A/N: Hello and welcome to chapter two of Clones. Not much to say other than I will also be updating HtbaSaaB (How bake a Souffle and a Baby if you hadn't guessed xD) Today as well, so you can look forward to that. :3
"It's nice to meet you." Dr. Tivon said, holding out her hand for Clara to shake. She took it, smiling, before folding her arms.
"So," Clara started, turning to face the Doctor, "You were telling me how you ended up here the first time?"
"Yes! Yes I was, wasn't I?" The Doctor smiled, sitting back down on the sofa beside him. Dr. Tivon took the seat Clara was previously sat in and so Clara was forced to squeeze next to the Doctor on the relatively small sofa. Not that she was complaining.
"Well," the Doctor started, clapping his hands together, "It was just after I lost the Ponds… Before I met you in Victorian London," Clara flinched; she hated thinking about her past lives. The Doctor noticed this and swiftly carried on, "The TARDIS noticed how sad I was and attempted to get me out into the Universe again by sending me to a random planet. When we landed here, she decided to shut herself down and then lock me out…" He shot a glare over to the TARDIS who was currently still parked by the potted plant, "Anyway, Dr. Tivon here was the first one to greet me and show me around." At this, Dr. Tivon smiled, leaning back in here chair.
"That reminds me," Clara spoke up, frowning a little, "What is it exactly that you do here?"
"Ah, well it's a little complicated but-"
"Ma'am, there's a situation." The Doctor was cut off by a young looking man running towards their seating area. He was armed to the teeth with an array of weapons that made Clara a little uneasy, and she instinctively shuffled closer to the Doctor, who had also noticeably tensed up at the sight of so many weapons.
"Yes, what is it?" The female Dr. replied, slightly annoyed.
"Hostiles are attacking the south of the facility." He replied, saluting.
"Perfect timing," She smiled, standing up, "Thank you soldier, you are dismissed." The soldier nodded, saluting once more before jogging away again.
"I'm guessing this is what you called us here for?" The Doctor asked, relaxing a little after the soldier left.
Dr. Tivon nodded, gesturing to the doors to the lab, "Care to follow me outside? It would give you a chance to see what we're up against."
Clara glanced at the Doctor, whose forehead was creased in concern, "Are you sure it's safe?"
"Oh yes, of course," Dr. Tivon replied, smiling, "My soldiers are very capable of holding them back."
Clara raised an eyebrow, "If they're capable of holding them back, then why do you need us?"
Dr. Tivon's face suddenly went from her usual, cheery features to one of pure darkness.
"I said they could hold them back," She said, her eyes boring into Clara's, "Not eliminate them."
The Doctor's frown deepened at the use of the word eliminate, but before he got a chance to speak Dr. Tivon started to walk away.
"Come on," Her cheery voice was back as suddenly as it had left, "We'll miss the chance to see them in action, otherwise."
The Doctor and Clara exchanged glances before swiftly following, now hand in hand.
When they reached the back of the lab, Clara was shocked to find nothing attacking. There was a group of around thirty soldiers stood in a line formation, guns aimed at the dense forest that circled the facility. Apart from the slight rustle of the leaves on the tress by the wind, everything was still.
Dr. Tivon stopped behind the line of soldiers, eyes locked on the forest.
"I thought you said things were attacking?" Clara said, eyes searching for the apparent hostiles.
"Oh they're out there somewhere," Dr. Tivon said, a dark smile on her face, "They're just waiting."
A twig snap caused Clara to whip her head around, expecting to see a huge alien behind her, jaws ready to snap around her neck. To her relief, nothing was there, but her relief vanished when she heard a blood curdling scream followed by a sickening snap. She didn't want to turn around to see what had caused it, but she felt the Doctor draw her closer protectively. Slowly rotating her head back, she gasped when she saw the scene before her. A large, grey wolf-like animal was stood over the crumpled and bloody form of what used to be a soldier, its jaws clamed around the corpse's neck as crimson blood pooled out from around its teeth. It was exactly like a wolf in shape, although slightly larger. The only thing that told Clara it wasn't a wolf was its striking ice blue eyes that seemed to glow softly. Her heartbeat sped up even faster when three more of the wolf like creatures slowly made their way out from behind the first one. Two of them were grey, like the first, and the last one was a rusty brown colour, but all shared the same cold blue eyes.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion from then on. The first line of soldiers attacked, sending a wall of bullets towards the wolves, who also sprang into action, speeding towards the first line of soldiers and shrugging off the bullets as if they were nothing. When they were in range of the soldiers, they drew out swords, getting ready to slash at the incoming attackers. Their efforts to hold them back were in vain, though, as the wolves made short work of the first line of ten soldiers, swiftly moving to attack the second. Clara's eyes widened when she saw how quickly they were making their way towards them and she felt the sudden and overwhelming urge to run and never look back. The only thing that stopped her was the Doctor's hand attached firmly to hers. When she looked up at his face, she could see that he was watching the attack closely, his eyes dark and showing his hatred for any violence. She just hoped this would end soon.
Her prayers were answered when the soldiers managed to push back. They got the upper hand, standing their ground with both bullets and swords as the wolves started to retreat, injured too heavily to continue on. They swiftly retreated back into the forest from where they came, panting and stained with blood. Clara let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding, looking around to see the damage they had done. For only four wolves, they had managed to take out at least fifteen out of the thirty soldiers. She could understand why Dr. Tivon needed their help, but what could they do? They did have the TARDIS, but the Doctor wouldn't let her be used in any form of combat, let alone annihilating a whole species.
Dr. Tivon's voice snapped her train of thought.
"Do you see why we need you now Doctor?" She asked, glancing at the remaining soldiers who were picking up the fallen bodies of their comrades.
The Doctor didn't reply, only nodded gravely. Dr. Tivon gave a small smile in response before turning to face the lab.
"It gets dark soon, Doctor, I suggest you get back inside. They're most active at night."
Clara swallowed nervously at her comment before dragging the Doctor forward as he seemed rooted to the spot. She could tell what he'd just seen had affected him deeply.
Once they were back inside the facility, they headed straight towards the TARDIS. The Doctor pulled on the doors, refusing to look at anyone, but turned to face Clara when the doors wouldn't open. She just shrugged and the Doctor sighed, calling Dr. Tivon's name as she walked away.
"Yes, Doctor?" She asked as she approached the two.
"The TARDIS won't open… Do you… Maybe… Um." The Doctor mumbled, a little embarrassed that his own ship wasn't listening to him.
"Do you have somewhere we could stay?" Clara asked, still shaken from the experience before and just wanting to sleep.
"Of course," Dr. Tivon smiled, "Although, we only have one room left."
The Doctor opened his mouth to say something, but Clara quickly cut him off. She was in no mood for him to be awkward now.
"That'll be fine, just lead the way."
Dr. Tivon nodded, walking away with the couple in tow. She stopped outside of a room and used a keycard to open it before handing it to Clara, smiling, then walking away.
Clara walked in and immediately headed towards the door that she guessed led to the bedroom. To her relief, she was right and kicked off her shoes before flopping down onto the bed, not noticing or caring that there was only one bed. She only looked up again when she heard the Doctor awkwardly shuffle into the room.
"Doctor, what are you doing?" She mumbled, still not opening her eyes.
"Um… Well… There's only one bed and I was just going to go and sleep on the sofa but I wanted to check if you were okay first and if you'll be okay sleeping alone because I know you get nightmares now and-"
Clara cut off his absurdly long sentence before he finished by shuffling over in the bed and opening her eyes. "Just get in the bed, Chin."
The Doctor's eyes widened and he looked like a deer in the headlights, "What…?"
Clara rolled her eyes, "Doctor, I'm not in the mood for this, just get in the bed."
The Doctor hesitated a moment longer before climbing in beside her, propping the pillow up and leaning against it.
"You know I won't sleep." He said, glancing down at her.
"Don't care," She smiled, shuffling close to him and resting her head on his chest, "You'll make a good pillow."
He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist before kissing her head. "Good night, Clara."
Clara replied with a muffled grunt and a sigh as she drifted off to sleep.
As always, thanks for reading! :D