragged my ship across universes.” She gestured toward the Hexgates. “Now either you let me finish the scan and we all get smarter… or we stand here pointing weapons at each other while reality potentially unravels in the background.”
A beat. Then, with a tiny offended frown “And honestly, I’d prefer the smarter option.”
Cait’s jaw tightened. The rifle never wavered.
“You expect me to simply trust you,” she said sharply, “after you crash through our Hexgates inside a machine that defies physical space?”
The Doctor shrugged lightly. “When you say it like that it sounds suspicious.”
“It is suspicious.”
“Fair.”
Vi was eyeing the sonic like it might explode.
“And how do we know that thing isn’t doing something else?” she asked. “For all we know you’re rigging the gates to blow up.”
The Doctor looked genuinely offended.
“Oh, if I were rigging them to blow up you’d know. There’d be much more running.”
Yaz pointed at her immediately. “Not helping. Again.”
The Doctor sighed dramatically.
“Right. Okay. Honesty. Good.” She held up the sonic between two fingers. “This scans energy, matter, dimensional structures, technology… and occasionally takeaway menus if I’m bored. That’s it.”
Vi narrowed her eyes. “You can scan takeaway menus?”
“Oh, across seven galaxies. Some excellent noodles out there.”
“Vi this isn’t helping.” Cait exhaled slowly, clearly fighting for patience. “You understand how this looks from our perspective.”
The Doctor’s expression softened slightly then.“Yeah,” she admitted. “I do.”
For a second the joking energy dropped away completely.
“You’ve got something dangerous happening with those gates,” she said, glancing toward the glowing towers in the distance. “And I know what it looks like when strangers arrive right before disaster. Believe me, I know.”
Cait studied her carefully.
The Doctor met her gaze without flinching.
Then Vi spoke again. “Still doesn’t explain why we should trust you.”
The Doctor looked between both of them.Then she smiled slightly. “Well…” she said softly, “I suppose we’ve all got the same problem. Because from where I’m standing, I’ve landed in a completely unknown universe surrounded by armed strangers with very impressive coats and extremely big guns.”
Vi snorted despite herself.
The Doctor pointed lightly between them all.
“So I guess we just have to trust each other.”
Cait remained still for another long moment, eyes fixed on the Doctor like she was trying to dismantle her layer by layer.
Around them the docks still crackled with residual energy from the Hexgates. Smoke drifted through the air while nervous enforcers kept their rifles trained.
Finally Cait lowered her weapon. “You get one scan,” she said firmly. “One. Then you’re coming with us.”
The Doctor’s entire face lit up.
“Oh, brilliant.”
Vi pointed a giant gauntlet finger ant her “If anything explodes, I’m blaming you first.”
“That’s very hurtful,” the Doctor replied while already lifting the sonic again. “Reasonable. But hurtful.”
Yaz muttered, “Can we maybe go one trip without nearly causing an international incident?”
“No.”
“Fantastic.”
The sonic whirred to life again. This time Cait watched every movement carefully but also couldn’t help being completely intrigued by the strange visitors.
The Doctor slowly turned in place as readings streamed across the sonic.
At first her expression was pure excitement.
“Ohhhh, this is clever,” she murmured. “Very clever.”
She pointed toward the Hexgates.
“You’re using crystal-based energy amplification to stabilise artificial spatial corridors…” Another scan. “But the crystals aren’t just conducting power. They’re responding.”
Vi frowned. “Responding to what?”
The Doctor tilted her head, listening almost.
“Everything.”
The sonic buzzed harder. The Doctor’s smile faded slightly. “That’s odd.”
Yaz immediately noticed. “What?”
“These readings…”
She scanned again.
The Hexgates flared in the distance with another pulse of electric blue light. The Doctor frowned deeper now.
“No… that can’t be right.”
Cait stepped closer. “What is it?”
The Doctor looked up. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Yaz repeated.
“I understand what the gates are doing mechanically,” the Doctor said quickly, pacing now as she thought aloud. “Energy conversion, dimensional folding, matter displacement, all of that makes sense.”
She pointed toward the towers again.
“But the actual power source…” Another frustrated scan. “It behaves like physics right up until the point where it absolutely shouldn’t.”
Vi blinked. “That sentence gave me a headache.”
The Doctor ignored her completely.
“It’s like…” she searched for the words, “…like reality here has different rules stitched underneath the normal ones.”
Cait’s eyes narrowed. “Magic.”
The Doctor immediately shook her head. “No such thing.”
Vi gave her a look. “Lady, your box is bigger on the inside.”
“That’s dimensional engineering.”
“You’ve got a magic wand.”
“Sonic screwdriver.”
“You time travel.”
“Perfectly sensible.”
Yaz coughed into her hand. “Debatable.”
The Doctor scanned once more, more slowly this time. The sonic emitted a low uneasy hum then stopped entirely. The Doctor stared at it.
“…Huh.”
Cait folded her arms. “That is not a reassuring sound.”
“No,” the Doctor admitted quietly.
For the first time since arriving, she looked genuinely unsettled.
“I know why the TARDIS came here,” she said slowly. “Your Hexgates punched through dimensional space hard enough to drag us across universes.”
Yaz looked alarmed. “Can they do that again?”
“That’s the problem.”
The Doctor looked toward the glowing towers in the distance.
“I don’t know if they already are.”
“That’s it” Cait lost her patience “You’re coming with us,” she said.
The Doctor tilted her head. “Are we under arrest?”
“That depends what you are.”
“Oh, I never know how to answer that question.”
Cait ignored the remark and nodded toward the TARDIS.
“And this box will be confiscated until we understand exactly what’s happening.”
“Tell me you have a plan?” Yaz shot at the Doctor as they were being escorted
“Working on it.”
Behind her, several enforcers stared nervously at the blue police box.
One of them muttered “…How do we move this thing?”
“Good luck with that.” Vi smirked
“Can we get some food?” Doctor asked “I’m a bit peckish”
….