Doctor Who Monsters, Aliens and Villains

Madame Karabraxos
Time Heist
Time Heist
 Name: Madame Karabraxos, AKA Ms Delphox

 Format: Television Show

 Time of Origin: Unspecified date in the far future, beyond the 50th century

 Appearances: "Time Heist"

 Doctors: Twelfth Doctor

 Companions: Clara Oswald

 History: While The Doctor prides himself on avoiding killing his enemies, Madame Karabraxos is a unique example of why he tries not to kill unless he is certain that he has to, as she not only reached a point where she sought redemption for her past sins, but actually helped The Doctor thwart her own past self.

One of the richest women in the galaxy in the far future, Madame Karabraxos ensured the security of her wealth by not only establishing her own bank, but actually going so far as to live in her personal vault surrounded by her various treasures, with the bank's security including a telepathic alien known only as 'the Teller' that could detect even the slightest trace of guilt and completely crush the guilty party's brain. Even with these precautions, Madame Karabraxos was so overly paranoid about the bank security that its daily running was organised by a clone of herself known as 'Ms Delphox' while she remained in her personal vault, with only her clone aware of her existence.

From The Doctor's perspective, he first became involved in Madame Karabraxos's plan when he received a call on the TARDIS phone. As soon as the Twelfth Doctor had answered the call, he and current companion Clara found themselves in a room with a cybernetically-enhanced hacker called Psi and Sadria, a human mutant who unwillingly assumed the appearance of anyone she touched; all four of them had just had their recent memories erased by a mind-worm ("The Snowmen"), after leaving a recorded message to themselves stating that they had willingly agreed to this mind-wipe. Discovering a briefcase containing various instructions and a recorded message left by someone who identified themselves as 'the Architect' the team were forced to flee, discovering that they were already inside the bank they had been instructed to rob.

The Teller
The Teller
Witnessing the Teller in action as they began the heist - Sadira posing as another customer to help them get through the main hall using a provided DNA sample - The Doctor guessed that their memories had been erased to limit the guilt they would have otherwise felt while infiltrating the bank. Despite the various 'tips' planted by the Architect to help them progress further into the bank, including additional briefcases at various stages, the team apparently lost Sadira and Psi when they were forced to use what appeared to be personal disintegrators to escape being caught by the Teller as they advanced towards the main vault. Arriving at the vault, The Doctor initially claimed that the vault's defences were impregnable, but when a sudden solar storm struck the planet and disrupted the bank's security systems, The Doctor realised that this robbery had been planned from the future to target the bank when it was most vulnerable, as the storm's timing was too significant for it to be a coincidence.

Entering the vault, The Doctor and Clara were able to recover Sadria and Psi's rewards; a serum that would allow Sadria to control her powers and a memory chip that would restore memories of Psi's family which he had erased shortly before he was captured during a previous crime. Although they were subsequently captured by Ms Delphox, the guards she had assigned to capture them turned out to be Sadira and Psi; the 'disintegrators' were really personal teleporters that sent them to an orbiting spaceship. With the team united, they headed back for the personal vault of the bank's director, which The Doctor had identified as their main target, where they encountered the original Madame Karabraxos, who swiftly ordered that her clone be disintegrated for failing to keep them away.

With Madame Karabraxos's treatment of her clones reminding The Doctor of his own self-loathing issues ("Amy's Choice"), The Doctor realised who must have arranged this heist in the first place, quickly scrawling a note with his telephone number on it for Madame Karabraxos to call if she ever had anything she particularly regretted. As Madame Karabraxos departed, the Teller arrived, but The Doctor convinced it to simply probe his recent erased memories, allowing him to determine that he had been the one to arrange the heist by planting the various tools as 'The Architect' using information he had received from the future Madame Karabraxos. With his memory restored, The Doctor was able to help the Teller release its captured mate from a deeper vault - the only reason the Teller had worked for Madame Karabraxos all these years - allowing the 'thieves' and the two creatures to depart, leaving the two Tellers on an uninhabited planet before returning Sadira and Psi to their lives.

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Parts of this article were compiled with the assistance of David Spence who can be contacted by e-mail at djfs@blueyonder.co.uk
 
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