Dead-line (comic story)

Dead-line was a Doctor Who Adventures comic story featuring the Tenth Doctor and Heather McCrimmon. It marked the end of the Doctor's travels with Heather, and saw the return of the Mozhattra, which featured in Heather's first story.

Summary
Returning Heather to Edinburgh University so she can attend one of Professor Bailey’s tutorials, the Tenth Doctor heads off to the canteen to kill some time. Heather finds the Professor tied up, and the students possessed by an old enemy, the Mozhtratta, whom she met when she first met the Doctor.

Mozhtratta wasn’t destroyed but weakened long enough to plan his revenge. Heather is restrained and tied to ReCohesion Cannon. The Mozhtratta had fed for centuries on the residual vortex radiation buried in Heather's family DNA. Now the Mozhtratta plans to engage the atom ray and drain the rest of the energy.

In the canteen the Doctor is surprised to see Heather, but she doesn’t see him and walks past,straight through a wall. The Doctor notices that Heathers hair is again long and she looks like she did when he first met her. The Doctor picks up strange readings from the wall where, according to the dinner lady, there used to be a door until a few months ago.

As the Doctor races off he sees Heather again. The ‘echo’ of Heather guides the Doctor towards where she is tied up. The Mozhtratta is delighted that the Doctor has arrived because he is an even stronger source of vortex radiation, with all his lives to feed upon. However, before the Mozhtratta can act, the Doctor leaps forward and turns the ReCohesion Canon on him. The Mozhtratta is consumed –banged up inside his own DNA. The shockwave knocks everybody out with no memory of what has happened to them.

Checking Heather over with the sonic screwdriver the Doctor tells her that the canon has jiggled about her molecules, breaking down her body's natural defence against vortex radiation. It means she will never again be able to travel in the TARDIS. They say a found farewell. Heather thanks the Doctor for her time travelling and looks forward to him popping back like a bad penny.

Characters

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Heather McCrimmon
 * Mozhtratta
 * Rob

Original print details
(Publication with page count and closing captions)
 * 1) DWA 152 (4 pages) NEXT WEEK! Danger from beneath the ice!

Reprints

 * None to date

Continuity

 * The Tenth Doctor is seen wearing his brown coat and suit.
 * The Tenth Doctor uses his Sonic screwdriver to follow a trace signal for Heather and to eventually scan her for vortex radiation damage.
 * Heather's old university friend. Rob. is seen for the fourth and final time