The Fractures (comic story)

 was the third story of the Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor comic story series published in 2015.

Summary
Molly's father was killed in a terrible accident. UNIT scientist John Foster suffered the same fate. But are they really gone? Both play a part in the universe-hopping new arc! The Doctor and Clara race against time to both stop a dreaded new peril – the Fractures – in a bid to stop reality unravelling around them.

Part one
Kate Stewart is visiting Hannah Foster in her home. They discuss the recent death of Hannah’s husband, Paul Foster, who used to work for UNIT at the Tower of London. Paul had died in a car crash which the rest of the family survived. Kate mentions Paul’s unfinished projects, and asks if Hannah knows anything about the passwords and encryption-shields he used to conceal his work. Meanwhile, Hannah’s daughter Molly is sitting in the garden when what appears to be a ribbon flies past. It moves about, spelling out the words ‘follow me’. Molly follows the ribbon to the garden wall. When the ribbon reshapes itself to say ‘pull me’, Molly pulls on it and a portal opens up. A man in a jumpsuit jumps through. He unmasks, revealing himself to be her father Paul.

On an unknown planet, the Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald are facing off against a horde of monsters led by Captain Van Volk. When the Doctor activates an artificial gravity core from a Darkstar warpship, Van Volk and his Reivers are pulled towards it and rendered immobile. The Doctor then calls the Judoon to arrest the criminals before boarding the TARDIS to take Clara back to Coal Hill School in time for her to teach an English class. Before they can go to the school, the TARDIS detects a space-time emergency that requires urgent attention.

In the Fosters’ garden, Paul is talking to Molly in a small play-house. He persuades her not to tell anyone else that she’s seen him.

At The Tower, UNIT are struggling to shut down a reality gate which is out of control. Kate orders that the base be sealed from Level 7 down, trapping her inside. The Doctor arrives before this can happen, closing the gate with his sonic screwdriver. He criticises UNIT for their “cack-handed” attempt at bridging between dimensions. He says that instead of leading from one dimension to another, UNIT’s gate leads to the centre of the Void, and if left open much longer could have destroyed the world. Kate reveals that the gate was a project being overseen by Paul Foster. The Doctor and Clara leave so that the Doctor can check for any “lasting damage” to reality which might have been caused by opening the gate.

Somewhere in London, Daryll Hackett is on the phone to his personal assistant Melanie. He tells her to fire his employee Dave, who has not been hitting sales targets. He drops a coin into a crack in the pavement, and when he bends down to pick it up an abstract red shape swooshes up from the crack and engulfs him. He appears to be sucked into the crack, leaving his money on the pavement’s surface.

At Coal Hill School, Clara speaks to Lisa Foster after class. Lisa says her Dad’s death still doesn’t feel real, and Clara reassures her that things eventually will get better.

At Hackett Property Services, Dave is furious when hearing he has been fired. He demands to see Daryll, but Melanie tells him Daryll isn’t in. Dave insists that he is, and to Melanie’s surprise they see Daryll in his office. When the two walk in Daryll shakes Dave’s hand, and begins to warp and wrap around Dave’s arm. Melanie screams, and a blue glow emanates throughout the building.

Clara is continuing her talk with Lisa when the TARDIS materialises in the girls’ toilets. The Doctor emerges and Clara introduces him to Lisa. He hands them both a pair of extra-dimensional glasses.

Hannah notices her daughter Molly is taking her father’s clothes up the garden. As she goes downstairs to investigate the doorbell rings. She opens the door to see Daryll Hackett, Dave and Melanie, whose faces are etched with intricate black tendrils. They introduce themselves as The Fractures. The Fracture inhabiting Daryll’s body informs Hannah that her household has broken the laws of reality, and that accordingly she has forfeited her right to live.

Part two
Commander Potter and another UNIT scientist are examining the broken reality gate, attempting to detect any breaches in reality. When a rupture appears above them the two scientists are hijacked by the Fracture. Now occupying the bodies of the scientists, the Fracture radios Kate and tells her everything is under control.

At the Foster residence, Hannah races to the garden to find Molly so they can escape from the Fracture. She discovers Paul in the play-house and becomes afraid, telling Molly to get away from him. Paul tells her not to be afraid, and that he’s come from an alternate universe where Hannah, Molly and Lisa died in the car crash but he survived. Hannah calls him an imposter and threatens to call the police. After she dials 999, the Fractures arrive and disable Hannah’s phone.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor explains that he’s detected an energy signature at the Fosters’ house and is taking Clara and Lisa there to investigate. When they arrive Lisa sees the front door open and runs through to the garden. She’s grabbed by the Fracture-possessed Dave. Paul bargains for his daughter's life, telling the Fracture to take him and leave his family alone. The Fracture insists that Paul has marked them with the Void, and that their existence is unravelling as a result. Clara then hits Paul with the garden swing and he releases Lisa. The Doctor faces the Fracture inhabiting Daryll and tells it to leave the Earth and go back to its own reality. The Fractures explain that they come from the Void and seek to destroy any being which threatens to damage the barriers between universes. Deducing that the Fractures must navigate a physical universe through a kind of sonar sensing (since they cannot experience typical sensations of touch, smell, sound, etc), the Doctor disorients the Fractures with a sonic charge. While they are distracted, the Doctor leads everyone from the garden to the TARDIS. On the way, the Fracture inhabiting Dave chases them across the road, where his is hit by a double decker bus. Without a host, the Fracture tries to latch onto one of the Fosters, Clara or the Doctor, but they make it to the TARDIS and dematerialise in time.

The TARDIS lands in Clara's living room. There, the Doctor explains to the Fosters that Paul has come from another universe into their own universe. Paul explains that in his universe it was his family that died in the car crash and him that survived. He tells them that UNIT recovered a Cyberman reality gate which was destroyed during Battle of Canary Wharf, and that he'd secretly begun to restore it. After sending drones through the Void which were programmed to detect the DNA of his family, Paul stepped through the Void and reached the universe in which his family were still alive.

When his explanation is finished, Paul’s children attempt to hug him. The Doctor stops them, saying it might be unsafe. Using his extra-dimensional glasses, the Doctor sees that Paul’s jump-suit is contaminated with void-energy, and he theorises that this is how the Fractures were able to track him. The Doctor suspects that the Fractures will stop at nothing to destroy Paul, who they perceive as a threat to the structural integrity of the multiverse, and he suggests that the best solution would be to hand Paul over to them. He then hands Clara his sonic screwdriver, which is set to act as a sonic disruptor, and tells Clara he has to get as far away as possible.

The driver of the bus that ran over Dave is revealed to have been occupied by a Fracture, and the Fractures are now inhabiting the bodies of everyone who has since boarded the bus.

Part three
The Doctor banishes the Fractures back to where they came from, marking himself as their mortal enemy. However, he does manage to let Paul stay in N-Space with his family.

Characters

 * Twelfth Doctor
 * Clara Oswald
 * Kate Stewart
 * Paul Foster
 * Hannah Foster
 * Lisa Foster
 * Molly Foster

Original print details
to be added

Continuity

 * The Doctor refers to humanity as "pudding brains". (TV: Deep Breath et al)
 * Lisa references the Doctor serving as Coal Hill School's caretaker. (TV: The Caretaker)
 * The Doctor wears 3D glasses. (TV: Army of Ghosts)
 * Clara jokes that none of her pupils are giving her requests for extra homework. (TV: The Caretaker)
 * Potter remarks that Osgood is away and that she'd be devastated at missing the Doctor, especially since she replaced her scarf with a bow tie. (TV: The Day of the Doctor, Death in Heaven)
 * The Doctor uses a strand of Clara's hair for a scientific test. (TV: Deep Breath)
 * Paul Foster is able to travel from his universe into this one because he reverse-engineered the gate destroyed during the Battle of London in 2007. (TV: Army of Ghosts, Doomsday)
 * Clara is surprised Hannah knows about her relationship with Danny Pink. She learnt it in playground gossip from Lisa. (TV: The Caretaker, In the Forest of the Night)
 * The Doctor saves Clara and the Fosters from a crashing bus by flying the TARDIS alongside the doors and having them jump in. The Tenth Doctor pulled off a similar feat to save Donna Noble. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * The Doctor gives Kate a Shreeker sonic cannon, which he says he got from Brooklyn. (COMIC: Echo)
 * The Doctor continues to be apprehensive about hugging. (TV: Deep Breath, Listen)