Synopsis: Kidnapped, Rory is taken to Rome and thrown into the arena, where his hapless inability to die brings him to the attention of the Emperor.
Plot: Years after the universe ended and Rory started to guard the Pandorica, he is forced to travel to Rome when the Pandorica is taken. He ends up as a gladiator where he tries to fake his death, but Augusta who is the wife to Caeser notices he is still alive and discovers that he is immortal. She decides to make him the bodyguard to her husband and not long after a soothsayer named Tacitus appears to warn that Caesar will die soon. While Caesar dismisses the warnings it is revealed there is a plot when Rory saves him from being accidentally murdered during a play when he notices that a prop sword had been replaced by a real one, though to his horror the stage manager Marcella is accused of the crime. Augusta helps him in faking Marcella's death after Caesar arranges for her to fight Rory to the death, but it turns out that Augusta's assistant Lepidus plans to kill both Marcella and Rory for foiling his plan to kill Caesar, having hired Tacitus to prophecize Caesar's death and planning to become the new Caesar himself. During the fight however Lepidus is killed and Marcella leaves Rome, and Rory returns to the palace only for Caesar to die from poison during dinner. After she is made Empress Augusta reveals that she plotted her husband's death and that she is aware that Rory seeks the Pandorica, before telling him that she has plans for him and his unique ability.
Tropes
- Cliffhanger: It ends with Augusta having become the new Empress and telling Rory she has a new job for him. The next story reveals that she made him her personal assassin.
- Continuity Nod: The museum in The Big Bang revealed that the Pandorica was taken to Rome in 118, meaning that this story must be set around that time and Rory has been guarding it for sixteen years by this point.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Caesar recently announced a succession law that meant if he died, Augusta would only act as an interim empress until a man could be found. This is the main reason why she tried to kill him, along with her general embarrassment of him.
- Denser and Wackier: The tone of the series draws closer to Black Comedy than Doctor Who, and the lack of the Doctor removes the science fiction elements which makes it seem that Rory is an immortal through mystical means.
- Historical Domain Character: The Caesar in this story is likely Hadrian who was the emperor of Rome during this period of time, which is supported as his wife Vibia Sabina was given the title Augusta, and in real life died around twenty years later, only a year after his wife.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: Caesar treats Augusta with far more respect than Hadrian is reported to have treated his wife, though there are other sources that suggest they did have a cordial relationship.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Augusta's real life counterpart Vibia Sabina has never been proven to have tried to assassinate her husband.
- Immortality Hurts: It is made clear that while Rory does heal from damage, including fire despite the Doctor's warnings, he still feels the pain caused by the injuries.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Tacitus claims that he sees the future and knows who Rory truly is, but it is revealed that he was hired by Lepidus and Augusta is also aware. This leaves it unclear whether he is just a charlatan or if he has some psychic ability which continues in the next story.
- My Kung-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours: Rory actually says this while fighting other gladiators, implying that Rory either studied kung fu or his auton body gives him a physical advantage over his enemies.
- Shout-Out: The above example of My Kung-Fu Is Stronger Than Yours happens at the end of a 45-second Soundtrack Dissonance that sounds suspiciously like the Street Fighter II main theme. In which case, Rory isn't actually using Kung-Fu, but simply imitating what he has seen in the arcades (mixed with any fighting style his Auton body came equipped with). The only Kung-Fu user on the original Street Fighter II roster happens to be the original Kick chick Chun-Li.
- Til Murder Do Us Part: Augusta had at least two plots to kill her husband, and she succeeds with poison and becomes the new Empress.
