The Flood (comic story)

The Flood was the last regular Eighth Doctor comic strip to be published in Doctor Who Magazine.
== Summary ==
The Eighth Doctor and Destrii arrive on Earth to find rain falling on a market place, rain that radically alters emotions. It is a test being conducted by the Future Cybermen...
== Plot ==
=== Part one ===
The Doctor and Destrii arrive in Camden Market in London on Earth in 2005, and are noticed by two MI6 agents. The Doctor and Destrii separate, and while the Doctor sets about browsing and examining the stores, Destrii, with her lack of common interaction with humans, sets about offending everyone, including Tony, the owner of a Chinese food stall, who soon decides to chase after Destrii when she offends him as well, intent on revenge. The Doctor and Desrtii soon re-unite, just in time for the Doctor to see the vengeful stall owner being rendered unconscious by Destrii. The Doctor, checking to see if he is still in a stable condition, notices his pulse is spiralling out of control, commenting that he's never seen anything like it. The two MI6 agents find the TARDIS, and proceed to tell their superior that all is well, just as a pair of Cybermen emerge from thin air behind them.
=== Part two ===
The Doctor and Destrii set up amending the problems they've caused, taking the Tony and his wife, Linda, to "The World's End" pub for a drink. However, they are being listened to by North, another MI6 agent. While the Doctor is distracted by more erratic behaviour, North plants a listening device on him and proceeds to walk outside and listen to his conversation. This turns out to be a trap, and Destrii comes up behind him and forces him to sit at the table alongside the Doctor. While the Doctor examines North's devices, Destrii spots two Cybermen walking amongst citizens in the pub, but they cannot be seen by normal eyesight due to "Refraction shields", though Destrii can see more spectrums of light than humans, and so can spot them. She questions who they are, and upon receiving blank faces, she notices they're walking towards her. She picks up North's taser and fires it at the Cybermen, rendering them visible. The Doctor recognises them, and, as everyone flees, Tony distracts them. The Doctor and his friends run into an alley to get to North's transport, but the Cybermen enter from both exits, cornering them. The Doctor says he has a plan, and desperately tinkers and tweaks his sonic screwdriver as the Cybermen close in.
=== Part three ===
to be added
== Characters ==
* Eighth Doctor
* Destrii
* Izzy Sinclair
* North
* Leighton Woodrow
* Dr. Emily Rice
* Tony
* Linda
* Cyber-Controller
* Cyberleader
* Carter
* Morris
* Chaplin
* Ashby
* Julie
* Minister of Defence
* Maxwell Edison
* Grace Holloway
== Worldbuilding ==
* The Doctor mentions "last orders".
* The Doctor mentions the achievements of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Claude Monet, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Oscar Wilde, Frida Kahlo, Isaac Newton, and Billie Holiday.
== Notes ==
* This marks the final appearance of the Eighth Doctor in regular comic strip format. His final lines in his comic book tenure are: "No idea. Absolutely no idea! Isn't that fantastic? Anything could be over that hill, Destrii. Anything! C'mon — Let's go and find out..."
* When the Doctor comments that he needs a new jacket, Destrii suggests a leather jacket, a sly meta-joke on the outfit worn by Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor in the then-upcoming revival series.
* The Flood was originally going to end with the Eighth Doctor's regeneration, with the BBC approving the plan. However, a condition imposed by the BBC and Russell T Davies that the Ninth Doctor could not be seen to travel with any companion other than Rose Tyler rendered this unworkable, and the idea was abandoned.
** Thought was given to a storyline that would have seen Destrii travel with a Doctor who was trapped mid-regeneration, with a flaming head and hidden features that the writers and artists compared to Dormammu of Marvel Comics, but this idea was considered too much effort for too little reward, considering the main purpose of a regeneration storyline was to see how the companions reacted to the new Doctor.
* The comic story Hunters of the Burning Stone places The Flood as occurring in 2005.
== Continuity ==
* The Doctor recalls his recent adventure with Native Americans in 1875. (COMIC: Bad Blood)
* North mentions the Donald Stark affair, which the Doctor remembers Woodrow from. (COMIC: The Fallen)
* Dr. Rice has studied the Zygon gambit. (TV: Terror of the Zygons)
* The Cybermen again travel through time. (TV: Earthshock, Attack of the Cybermen)
* The Doctor mentions that radiation exposure is a good way to trigger a regeneration. (TV: Planet of the Spiders)
== External links ==
Category:Eighth Doctor DWM comic stories
Category:Stories set in Camden
Category:2004 comic stories
Category:Stories set in 2005
Category:2005 comic stories
Category:Cyberman comic stories
Category:Eight part comics