The Good Companion (comic story)

 was the fifth story (sixth counting COMIC: The Lost Dimension: The Tenth Doctor) of the third year of Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor, published in 2017 and 2018.

Part 1
In New York City, Cleopatra Hunsicker is running through an alleyway, avoiding being shot by a man. Cleo sneaks up behind him and puts a gun to his head. She takes a device from him, telling him that his shimmer is leaking. She disables the shimmer, revealing the man to be a Graske. The Graske is then killed by a Time Sentinel as Cleo escapes. She scans the device to find out what it is. After the scan completes, Cleo is shocked and attempts to ring the Doctor.

On Zhe's private moon, above Ouloumos, Zhe Ikiyuyu is speaking with Gabby Gonzalez, who is now her apprentice. The Doctor is attempting to repair Marcie while the binary apprentice offers them refreshments. The Doctor says that he won't be able to repair Marcie without a Xenobian matter-phase transmuter. Cindy persuades him to take a short trip in the TARDIS to get one.

The Doctor and Cindy land on Mechma Onzlo III Station, and the Doctor asks Onzlo if he has anything to repair Marcie with. He then asks if Onzlo is okay, since he doesn't look alright. Onzlo explains that his wife Marteek has "changed", saying she is an imposter. The Doctor goes to speak with her, telling Cindy and Onzlo to try look for a transmuter. The Doctor walks up to Marteek, who is standing on a round spacecraft. The Doctor tells her of Onzlo's suspicions, and asks to scan her just to reassure him. Marteek walks into the craft, and tells the Doctor that Onzlo's suspicions were correct, before closing the door. The Doctor runs away as the craft lifts off the ground and chases them, making a sound similar to the TARDIS. Cindy and the Doctor escape in the TARDIS, and Cindy asks him what the craft was. The Doctor guesses it was a chameleon device or a time engine, saying that Marcie tried to tell him about it the last time he was on the station, but he dismissed it. As they track Marteek through the Time Vortex, Cindy tells him she got the transmuter he wanted.

On Aramuko, Noobis is walking with Siffhoni. He tells her that he sent a telepathic message to the Doctor, and that he'd come to Aramuko once he receives it. Despite this, Siffhoni continues to believe that the Doctor, Gabby and Cindy are figments of his imagination.

Back on Zhe's moon, Zhe ends that day's training lesson with Gabby. Gabby walks away and asks the female apprentice whether she had seen the Doctor or Cindy. The apprentice tells her that they had left in the TARDIS, shocking Gabby. She almost loses control of her powers, but Zhe helps her bring them under control. Gabby and Zhe talk for a while, before Gabby leaves while Zhe waits behind to order food.

In the Vortex, the Doctor receives a signal from Cleo. She asks him to come and check the details of the artifact she found, but the Doctor doesn't want to lose Marteek. Eventually he reluctantly agrees, and goes to meet with Cleo. He inspects the artifact, and comes to the same conclusion as Cleo. Cindy asks what the matter is, and the Doctor and Cleo explains that the artifact contains information that Earth will cease to exist within a matter of days. Cindy says that they had seen a future where the Earth survived, but the Doctor explains that the future had been changed and that Earth is going to die.

On Zhe's moon, Gabby is walking alone, talking to herself. She hears a voice, and turns around to see Cindy and the Doctor standing there. They tell her to go with them. Zhe goes to find Gabby, and sees what appears to be the TARDIS. She hears Gabby yelling, and turns to see her being restrained by two Time Sentinels, no longer in their disguises. Zhe dodges an attack from the Sentinels. Gabby tries to tell her to warn the Doctor as she is pulled into the "TARDIS", which flies into the sky, revealing itself as the Red TARDIS.

Part 2
In a red void, Gabby is confronted by Ood Sigma who encourages her to not to trust "them" and to believe in herself and the Doctor. Opening her eyes, Gabby finds that the red is Aspect Red who welcomes her to the Time Sentinels' base of operations, declaring that she will be saved from the Doctor.

Ever the pragmatist, Cindy suggests jumping forward a few days to see how Earth will die and figure out how to undo it only for the Doctor to decide that the box, while genuine, is a trap. And given all the recent chaos they've been dealing with, the Doctor is sure that it's just one part of a much larger design. It's then that a call comes in from Noobis, forcing Cindy to catch Cleo up on the Osirian's change of heart and memory loss. Suspecting that they're being tested, the Doctor decides against walking directly into the trap and instead opts to try and have their foe reveal themselves.

At the base, Gabby is furious. Less so at the kidnapping, or intervention as the Sentinels have chosen to label it, and more that the Time Sentinels have decided to conscript the Red TARDIS, noting that it's a monster that wants to consume all reality. Aspect Blue assures her that they've leashed the Red TARDIS before the Sentinels explain their issue. Recently, the Doctor has cauterized a potential timeline. However, as is the Doctor, the Time Sentinels find him lacking in subtlety. And without any Time Lords, they have to clean up the Time Vortex. The Guiding Aspect, the Cardinal Guardian of the Time Lock, has allowed the Sentinels to use whatever resources required for the mission. With that, Red and Blue strike Gabby with pink lightning, burrowing into her mind.

As the TARDIS hurtles through time, Cindy registers calls coming in from all across the time zones, the Doctor forcing her to ignore them, confident that they're being manipulated. The TARDIS soon touches down on Aramuko with Cleo's presence triggering more of Noobis' memories, and leading Cleo to ask what became of Dorothy Bell. With relative peace, the Doctor asks for a cup of tea so they can compare notes.

As more lightning strikes her, the Sentinels explain to Gabby that, despite all the good he does, the Doctor's actions create ripples. And those ripples could, in theory, damage the time lock surrounding the Last Great Time War. To prevent this, the Sentinels have created a timeline where Earth is destroyed, planning to trap the Doctor inside when he goes to investigate. However, the Doctor refuses to enter the timeline and they want Gabby to act as the new lure. As Gabby points out however, Earth is home to several fixed points in time and destroying it could cause catastrophic damage to the timeline. Unamused, the Sentinels knock her down and begin communing. Realizing that their gambit has been found, Aspect Red drops all subtlety and tracks the Doctor down to Aramuko, opting for a more overt strategy.

On Aramuko, Cindy and Cleo catch up and discuss how travelling in the TARDIS changes people. As the topic moves onto unrequited romance, they find solace in each other. Concurrently, the Doctor and Siffhoni tend to Noobis, with Siffhoni being very interested in learning more about the Doctor's travels and character.

Suddenly, Cindy's cry grabs both their attention and everyone runs to the balcony to see a red vortex encroaching on the planet.

Part 3
to be added

Part 4
to be added

Characters

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Gabby Gonzalez
 * Cindy Wu
 * Cleopatra Hunsicker
 * Noobis
 * Zhe Ikiyuyu
 * Binary apprentice
 * Onzlo
 * Marteek
 * Time Sentinels
 * Aspect Red
 * Aspect Blue
 * Aspect White
 * Aspect Grey-Seventeen
 * Graske
 * The Moment
 * Twelfth Doctor

Continuity

 * The Time Sentinels make a reference to Aspect Black, who was a solo operative, like the Doctor. (COMIC: The Tides of Time)
 * The Moment takes on the form of Ood Sigma. (TV: Planet of the Ood et al.)
 * The Moment takes the form of Bad Wolf and is leading the Doctor on a path to save Gallifrey. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
 * Due to her time sensitivity, Gabby knows that the Doctor is going to save Gallifrey. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
 * The Twelfth Doctor is not much of a "hugger" like his past incarnations. (TV: Deep Breath et al.)
 * The Twelfth Doctor later becomes a "hugger" (TV: The Magician's Apprentice et al.)