Mystery Date (comic story)

Mystery Date was the ninth issue of Prisoners of Time, and featured the Ninth Doctor and his companion Rose Tyler. It was in this issue that the identity of the villainous cloaked figure was revealed to be Adam Mitchell, who was thrown out of the TARDIS by the Ninth Doctor in TV: The Long Game.

Publisher's summary
Our yearlong celebration of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary continues! The Ninth Doctor takes the spotlight in this issue of a 12-part epic adventure featuring all 11 incarnations of the Doctor, with fan-favourite companion Rose Tyler in tow! Plus: Who has been kidnapping the Doctor's companions? The Doctor's mysterious enemy revealed!

Plot
In the TARDIS, Rose Tyler is on the phone with her mother, letting her know that she's safe. The Ninth Doctor is slightly frustrated that Rose keeps calling her mother, to which Rose replies that it keeps her from smacking him. The Doctor asks her if she is implying that he is afraid of her. Rose replies "Yes", to which he replies that she is right.

At that point, the TARDIS lands. The Doctor says that because Rose is always asking him to take her to more scenic places, he has taken her to a monument to Drake Ayelbourne of Altair VII, the wealthiest man in the outer rim of the galaxy. Rose says she's never heard of him, to which the Doctor replies that people like Howard Hughes, Bill Gates, and Scrooge McDuck are "peasants" in comparison. He explains that Drake spent nearly a third of his fortune on building a "tribute to his own ego", all so that he would not be forgotten. He then spent another third on the security system surrounding the whole planet so that no-one could steal or damage anything. Rose asks how people can remember him if they cannot visit the monument. The Doctor points out the official viewing satellite, which is in geosynchronous orbit, the only way for anyone to get a look at the place - unless, like the Doctor, they have a TARDIS. Reservations for the viewing satellites are backed up for decades, from what the Doctor has heard. He and Rose are the first people to set foot on the planet in 150 years (give or take).

As the Doctor tells Rose not to go wandering off, a man inside the tomb, looking at Rose on a screen, says "Bring her to me." At that point Rose falls down a hole. As the Doctor runs after her, annoyed that he took his eyes off her for one minute and she got herself into trouble, the cloaked figure watches him.

Rose falls down a chute into an empty room, where a large robot on caterpillar tracks knocks her unconscious and picks her up, taking her away. The robot brings her into a room where the man who told the robot to bring her to him is. There are other robots in the room too. The man tells the robot to put her on the couch, and says she is beautiful. He looks at the Doctor on the screen, who is trying to find Rose, but just as he is about to give the robots a command, Rose wakes up and asks where she is. The man tells her she is in his home. Rose is surprised, since no one is meant to be living here, but the man introduces himself as Drake Ayelbourne.

He revealed that his monument was not a tribute to his ego, but to his deceased wife, Eleanora. He told Rose that she reminded him of Eleanora and that seeing her had made him realise he had been alone for too long. But when the Doctor arrived to collect Rose, she turned down Drake's offer to stay with him and he reverted to his true form and blew up the building. They encountered the cloaked figure who reveals to be Adam Mitchell.

To be completed.

Characters

 * Ninth Doctor
 * Rose Tyler
 * Drake Ayelbourne
 * Adam Mitchell
 * Neal Shaw

Continuity

 * Adam reveals to the Ninth Doctor that he excavated Henry Van Statten's Vault in order to obtain Cyberman technology. (TV: Dalek)
 * Adam found photographs of the Doctor at the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Daniels family in 1912. (TV: Rose) He is also aware of the Doctor and Rose's presence during the Blitz. (TV: The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances)
 * Adam owns a copy of the book A Journal of Impossible Things. (TV: Human Nature, The End of Time)