The Stockbridge Child (comic story)

Part 1 (The Stockbridge Child)
The TARDIS lands in Stockbridge. Majenta asks the Doctor why they aren't on Panacea, and the Doctor explains that the TARDIS doesn't take orders very well. They walk into the village, and see the citizens in fancy dress celebrating and drinking punch. The Doctor looks up at a banner to see that the citizens are celebrating Aurelia, rather than Christmas, and is taken aback.

Suddenly, the Doctor's old companion Maxwell Edison appears, protesting about Khrysalis. The village citizens get angry, approach Max, and throw numerous weapons at him. The Doctor helps Max to his feet. Max begins to recognize the Doctor after such a long time, but then Majenta, Max and the Doctor quickly run away and hide in a shop, as the village citizens chase them.

Inside the shop, the Doctor greets Max, and they remind each other of nostalgic moments of their adventures. Majenta interrupts, but Max tells the Doctor that there is a terrible threat to Stockbridge. He explains that Khrysalis was a company that had set up a building project, but that nothing had happened to it in over a year. Max had started a protest group called the SPS to protest against the building, but over time it's members had drifted away.

Majenta tells Max that she and the Doctor can't get involved with the situation because she has employed him, but the Doctor ignores this and they drive towards the site. Majenta heads off to look around the offices, while Max and the Doctor enter the site. Inside, they realise that Khrysalis has been digging a large hole down, as the Doctor notices claw marks. Suddenly, a withered old man named Geoffrey Lynch and several construction workers appear, startling Max. The Doctor shows him his psychic paper, but Lynch sees through it. The Doctor then puts the Gruvidian National Anthem on his psychic paper. This knocks out Lynch and his construction workers, as Max and the Doctor escape.

Meanwhile, Majenta is looking through the Khrysalis offices, and she finds a file of suspicious information. Suddenly, a revolver is pointed at her head. Elsewhere, Max and the Doctor are running away from Lynch and his workmen, when they fall down a trapdoor, and land at the bottom. There they find some decayed corpses, which Max identifies as members of the SPS. The Doctor and Max try to escape, but are cornered by Lynch and his workmen.

Back in the offices, Majenta has been held at gunpoint by He and his husband She. Majenta points out to them that their accounting is of a terrible standard, listing all the errors in their work, such as lack of projections for fourth quarter growth. He explains that this is because the Earth will never have a fourth quarter, and shoots Majenta.

Elsewhere, Lynch introduces his workmen as creatures called Wyrrmen. These Wyrrmen suddenly mutate into fearsome monsters, and surround the Doctor and Max. The Wyrrmen fire bright yellow beams at Max, who transforms into a glowing, white-eyed entity, who silences the Doctor, telling Lynch to "Tell mother and father... I live!"

Characters

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Majenta Pryce
 * Wyrrmen
 * Mr. Lynch
 * Mrs. Porter
 * Maxwell Edison
 * He
 * She
 * The Lokhus

Continuity

 * Maxwell Edison returns having been a companion of the Fifth and Eighth Doctors.
 * The Doctor mentions that Cardiff and London are centres of activity for aliens - an in joke at the number of alien invasions in Torchwood and the current Doctor Who TV series respectively.
 * The Doctor refers to the Celestial Toymaker and his role in the story End Game.
 * Mention of the Shadow Proclamation and Intersol.
 * The Doctor asks about Izzy Sinclair and it's mentioned that she is travelling.
 * The Lokhus is from the After-Universe.