Picture the scene: four women, one man, one boy, one city, one sword and one angry dragon of ancient mythology brought to life. Normally it should be simple: the hero slays the dragon, the villains get locked up, and everyone goes home happy. Only trouble is, in this story the dragon still has another purpose to serve, far into the future, the villains aren't as evil as you think, and the hero has his own demons to face. None of that is important right now. What is important is how the hero is going to deal with the dragon.

  Looking on horrified, Rose can barely comprehend what is going on; aliens she can cope with, but elements of mythology require a whole new level of understanding she's not sure she's ready for.

  Lachesis (aka Skuld) and her sisters watch on in alarm; events are not playing out as they were meant to be. The only person who seemed to be enjoying this was Fate himself, with a silly grin on his face and anticipation in his eyes.

  With a mighty roar Nithhogr belched a great burst of fire at the Doctor. Closing his eyes, the Doctor raises the only thing he has to defend himself, the sword. The sword absorbed the blast and glowed even brighter. Surprised, the Doctor opened his eyes, and flashed a brief smile to Rose, who waved back.

  Enraged, Nithhogr again unleashes a great gout of flame, which the sword absorbs once more. Fate's smile began to turn into a frown. Skuld and her sisters start to take more of an interest in proceedings.

  As the fight continues, Nithhogr gets even angrier and the sword is glowing with such an intensity that no one could stare directly at it. Tired of the unrelenting fight pattern, the Doctor decides to do something unpredictable: he throws the sword right into Nithhogr's open mouth, just as the dragon was about to unleash another volley of fire.

  The effect was immediate: Nithhogr stopped attacking, and flew back to where it belonged to wait for its true destiny. New York City began to return to normal, almost as if Nithhogr's awakening had never happened.

  Rose ran over to the Doctor. "How did you know that would work?"

  "I didn't. I just took a chance, and it worked." The Doctor turned to Fate and the others. "Now as for you four..."

  "Stop right there; you're all under arrest." Detective May and several other police officers were now on the Empire State Building observation deck outdoor promenade.

  "Ah, Detective May, what a pleasure to see you again." the Doctor smiled and held out his hand.

  Detective May grabbed the proffered hand by the wrist and put it behind the Doctor's back, swiftly grabbing the other one and cuffing the Doctor.

  "We'll talk down at the station Doctor."

  "What about Detective?"

  "Let's see, how about creating a public disturbance and damage to property for a start."

  As they were led away, the Doctor quipped to Skuld "I'll bet you didn't see this coming." She glowered at him in response.

  May began proceedings "What was going on at the Empire State Building Doctor?"

  "Would you believe that we were filming the climax to a Hollywood film?" the stony look on May and the other detective's face told the Doctor they didn't.

  "Tell the truth Doctor. I've had an eye kept on you since your last visit to the station. Vanishing Police Boxes, an out of hours visit to the Empire State Building and accounts of what appeared to be a dragon. I don't want stories, I want facts."

  The Doctor considered this for a moment. "Alright then, I'll give you facts. I'm an alien, a Time Lord actually, from the planet Gallifrey. The Police Box is my time machine, which is called a TARDIS. The chameleon circuit is stuck, hence the Police Box shape. Rose is my travelling companion, she's as human as you are. The three women are the Fates of mythology, and that young boy is Fate. The dragon is another figure of mythology. As for what they're all up I have no idea, but I've been getting the feeling that they've been distracting me from what's really going on."

  The Doctor stopped talking and took a breath. Detective May sighed.

  "Well Doctor, if you're not going to be co-operative, we'll just have to ask your 'companion'..."

  Rose sits there, looking a little bored. Her recent travels with the Doctor have made her very familiar with prisons, and it's getting rather boring for her.

  Detective May begins the interview. "Now Miss Tyler, your friend the Doctor told us a very interesting tale of aliens and time travel and fate. We'd like you to tell us the truth."

  "I'd only be repeating what the Doctor told you, but with a bit less detail. He is an alien, we do time travel, as for the women and the boy they do claim to be Fate and there was a dragon."

  Detective May sighed. This was not turning out as well as he had hoped.

  "Fine, if you're sticking to that story we'll start asking the women..."

  "Miss Urd, I'd like to know what was going on at the Empire State Building."

  "Well detective, the dragon Nithhogr was awakened early, but thankfully the Doctor found a way to calm it down before it could do too much damage. Hopefully that will keep him happy and distracted from..." Urd trailed away as she realised what she was saying.

  "Keep the Doctor distracted from what?"

  "Can't say. It is irrelevant to the incidents being questioned Detective."

  Detective May sighed and tried another tactic.

  "Earlier Miss Urd you arrived here with Miss Verthandi and claimed to be CIA agents."

  "Ah, we're better prepared than our sister. She tends to be very impulsive."

  "I see..."

  Detective May began to wish he was solving a simple murder case.

  "Skuld is also my name, I have many names you know."

  "Right, now Miss Lachesis we'd just like to ask you firstly about the incident on the Empire State Building."

  "Fate was defied when the great dragon awoke, but Fate's tool put events back on course for their true Destiny."

  "I see." Detective May was starting to get really tired. "I have some questions about a series of recent murders for you."

  "Their time was up. Destiny required someone to end their lives as planned. I was her tool."

  "I see. Despite your admittance to the crimes, there is an... inconsistency to the evidence. Witnesses describe fantastic occurrences."

  "Yes. That is my way."

  "Right." May coughed.

  "Just one more interview and it will all be over," May thought to himself.

  "Now, 'Fate', can you tell me what happened at the Empire State Building."

  "Yes, the Doctor stopped the dragon and sent him off back to his domain."

  The boy stared at Detective May. "How's your head?"

  "Starting ache from the weight of lies and stories I've been told today."

  The boy looked back in surprise. "Well you haven't heard any lies from us..."

  "It's certainly a fantastic story, but there's something about the Doctor that makes me believe him. He looks so normal on first glance, but if you focus on him more you can see an inner energy to him that glows."

  "He does seem to be genuine, doesn't he. How about Lachesis or Skuld or whatever she wants to be called?"

  "She did admit to the crimes, but given the details of witness statements, we'd be laugh out of court."

  May considered all of this.

  "We'll release them and hope to hell that they leave this city straight away and never come back..."

  "Thank you for co-operating with us. None of you have been charged, even though," here he glared at Skuld, "some of you have admitted to crimes."

  "Thank you Detective." the Doctor replied.

  "Oh and Doctor," said May as he walked out, "I don't know if I should believe what I saw as arrived on the deck, but thank you for saving this city."

  "Anytime Detective." replied the Doctor with a smile as he led the way down the stairs to the street.

  "Where are we going now Doctor?" asked Rose.

  "Back to the Empire State Building, and the TARDIS," the Doctor turned to Fate and the three women, "and you're coming with us - no tricks."

  Urd strolled in, Skuld stalked in, Verthandi stepped in and Fate skipped in.

  Rose stood by until the four had gone in and turned to the Doctor. "What are you going to do now?"

  "Get the truth from them. Something else is going on, and I have a feeling that we're being distracted from the real events taking place."

  "How do you know they're not going to do a disappearing act from the TARDIS?"

  "I don't, but I still have Skuld's deck of cards, which will lead me to her if she does vanish, and from there we can find her sisters and Fate."

  "I see." Rose stepped into the TARDIS, followed by the Doctor who went over to the console and began setting controls, first closing the doors and then sending the TARDIS into the vortex.

  Urd, Skuld, Verthandi and Fate all stood in a line, which the Doctor began pacing in front of. Rose stood by ready to jump to the Doctor's aid if anyone tried to make a break for the console and send them off their course.

  The Doctor tired of his pacing and stood in front of the four, and just stared at them for a few minutes before finally speaking "This is all just a distraction - the deaths, the abduction of Rose, the dragon. All of it has just been a side show to keep me busy. I want to know what is really going on, and I want to know now."

  The three women and the young boy glanced guiltily at each other before Fate finally spoke up.

  "Well Doctor, I'll tell you, but you aren't going to like it..."

  To be concluded...

  Author's Commentary

  The joy of finishing uni, yet waiting to be classified before entering the workforce means I could get this chapter written quickly once I found out that I was now up.

  The chapter title comes from how the Doctor has continually defied Fate so far in the story.

  The battle with the dragon couldn't last for two chapters, so I decided to play it out and end it fairly.

  Poor Detective May. There was plot thread left open with him, so I decided to close it.

  Rather than drag the chapter out with incidents that would bog down the story, I chose to keep it short and well paced.

  The Doctor beat the dragon, New York city is safe, but this is the second last chapter. So I threw a curve-ball in to keep the story going (Sorry Jenn).

  Second Draft

  This was written just after Chapter Six appeared on-line, so I was expecting another chapter before mine; hence this consists of the end of the chapter...

  The Doctor glared at Lachesis and Fate. "You have no idea what-so-ever do you? Your idea of 'fate' goes completely against how the universe works. Your cack-handed approach to destiny is destroying the fabric that binds us all together consitently. You can work within the boundaries like I have done on occasion, making a slight twist or two that is easily absorbed; but you, you are ripping out great threads of causality that will have grave consequences unless I can find a way to fix things."

  The Doctor glanced at the horizon, which was now glowing a rather angry looking shade of red.

  "Even now I fear it may be too late for us all..."

  "So, Time Lord, how do you propose to defy Destiny and restore the so-called 'Web' of Time?" asked a quietly fuming Lachesis.

  The Doctor pulled out of a pocket a familiar deck of cards. Working quickly, the Doctor dealt out the cards so that there were twelve piles arranged in a circle.

  "Clock Patience Doctor? This is no time for games." Fate smirked.

  The Doctor fanned out the four remaining cards. "It depends on what your game is. This is one I aim to win."

  He deliberately dropped one of the four cards in his hands into the circle, followed quickly by the other three.

  A swirling vortex appeared in the circle.

  "Here goes the fate of the universe."

  The Doctor jumped into the vortex and disappeared.

  To be concluded...

  First Draft

  This was written just after Chapter One appeared on-line, so I was toying with explaining Lachesis (combining details from Emotional Chemistry and the Time Hunter range of novellas) and setting up the end of the chapter...

  The Doctor began speaking, "Judging by what I have seen so far, I'd say that you are merely human, from about the 50th century, judging by the nature of your time travel capabilities. From what I have seen, it looks like you are time-sensitive, able to read people's time lines." The Doctor paused. "Am I right so far?"

  "Yes, that is so. I can see people's time lines, know what Fate has in store for them."

  "You saw your own future, and you didn't like at all. So you decided to try and alter Fate, change your Destiny."

  Lachesis smiles. "I had help."

  The Doctor was surprised. "Do I get to meet your mysterious benefactor?"

  "Of course. When Fate permits it."

  The Doctor became very curious. "When will that be?"

  A voice emerges from the empty space behind the Doctor. "Why Doctor, Destiny proclaims that we meet now..."

  To Be Concluded...