Everyone Must Go! (comic story)

This story has not yet been fully published. Please exercise caution in asserting any more than is actually present in the narrative so far. Be aware that certain facts which appear to be true may not be true once the story is completely published.

Everyone Must Go!
Doctor:	Fifteenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Ruby Sunday
Main enemy:	The Scream Sommelier
Main setting:	Sanctum Shopping & Dining, Earth, 29th century
Key crew
Publisher:	Titan Publishing
Editor:	Jake Devine
Writer:	Dan Watters
Artist:	Kelsey Ramsay
Colourist:	Valentina Bianconi
Letterer:	Richard Starkings
Release details
Printed in:	15D 1 - 4
Release date:	3 July 2024
Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor
← Previous	Untitled

Everyone Must Go! was the story that made up the entirety of Titan Publishing's Doctor Who: The Fifteenth Doctor miniseries.

As such, it starred the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday, and also featured the Titan Comics return of the Cybermen. Although depicted with a new design, however, these Cybermen soon turned out to be illusions created by a greater power, tying in with the Pantheon storyline of the Fifteenth Doctor's televised tenure.

Publisher’s summary

Part 1 blurb

The Doctor is a Time Lord, traversing through time and space in his trusty TARDIS. He helps those in need wherever, and whenever, he can. Able to regenerate when close to death, the Doctor has lived many lives, been on countless adventures, and known many losses. Following a mysterious scream through the space-time vortex, the Doctor and Ruby discover a Cyber-gauntlet in England, 1739. The alien artifact has been programmed with coordinates. Suspecting a trap, the time travelers decide to investigate…

Part 2 blurb

The Doctor is a Time Lord, traversing through time and space in his trusty TARDIS. He helps those in need wherever, and whenever, he can. Able to regenerate when close to death, the Doctor has lived many lives, been on countless adventures, and known many losses. Arriving at the last shopping mall on Earth in the far future, the Doctor and Ruby find they are not alone. While remaining humans shuffle about their business, the time travelers encounter a battalion of Cybermen lurking in the basement. But who is the mysterious Sommelier and what are the insectoid creatures hiding in the shadows?

Part 3 blurb

The Doctor is a Time Lord, traversing through time and space in his trusty TARDIS. He helps those in need wherever, and whenever, he can. Able to regenerate when close to death, the Doctor has lived many lives, been on countless adventures, and known many losses. Be afraid! The dark god known as the Scream Sommelier collects screams. But what he most wants is the scream of a Time Lord. As the Doctor and his new friend Maria try to evade the Cybermen, Ruby joins forces with the insect species known as the Cancaranka. But Ruby is horrified to learn that the TARDIS seems to have dematerialized, leaving her abandoned.

Part 4

to be added

Plot

Part 1

A little girl, clutching a teddy bear, waits alone, scared, in an industrial looking room. Here eyes widen as a shadow approaches, closer and closer. She puts her hand over her mouth.

In the Doctor's TARDIS, Ruby finishes telling the Doctor about a recurring nightmare she'd have about being lost and alone in a shopping centre, only reminded of said dream as the Doctor said they were going shopping, following Dick Turpin's cyber-gauntlet trail. He worries it may be creepy, as it's empty and abandoned; closing down. Ruby finds a sign with "Everyone must go" written on it, believing it to be a mistake. The Doctor explains the 29th century solar flare problem that causes humanity to leave for the stars - the Sanctum Shopping & Dining being the last shopping mall abandoned by Earth. Eventually however, they find the shopping centre isn't quite as abandoned as they thought as they come across shoppers.

The Doctor introduces himself to Bruce Cotton and asks why everyone stayed behind. He reveals that he didn't trust the evacuation as they flew up where there is no air and that eventually they'll fall out of the sky. After Bruce leaves to find a scarf to buy, the local Sommelier gets their attention and offers them a drink. They decline, become acquainted and then walk off to do shopping, not needing to pay as money doesn't exist anymore and everything running on automatic. The cyber-gauntlet still bothers the Doctor, not seeing any clear origin point for it. Before heading to the lower levels, they try out difference outfits, with the Doctor now adoring a familiar multi-coloured scarf. However a solar storm hits, putting the mall in sleep mode. They use the opportunity to explore the lower levels.

They find their way to the basement level when the stumble across a little girl. When trying to talk to her, she won't speak back. Ruby begins hearing a voice, a voice coming from the Sommelier telling her to remember her recurring dream. As Ruby tries to tell the Doctor, his attention is being given to the little girl, and while he assures her that everything will be okay, Cybermen creep up behind them. Ruby notices them and warns the Doctor, who picks up the girl and runs with Ruby. The Doctor fills Ruby in on what Cybermen are as they give chase, firing blasts at the now trio. A Cyberman cuts Ruby off, forcing her to run elsewhere. Alone, she tells herself that despite the voices and the Cybermen, it surely can't get any worse. In the darkness, unseen by her, large insect-like creatures are watching her.

Part 2

The Sommelier's attention is on Bruce Cotton, who's fear of heights is the reason he didn't get on a ship away from Earth. The Sommelier plays with the mall's automation, turning all the lights red, indicating to Bruce that a fuse has broken in the temperature regulator and could kill everyone inside. The fuse, needing to be repaired immediately, is at the very top of the building. Shaking in fear, Bruce makes his way up and crosses the maintenance bridge, fixing the problem. Disappointed with the results, the Sommelier collapses the bridge. He lets out a scream, and the Sommelier bottles it. Just about content with the addition to the collection, he'd much rather have the scream of a Time Lord.

The Cybermen have stopped firing at the Doctor which makes him suspicious. He asks the girl to close her eyes and reassure her that they won't hurt her and that they'll disappear. The Cybermen do disappear leaving a mist behind, annoying the Sommelier. The Doctor realises someone's trying to scare him and goes to look for Ruby.

Ruby shouts for the Doctor, before the insects make themselves known as Cancaranka, and they're scared that they've been found. Ruby assures them that she's safe as she's met several other species. They show themselves physically, as towering insectoids.

Back up in the mall, the Doctor drops off the girl and learns her name is Maria from her necklace. However everyone's attention is on the body of Bruce Cotton, surprising everyone as he was high up where he was afraid of. He asks around hoping to find Maria's adults but everyone ignores them as she isn't their problem. The Sommelier tells Maria that she knows who she's meant to be with and that she should scream it from the top of her lungs. She covers her mouth in refusal. Cybermen start marching into the upper levels of the mall. The Doctor tells everyone that they aren't real and can't hurt them. But one Cyberman fires, and kills a woman. The Doctor tells everyone to run.

Lifting Maria up, he runs into the TARDIS to keep her safe. He speaks to himself trying to figure out the rules and why someone's trying to use the Cybermen to scare him. He takes off, hoping to land where Ruby is using her key.

Ruby speaks to the Cancaranka, as they explain to her that they travel to dead and abandoned planets but upon finding a human populace within the walls retreated to the lowest levels. Ruby assures them there's plenty of room in the upper levels for them to co-exists but they're scared of the being squatted and squashed. The TARDIS begins to materialise, but with a snap of the Sommelier's fingers, the TARDIS disappears again.

The Doctor is surprised they're back where they started, with the Sommelier being pleased with himself. His expression changes when the Doctor speaks to him directly, knowing he's out there. In a yellowish green area, surrounded by ghostly Cybermen figures, the Sommelier introduces himself as the Scream Sommelier and asks him what he's scared of the most.

Part 3

The scene changes to grey, the Doctor stood in a shallow ocean of red. He tells the Sommelier that he can lose the teeth and fangs, figuring out that he won't kill him as he needs him scared, not dead. He finds it rude that the Sommelier has dragged him to a pocket dimension and promises bigger and scarier than whoever he's tried it on before. The Sommelier leaves, promising to check on him in a few thousand years. Walking back into the TARDIS, he assures Maria she's safe and gets to work, taking out a toolkit.

Back at Sanctum, Ruby assures them that while they might take some getting used to, the humans will eventually come to realise they don't mean any harm, and while they don't have to go up, she thinks it's a better idea. In the upper levels, the humans discuss the aftermath of the Cyber attack that left six dead and pin the blame on the strangers that just arrived. They summon the help of Sanctum Security Team, security robots.

The Doctor lifts up the faceplates of one of the Cybermen, revealing that inside of them is potentiality which is what powers them. As he tries to figure out a plan to get back, he wonders to himself why the Sommelier is using the image of the Cybermen. Maria plays with the controls and gets the screen working again to look outside. Falling off the console, she covers her mouth while the Sommelier smiles.

Ruby gets to the upper levels with the insects but before she gets a chance to do anything, the humans order the security to get them out of the mall. They panic, Ruby shouting for the Doctor. The Sommelier pleasantly surprised as this wasn't planned by him.

Back in the Sommelier's domain, the Doctor has hooked up all the fake Cybermen to the TARDIS to try and power it with ideas. Activating it, the TARDIS struggles to take off. Back at the mall, Ruby tries to fight against the security robots, warning them that taking them outside will kill them as there is no police and the outside world is totally inhospitable. One woman starts to doubt whether they are doing the right thing and should at least save her. The doors open and the Cancaranka are fried. The Doctor trying to lock onto Ruby needs a psychic signal boost, receives one when Ruby lets out a scream. The TARDIS lands by the doors, saving Ruby, while the robots melt. Ruby drops to her knees, pained that she let the insects down trying to be like the Doctor.

The Doctor claims to know how to stop the Sommelier, but he takes Maria telling the Doctor he knows that losing scares him. The Doctor finds the teddy on the floor, and realises Maria is gone.

Characters

• Bruce Cotton
• Fifteenth Doctor
• Maria
• The Scream Sommelier
• Ruby Sunday

Worldbuilding

• The Scream Sommelier's domain is a fear dimension which runs on the rules of potentiality.

29th century

• Earth is plagued by solar storms which punch holes in the ionoshpere and make the planet uninhabitable.
• Money is no longer used.

Sanctum Shopping & Dining

• A Magpie Electricals is among the stores.
• Other stores include one that sell sockets, one that sells shoes, a department store.
• There's a food court with a burger joint and twenty-seven coffee shops.
• The mall's food is made from molecularly reconfigured waste protein; stuff like insects, skin cells, and fingernail clippings.

Clothing

• Maria wears a necklace that bears her name.

Notes

• Part 1 of this comic story was meant to release on 26 June 2024, but due to Issue 1 being delayed from said date to 3 July 2024 due to shipping issues,, it meant that the first part of the comic story was also delayed.
• Part 2 also suffered a delay. Issue 2 of the run had originally been scheduled for 31 July 2024, but was last-minute shifted to a release date of 14 August 2024 for unknown reasons.

Continuity

• The story picks up from where the untitled Free Comic Book Day 2024 story ^[+]Loading...["Untitled (FCBD2024 comic story)","the untitled Free Comic Book Day 2024 story"] left off, with the Doctor and Ruby discovering the origin of the time displaced Cyber-gauntlet that Dick Turpin was wielding in 1739.
• The Doctor and Ruby are wearing the outfits that they wore for the majority of TV: The Church on Ruby Road ^[+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"] and the entirety of TV: Space Babies ^[+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"]. One of the outfits the Doctor tries on in the mall also appears to be the same one he wore on 23 December in the former.
• The Doctor calls gravity "mavity", continuing the running joke that began on television with TV: Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"], and continued into the Fifteenth Doctor's first TV season, as well as other stories outwith.
• One of the shops inside the mall is Magpie Electricals, the radio and television shop first introduced in TV: The Idiot's Lantern ^[+]Loading...["The Idiot's Lantern (TV story)"].
• Most of humanity have left Earth by the 29th century to evade increased solar storms, as shown in TV: The Beast Below ^[+]Loading...["The Beast Below (TV story)"].
• Ruby is still becoming accustomed to the TARDIS translation circuit, which she first learned about in TV: Space Babies ^[+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"].
• The Doctor says that he has met things like the Scream Sommelier before, "once or twice", referring to TV: The Giggle ^[+]Loading...["The Giggle (TV story)"] and TV: The Devil's Chord ^[+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"].
• The Doctor mentions the Chuldur, first seen in TV: Rogue ^[+]Loading...["Rogue (TV story)"].

External links

to be added