A/N—I have to say, I enjoyed writing this piece quite a bit; so many ideas crammed into two chapters. Do I think this is what's going to happen in the finale? Probably not. But the possibility is always there (this is Doctor Who, after all). This piece is an accumulation of many of my Series 8 thoughts and where I think it could end. I plan for the finale chapter of this piece to be posted tomorrow.
"It feels...weird."
"Of course it feels weird; you've driven around a collection of organs and bones encased in skin all your life. Mechanics will never feel right."
Danny flexed one of his robotic hands, hearing the unnatural clicks and whirs beneath his new polymer skin. Staring at an appendage that he still couldn't call "his," he asked the Doctor, "...How do they get used to it?"
The Doctor cast an almost bored look back at the two Cybermen marching them down the hallway at gunpoint. "They get 'used to it' because they have no emotions or feelings; they don't register discomfort anymore," he said looking ahead again as another Cyberman led them back in the direction of what seemed to be (or was) Dr. Chang's office.
After a pause, Danny asked, "How did you know you could do it? Put my soul, or whatever it is, into this body? It's only a walking computer," he said, glancing sideways.
The Doctor stared ahead in silence, the muscles in his neck taut. Just as Danny assumed an answer was not forthcoming, he said without elaboration, "I've done it before." Danny didn't question further as the Cyberman directed them through the double doors of the office.
As they slid shut behind them, another door on the far end of the room opened, Clara strolling through it.
"Clara!" both Danny and the Doctor exclaimed in surprise. The two Cybermen behind them clamped their steel clad hands on their shoulders, keeping them where they were. As Clara approached the center of the room, the third Cyberman pointed its weapon at her, poised to fire.
Danny and the Doctor tensed as it ordered in a monotonous voice, "Halt, Clara Oswald. You have been identified as an enemy of the Cybermen."
Clara simply smirked at its blank, emotionless face. "You really don't know who you're pointing that thing at, do you?"
"You are Clara Oswald. Clara Oswald has been identified-"
"Oh, shut that tin mouth of yours," she said, becoming visibly aggravated.
"Clara Oswald-"
Holding up her hand, Clara said indignantly, "Let me stop you there; we're not getting anywhere with this. Do I really need to spell it out for you? I'm not Clara Oswald. Clara Oswald has never existed!" she said, spreading her arms wide.
As the Cyberman tried in vain to comprehend her response, Danny looked at the Doctor in bewilderment and said quietly, "What's she doing?" He didn't answer, but based on the look of consternation on his face, he seemed just as lost as Danny felt.
At that moment, Missy strode through the same door Clara entered by, ordering, "Lower that weapon, you mechanical fool." The Cyberman put its arm down, stepping to the side.
"We have captured the Doctor and the android known as Danny Pink." Missy stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Clara, taking in Danny's artificial form.
"I see you've found a body to occupy. Your doing, I presume," she said, looking pointedly at the Doctor.
He answered slowly as if in a daze, gears turning behind his furrowed brow as he gazed at the unnatural smile on Clara's face. "It doesn't quite have his...original charm, but I managed with what I had...which turned out to be quite a lot. Considering all the...unprogrammed androids you have here... the turnover rate must be...incredible. Why did you say you're 'not Clara'?" the Doctor questioned suddenly, his eyebrows knitted together.
"Because I'm not," she said slowly, drawing out her words as if speaking to someone dimwitted.
"Of course you are!" Danny spoke up, confusion still on his face.
"Um, no, I'm not."
"Yes you are!" he said, trying to take a step forward.
Clara threw her hands up and turned to Missy. "I don't have the patience for this," she said in the tone of someone admitting defeat. "Could you?" she asked her, waving an impatient hand in Danny and the Doctor's direction.
"With pleasure," Missy said wolfishly, eyeing the Doctor the same way a predator might consider its prey. "Where to begin?!" she wondered aloud. "Well, I can't be expected to explain EVERYTHING, so how about the most important bits?"
She slowly approached the Doctor, her hands clasped behind her back. "As far as you're concerned, it all started when Clara made that little hop into your time stream," she said with the air of an adult reading a bedtime story to a child. "She jumped in, you found her, and you both jumped out. She saved your life, you saved hers, it was all so touching," she said with a cloyingly sweet smile. She reached up and caressed the Doctor's face. He flinched away from her touch, but kept his eyes focused on hers.
"Oh," she said in mock disappointment, pursing her lips. Withdrawing her hand, she said with a smile, "Did you think that wouldn't have consequences?" She turned around and returned to Clara. "A delicate human brain coming into such close proximity to everything that makes you you? All those emotions, traits, and tendencies. Her fragile little head couldn't help it."
Understanding dawned on the Doctor's face. "Didn't you notice?" she asked innocently. "Ever since her foray into your time stream, hasn't she seemed a bit...off?" she said, smiling at the Doctor's stunned face. "Maybe being the source makes it a little hard to see," she conceded with a wave of her hand. "Forest from the trees and all.
"But she'd taken on an awful lot of your traits recently, hadn't she? The impatience? The itching for perilous dangers?...The lying?" she said, casting a glance at Danny. "She absorbed it all like a sponge when she entered your conscious. With every following interaction she had with you, the you in her head was coaxed more and more to the forefront."
Missy pulled a lump of metal from her pocket. "Do you recognize what this is?" She paused for a moment. "From your silence, I don't think you do. This is what used to be a pocket watch." Examining it from different angles, she indicated the Doctor. "Use that prodigious thought process of yours, Doctor: What piece of Time Lord technology do you know involves the use of a pocket watch?" she questioned, a teacher in front of her class.
Horror flashed across the Doctor's face. "A Chameleon Arch," he said despairingly.
"A Chameleon Arch! Yes, now you're getting it!" She waved at Clara as if displaying a newly unveiled product. "Clara is no longer Clara! Clara is no longer even human! She's a Time Lady now!" Missy exclaimed clasping her hands together, admiring the woman next to her.
"That, that's-" the Doctor stammered in dismay, pointing at the metal in Missy's hand.
"This was Clara," she clarified, holding up the ruins of the watch. "Which is no more."
"No, no-" Danny shook his head in disbelief.
Clara sighed in disgust. "Why is this so hard for you to understand? I know your brain is just as bad as theirs now," she said indicating the Cybermen over their shoulders, "but surely it can't be THAT hard to comprehend."
"You're wrong! You're Clara! Clara's still-!"
"Everything that was Clara," she interjected loudly, "was in that watch. That watch is gone now."
"NO! You're not dead! You're Clara!" he repeated desperately.
"Well, you're right on half of those counts: No, I'm not dead. But I'm not Clara," she said dangerously. Stepping forward, she gestured grandiosely. "I am the Valeyard."
The Doctor stumbled back, his eyes transfixed on Clara, uttering with wild eyes, "You're-"
"I am," Clara offered with a smile. The Doctor stared bewildered at Missy, silently pleading for an explanation.
"You know full well how a Chameleon Arch works. But the biological changes don't make her the Valeyard. You can, however, specify which memories and traits to store in the watch, and which to leave within the changed body. Clara had already absorbed all your lovely traits. It was only a matter of keeping the worst of the worst." Missy smiled appreciatively at the Doctor's terror stricken face. "Looking into a mirror isn't always pleasant, is it?" He fell back against the Cyberman restraining him, dismay having completely overtaken his features.
Danny continued plaintively. "Clara. Please. It's me, Danny."
Sauntering up to him, a sickening smile painted across her face, Clara stated, "I am 'Clara Oswald' no more than you're 'Danny Pink'. Even less so," she said, eyeing Danny's mechanical form.
"I am Danny-!"
She suddenly poked hard at his unnatural chest and leaned in, saying quietly, "You...are an echo in a shell. You are mere consciousness wrapped in plastic." She gave him a pitying, mocking smile. "Did you think that was actually Danny in there? Danny Pink. The soldier-turned-teacher. That man...is no longer. You are an impression of him, however much you may believe otherwise," she said with a disdainful glance at his new body.
Turning around, she returned to Missy's side. "Well, shall we be off?"
Taking in the wreckage, she replied with relish, "Yes, I think we shall. So much to do!" As they turned to go, the Cybermen released Danny and the Doctor and followed in their wake.
The Doctor gathered himself and asked disbelievingly, "You're just going to leave us?"
Missy stopped, turning back. "Not only that, I'm going to leave you with your TARDIS! With my new TARDIS fresh from a pocket universe Gallifrey, we can chase each other all over time and space! Isn't that exciting?! And now," she waved at Clara beside her, "I have a You to travel with. Oh, this will be fun," she said with a maniacal smile.
She took another step before turning back again. "Oh, and you can keep this," she said, tossing the lump of metal in their direction. It skidded across the floor, coming to rest before them. "I'm not particularly sentimental, but I think you'll appreciate having it," she smiled.
Turning around, Missy walked away, waving over her shoulder, Clara following. "Enjoy your travels! Do come and find us sometime. I'm very much looking forward to it." The Doctor's eyes bore into the back of Missy's head. Before the door closed, she yelled, "I left your screwdriver on the TARDIS's doorstep! Tata!"
Clara reached the door, about to disappear before Danny called, "Clara," his voice catching slightly.
Exasperated, she turned, one hand on the door. "I told you-"
"Wherever you are, whatever it takes, I will be with you again, I swear. I have to be with Clara Oswald," he said, a passably pained expression crossing his mechanical face.
She stared straight back at him, no emotion on hers. "No, you won't. And you can't." She turned her back and let the door close between them.
A/N—Thank you very much for taking the time to read! Look for the final chapter tomorrow! Please review, comment, or criticize. Until next time, happy reading!