Deep Breath (Part 2)
Clara looked over at the diners once more, her eyes widening to see that they really didn't appear to be breathing and their motions, they were far too jerky to be those of a normal human, their expressions were fixed, if she had to guess, she'd think they were robots, animatronics of some sort. She swallowed hard, her gaze flickering to LJ who was still just scribbling away on his paper, and back to the Doctor and Evy, "What do we do?" she asked them under her breath.
"Well, you don't want to eat, do you?" the Doctor asked.
Clara gave him an unamused look, "Slightly lost my appetite," she deadpanned, "How long before they notice that we're different?"
"Not long," Evy sighed, "The fact we're breathing will tip them off eventually if they aren't aware by now. We could hold our breath a fair bit longer than humans…" she glanced at Clara, adding when she saw a slightly confused look, "Respiratory Bypass System," before continuing, "But LJ's lungs are smaller…"
"Couldn't we just casually stroll out of here, like we've changed our minds?" Clara offered.
The Doctor looked at Evy for that, nodding in thought, "Happens all the time," he agreed.
"Especially when dining with Jack," she remarked.
"When did you go to dinner with Jack?" he frowned.
Evy rolled her eyes, "I WAS with Torchwood for a while before you came to pop in. Long enough to eat with them a time or two, go shopping, help fix some of their tech, tweak Tosh's…"
"Oi," Clara cut in with a small hiss, "Hello, restaurant full of robots we need to sneak past here."
"Right, yes," the Doctor nodded, standing up with Evy as Clara did the same, the girl turning to reach for LJ only to freeze when the other diners all stood instantly at the same time. He glanced at Evy and Clara for that, holding up a hand signaling them to wait a moment, before he took a step away from the table…the diners moving a step closer to him in return, "Or…" he glanced at them, stepping back to the table, making the diners take a step back too, "We could take another look at the menu."
Evy let out an unhappy breath at that but sat down once more, Clara moving beside her.
"Mummy!" LJ cheered, not seeming to notice the funny people that were walking about back to their tables as he held up his paper, "Mummy!"
Clara reached out and took the paper, sliding it Evy who laughed at the sight of it, a soft smile on her face, "It's lovely LJ," she slid it to the Doctor to see.
"Oh yes," he nodded, "Going right on the TARDIS refrigerator," he agreed, before leaning in to whisper to the women, "That is a thing, right? That's what parents do with this?"
"Yes," Clara said quickly, "Yes that is what parent do, AFTER they've managed to escape a room full of robots that won't let them leave," she reminded them, though she could understand the distraction, the picture LJ had done was stick figures of the Doctor, Evy, and even her, along with LJ who was sitting on top of a rectangle that looked like doors with windows on them, the TARDIS.
It was adorable.
"Well we don't know for sure that they're robots," Evy murmured, folding the paper to put into her pocket, "They seem a bit too basic to really be robots. Puppets maybe…"
"Does that REALLY make a difference?" Clara shook her head, "We're still trapped here."
"Yes," the Doctor agreed, "And that is a question. What is here? What is this restaurant? What's it for? Why disguise it as a restaurant?"
"You had to ask that question," Evy sighed, shaking her head as she reached for the menu once more, "That's like asking a cannibal what's for dinner when they've invited you to it," she quickly looked over the menu, trying to see if there were any hints about what exactly the restaurant did, names could be very telling.
"Oh, er," the Doctor looked up as a waiter walked over to them, stiffly, just as jerkily as the other diners had moved, clearly some sort of robot as well, "No sausages? Do you? And there's no pictures either," he glanced at LJ, "Do you have a children's menu?" he asked after a moment, the boy had, thankfully, started to draw on his small serving tray of his seat with the pencil…something he was sure would drive the TARDIS mad if he did that on her walls, but right now he'd rather his son distracted than to reprimand him for doing something like that. He blinked when the waiter held up a pencil at him, a small green light shining out of it and scanning him, "Any…specials?"
"Liver," the waiter remarked, voice so utterly flat that it could only be a robot of some sort.
"He don't like liver," Evy remarked offhandedly, watching the waiter carefully over the top of her menu.
"Spleen. Brain stem. Eyes."
"Is there a lot of demand for those?" Clara grimaced slightly at the thought. She could sort of understand the spleen and eyes, but brain stem? Urg.
Evy sighed, setting the menu down, "I knew it," she muttered, "WE are the menu."
"Lungs," the waiter continued, "Skin."
"Ok, you can stop now," Evy gave the waiter a look, pursing her lips.
The Doctor quickly stood, "Excuse me," and reached out to the waiters waxy skin, pulling it away to reveal nothing but what seemed like metal mesh behind it with a flame just barely visible behind that. Ok, well, if he'd been hoping to find some sort of structure that could tell them what type of robot or from what era or planet it was from, easily identifiable with robots, he was sorely mistaken.
And had only served to reveal to the diners that they were aware of the robots now.
"Robot in a mask?" Clara frowned.
"Face, actually," Evy remarked as the Doctor sat back down and passed her the 'mask' to look at.
"Yeah, it's very convincing," Clara glanced at it, taking it as Evy handed it to her to look at.
"A REAL face."
"Oh, ew!" Clara threw it as far away from her as she could.
"Awww," LJ pouted at that, making the three look over to see the little boy was pouting and looking at where the 'mask' had fallen, clearly he'd wanted to be able to touch the squishy mask.
'Your son,' Evy's voice called in the Doctor's head, 'Your son, entirely, wanting to poke at things.'
The Doctor just grinned at that, about to respond when the waiter spoke again, "Yes."
"Yes, what?" the Doctor looked back over at him.
"Yes, we have a children's menu."
That was enough to make the Doctor and Evy move to surge to their feet, to block the waiter's gaze that had turned to their son, the implication that they didn't just take adults but children as well unsettling to them. But just as they pushed themselves to get up, metal arms shot out from the back of the bench and locked around them. It looked they had actual hands on the ends of them, allowing the fingers to lock together, trapping the three of them to the bench as it slowly began to lower into the restaurant. The Time Lords weren't sure if it was a good thing or not that LJ's baby chair was also descending with them. They would rather the boy with them, yes, but descending into something so unknown left them uneasy.
"You've got to admire their efficiency," the Doctor muttered as they went down.
"Is it ok if I don't?" Clara struggled in her chair, trying to break through, but having no luck.
The only thing that brightened up the trip was LJ's excited squealing as they rode the small platform down to the bottom, the boy clapping and excited to see where they were going.
'Your son,' Evy muttered to the Doctor once more. Only the Doctor's son could be so excited about them being trapped and descending into the unknown.
The unknown, as it turned out, ended up being a large circular room that appeared to have quite a steampunk feel to it. It was made of dark brown metal, with brass and rivets galore, numerous people standing in alcoves carved around the room in the fashions of the time, all of them too still to not be robots as well though they appeared deactivated at the moment. Just off from the middle of the room was a man sitting on a chair, or what appeared to be a man, they were behind it so they couldn't be certain.
"Hello?" the Doctor called to the seated figure, "Hello, are you the manager? I demand to speak to the manager."
Evy gave his leg a little kick, "Is it really the wisest thing to do? Wake them up? We're as surrounded down here as we were up there but here they don't seem to be active."
Clara sighed, "So, not a restaurant then?"
The Doctor nodded, "It's more a sort of automated organ collection station for the unwary diner. Sweeney Todd without the pies."
"Lovely," Clara grimaced, struggling a bit more in her restraints before looking around, "So where are we now? The larder?"
"Could be," Evy agreed, "Has the makings of a very old spaceship though. Centuries old at a guess."
Clara nodded, looking over at the room, trying to see what Evy and the Doctor did, the signs of it being a spaceship, the signs of how old it was. She saw the Time Lords (and the Cap'n) what felt like so infrequently that she wanted to absorb everything she could. Her life had been human for so long, then she'd met the Doctor and Evy, travelled with them once a week while being a nanny. And then she'd stepped into a time tunnel and stepped out as a Time Lady. Ever since then it was still once a week with the Time Lords but so much more time with the Captain. But even then, she still went about her human life, she was still a teacher, she still had work to grade and marks to give and a flat of her own and though she saw the Captain more than his parents, she still wasn't with him every second of the day. She knew the day was coming though, the day where she'd want to be, where she'd want to do nothing but the travelling, with the Captain, and she wanted to be ready for it, she wanted to know what she was doing.
"If it doubles as a larder though," Clara began after a moment, "How come they haven't activated? How come no one's come for us?"
"We're alive," the Doctor said simply.
"We're alive in a larder?"
"It's cheaper than freezing us."
"Ok," Clara shook her head, "And how are we getting out of the larder then?"
The Doctor and Evy began to wiggle in their seats both of them trying to reach for something that the Doctor got first, the man managing to shake the sonic out of his coat quickly as, with the way Evy's arms were locked to her she couldn't shift them to her pocket where her own sonic was. Unfortunately the sonic rolled onto the floor.
"Wonderful."
Evy just smiled and focused on the sonic, "Ready, Doctor?" she called.
He looked at her and frowned but nodded, holding his hand open as wide as it could go and, a moment later, the sonic flew from the ground right into it. He quickly soniced his restraints open, doing the same to Evy's, taking her face in his hand and searching her eyes for any sign of distress or pain. She'd managed to develop that little telekinetic talent after years spent in a mental institution and, many times in the past, it hurt her to use it, normally with heavier things or larger objects than the sonic, but he could never be too careful.
Evy smiled, taking his hands from her face, "I'm fine," she reassured him, leaning in to give him a quick peck, only for him to lean further in and try to deepen it, not having been able to really kiss his Link since all this happened.
"As cute as I'm sure that is," Clara's voice cut in, "There's a little boy here currently covering his eyes and making faces at it…and I'd rather not watch it either."
"Brat," the Doctor muttered to Clara, pulling away from Evy's smiling face to turn, flicking on the sonic to release Clara as well. He stood and moved to LJ, the boy was literally covering his eyes and sticking out his tongue at his parents' display of affection, "One day boyo," he shook his head at his son fondly as he picked him up and out of his chair, setting him down quickly.
The boy had taken to insisting that he walk places on his own and his parents were only all too keen to indulge him. They still held his hand though, knowing him and the genes he possessed (thanks to the Doctor) if they let go he'd take off running and never stop.
The trio and LJ stepped into the circular room, looking around a moment to try and assess the situation. Clara moved cautiously closer to one of the men standing in the nearest alcove, leaning in just a bit, waving her hand before its eyes, and stepping back quickly, "I think it's dormant," she called, moving back to them, "So, is it these guys that killed the dinosaur?"
"Well, if they're harvesting organs, a dinosaur would have some great stuff," the Doctor remarked.
"Why would robots need organs? Burke and Hare from space?"
"No, but that's a good theory. Droids harvesting spare parts. That rings a bell…"
"Pompy!" LJ tugged on his father's arm, "Pompy-door!"
The Doctor linked at that, "Madame de Pompadour," he realized, "Well done, boyo!"
"What?" Clara gave him a look for that.
"I was on a ship once," the Doctor waved it off as they moved more to the center of the room, "The droids there were using the crew as spare parts for the ship, hearts for an engine, eyes for the cameras, they were trying to take Madame de Pompadour's brain for their control system."
"That was with Rose, wasn't it?" Evy glanced at him, not having been there for that trip, but having heard him tell the story to LJ at bedtime.
"Yeah," he nodded.
"Ick," LJ muttered, sticking out his tongue at the mention of Rose, making Clara give him a small smile for it. She could still recall his older-self's reaction to Rose when the Zygons had tried to attack. Though, to be fair, she wasn't sure if it was just Rose that was 'ick' or girls in general.
Evy paused as they made it around the figure that had been sitting down to see that it was indeed a man, one that seemed to only have half a face, the other half very obviously mechanical and robotic in nature, "Oh Captain, my Captain."
Clara couldn't help but laugh at that, earning a small smirk from Evy as they glanced at LJ for it. The Doctor rolled his eyes at that, recalling how River tended to greet their son with the very same line.
"Can he see us?" Clara looked back at the robot, wondering which side, which eye, might be working, if they were at all.
Evy pulled out her sonic and scanned it quickly, "Dormant."
"For how long?"
"Till he's finished recharging," Evy pointed to a wire running from the chair to the wall."
"He's asleep," the Doctor agreed, "Doesn't even know we're here."
"Are you sure?" Clara glanced at him.
He just shrugged, "Sure. Not sure. One or the other."
"Ok," Clara shook her head, not bothering to ask which it was, "So, half-man, half-robot. A cyborg, yeah?"
"A badly put together one," Evy agreed, gesturing at the man's hands, "Do you see those?"
"His hands?" Clara frowned, "What about them?"
"Notice anything odd about them?"
Clara moved closer and frowned, eyeing them intently, before she blinked, "They don't match. That's a man," she pointed to a large, muscled one, "And a woman's," and a smaller, dainty one.
"It seems like this is not your normal cyborg," the Doctor mused, scooping LJ up and holding the boy so that he could look closer at the arms himself, better to hold him than let their son climb all over the robotic man without knowing when he'd wake, "This isn't a man turning himself into a robot. This is a robot turning himself into a man, piece by piece."
"That's what the restaurant's for," Clara realized.
Evy nodded, "Just like on Hedgewick's world," she sighed, "It's a constant supply of spare parts."
"You can tan skin, but organs rot…" the Doctor began.
"Not in front of our son, dear," Evy called, cutting him for from likely adding even more gruesome detail.
"Some of that metalwork looks Roman," the Doctor changed the subject, looking around the room, "Wonder how long it's been around…"
"I wonder how much of the original robot is even left?" Evy murmured, scanning him more thoroughly with her sonic, "The eyeballs are very fresh…"
She was cut off suddenly when the cyborg's arms jerked, making them all jump back as it grabbed the chair arms and the sound of clockwork and ticking began to sound from within it.
"Yes!" LJ cheered, clapping and watching the cyborg eagerly as though excited it was starting to wake up, making the three adults look at him.
Clara could only shake her head at that, oh she was SO going to have her hands full with his future-self, wasn't she?
"Is it awake?" Clara looked at the Time Lords for that, at Evy.
"It's waking up," Evy corrected, putting her sonic back in her pocket.
"Ok," the Doctor bobbed LJ a moment, "Let's go," he turned and hurried towards a doorway just on the other side of the room, moving through it with LJ, Evy and Clara just behind them…when the door slammed down, cutting the men from the women, "Evy!" he spun around, rushing back to the door, looking through the small window to see that the cyborg had woken and had its arm raised, clearly the one that had closed the door to separate them.
Evy quickly pulled out her sonic, scanning the door as the Doctor did the same, "Quickly…" Clara murmured, glancing back at the cyborg to see that it was starting to stand, unplugging itself as it went.
"The locks are too complex," Evy muttered, looking up at the Doctor, "It'll take too long to get open, go."
"No," the Doctor shook his head, "I'm not leaving you."
"Mummy!" LJ reached for her, starting to cry slightly at seeing his mother and Clara trapped away from him, "Clara!"
"It'll be ok," Evy told him, leaning closer, "You go, get out, get to the TARDIS," she ordered lightly, "Come and get us."
"But…"
"I am your Link," Evy reminded him, seeing his reluctance to leave her, knowing how he could be when she was in danger, "I can handle myself, I can buy time, talk my way out of this, till you can get us out. Just go. Please," she reached up to touch the small opening in the door, "Get our son to safety first."
The Doctor's jaw tensed at that, knowing that was the one thing that Evy could say that would make him leave, "I WILL be back," he promised her, "I will."
"I know," she smiled, "And there'll be a rather large kiss in it for you if you manage it in…" she considered it, "Five minutes?"
"Mummy…" LJ sniffled, sensing that his father was growing determined, that his mother was unafraid even if Clara seemed on edge, "Mummy no!"
Evy turned to reach through the little window to him, taking his hand, "You keep your father out of trouble," she told the boy, "And then you both can come and rescue mummy and Clara, won't that be a magnificent adventure? Rescuing US for a change?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes at that, but nodded, quickly grabbing her hand as she moved to pull it back through the window, kissing it quickly, "See you in 2 minutes," he promised, before turning to run off.
Evy took a breath and watched them go, not turning till they were out of sight around a corner, "Clara?"
"Yeah?" Clara swallowed hard, trying not to show how scared she was to be left in a room of robots that would likely tear them apart to try and use them for equipment.
"Ready for a lesson in how to keep yourself alive while your Link works on a way to save you?" Evy murmured.
"All too," Clara nodded.
"Good," Evy turned to her, "First rule, stay calm. Appear confident. Do NOT show fear. Use what you know."
"Right, ok," Clara took a breath, "Then what?"
"Talk," Evy stated, "Just…keep talking," she gave Clara a reassuring look and turned, her back straight, her chin up as she walked right back into the middle of the room, to the cyborg as it just started to step off of the chair's little platform.
Clara hurried to her side, just barely holding in a gasp as the cyborg activated the other robots in the room, all of them starting to move in their alcoves.
"No," Evy shook her head, crossing her arms, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
The cyborg turned his head in an almost questioning manner.
"You call in your army, you'll have to deal with the fight that follows," Evy continued, "And you're not exactly in the best state to try and fight, are you?" she eyed the robot, "You're too slow, you're too stiff, and you're made of metal, which means that your signals can be interfered with," she pulled out her sonic, handing it to Clara, "Setting 345A," she told the girl.
"What?" Clara shook her head, taking the sonic from her.
'You just point and think,' Evy's voice spoke in her head, nearly making her gasp, she still wasn't used to how Evy could do that, she was used to the Captain being in her head, but not his parents, 'Think about causing static interference, like the high pitched noises that machines make when they short circuit.'
Clara nodded subtly at that, clutching the sonic.
"You call them off," Evy looked at the cyborg, "Or we stop them ourselves. And you don't have the man power or robot power to waste if they end up damaged, nor do you have the spare parts to fix them."
The cyborg just lifted an arm as though calling his army to him, and indeed that was what appeared to be happening as the robots began to jerkily move out of their alcoves towards them.
"Don't like threats then?" Evy sighed, "You know what I don't like either? When no one listens to me. Clara?" she turned to the girl who held up the sonic, flicking it on and sending out a high pitched whirr that made the robots stagger back, their bodies jerking as though they were starting to short circuit from within. Evy gave her a nod to stop and turned back to the cyborg that had stumbled back onto its chair, "Now, shall we TALK about this instead of trying to intimidate us?"
The cyborg lowered his arm, the robots stilling a moment before they shuffled back into their alcoves.
"Better. Now, what would you like to know?"
"Where are the other ones?" the cyborg demanded, its voice sounding almost identical to the waiter from above, "There were two others. Where are they? Where are the others?"
"Now why would I tell you that?" Evy shook her head, "Why would either of us?" she reached out and gently tugged Clara to stand beside her though a step behind, letting Clara observe how to handle herself in a situation like this.
"You will tell us, or you will be destroyed."
Evy snorted, not seeming at all worried about it, which made Clara glance at her, "If I had a penny for every person that threatened to destroy me, or my son, or my Link, I'd be a rich woman. You're not the first to threaten that, you won't be the last. And do you know what happened to every other person that HAS threatened to destroy us?"
The cyborg was silent.
"Well, let's just say they don't last very long afterwards. My Link, the Doctor, is very protective of his family and you've got two members of them stuck with you right now. How do YOU think he'll react when he finds out you threatened that?"
"You will tell us!"
"Or what?" Clara spoke up, wanting to help, wanting to be involved, wanting to learn and there was no other way she knew she'd feel comfortable than with Evy beside her, teaching her and helping her along, covering for her if she made a mistake, guiding her.
"You will die."
"Yeah," Clara hissed at that, "Bit hard to kill us. Seriously. You try, we'll just come right back…and probably end up destroying you in the process," she added, thinking of how the Doctor had taken out the Daleks on Christmas with his regeneration energy.
"Very good," Evy nodded, "Always be confident, always have the upper hand, make yourself too valuable to lose."
"You will tell us where the other two are!"
"Nope," Clara shook her head.
"You will be destroyed!"
Evy sighed, glancing at Clara, speaking quietly, "Robots are always the hardest to deal with," she warned her, "Robots, androids, Cybermen, all rely on logic and end up repeating themselves quite a bit. Gets tedious after a while. Try it," she nodded at the Cyborg, "Out-logic them."
Clara blinked at that, not sure if she could, but Evy gave her an encouraging nod so she stepped closer, right beside her instead of behind her, "You would have to destroy me, wouldn't you?" she began, "'Cos if you don't, then we're not going to believe a single threat you make from now on. Then again, if we're dead, then we can't tell you where the others went then. You need to keep this place down here a secret, don't you? Never start with your final sanction. You've got nowhere to go but backwards."
"Very well done," Evy smiled at her, making Clara beam in response to the praise.
"Humans feel pain," the cyborg tried to threaten.
"Would work, if we were human," Clara countered.
"All living beings feel pain. The information can be extracted by means of your suffering."
"And yet suffering still inherently means being alive to do it," Evy shook her head, sounding almost bored, making Clara stifle a laugh, she could see why the Doctor loved her so much, she was just as bad as he was, "So we've moved from killing us to just prolonging our lives? I should warn, we have very good pain tolerance so it would take quite a while before we'd actually crack and, in that time, before you could even try I'm sure, we'd already be rescued so it would be a moot point to threaten us really. Discussion, however, negotiation…that's a different story," it would be a way to not give information to their enemy but gain it from them.
"What's he doing?" Clara whispered as the cyborg stood once more, pulling one of its hands off, literally pulled its entire arm off and clamped it to his lapel.
"He's going to try and scare us," Evy whispered to her as the cyborg revealed a flame thrower on its arm, "Fear can be an effective tool if you let them see it's working. Take the power away from them, laugh, smile, joke, anything you can to throw them off."
Clara nodded at that, watching the cyborg turn to them, a flame erupting from its arm, "We will not negotiate," it stated.
"You don't have a choice," Evy remained calm, "You want your questions answered, you answer ours as well. Fair trade."
"We will not answer questions."
"Why did you kill the dinosaur?" Evy merely started the question, "You want us to talk, you talk, that's how it goes and it won't change. You want answers, we'll here's how you'll get them, trade. Not threats, not death, not torture, even exchange."
'Make them think they're winning,' Evy's voice spoke in Clara's mind, 'Make them think they have the upper hand, that you're willing.'
"Now, why did you kill the dinosaur?"
The cyborg was silent a moment, before it finally answered, "Within the optic nerve of the dinosaur is material of use to our computer systems."
"You really burned a whole dinosaur for a spare part?" Clara gaped at it.
"Knew that already Clara," Evy murmured.
"Right, I mean…" she racked her brain for a better question, "Wait…you know what's in a dinosaur's optic nerve? That means you've seen them before."
"Where are the other ones?" the cyborg returned.
"How long have you been rebuilding yourselves?" Clara was fixated on that, "Look at the state of you. Is there any real you left?"
'Mention their main objective,' Evy nudged, 'Robots are always ingrained with their programming, bring it up and they'll want to state it.'
"What's the point?"
"We will reach the promised land," the cyborg stated.
"The Promised Land?" Evy frowned.
"Where are the other ones?"
"Oh, don't know," Evy shrugged, "They ran off, haven't a clue where they actually are right now."
It was a lie, she knew, but the robot wouldn't know that. And she had to be very careful not to let what she did know show on her face, because she was quite sure the Doctor had actually lost his mind with what he was planning to do.
"I'm sure you'll see him soon enough," Evy waved it off, "Now if you are quite finished with that," she gestured at his arm, "Clara, setting 14 on the chair please," she gestured at the wire running into it.
'Cut the power,' Clara heard in her mind and nodded, focusing on that as she flicked it at the chair, making the lights go out, assuming that they'd be trying to escape fairly soon.
"Thank you," Evy nodded, "See, robots are rather useless when you've cut the power source. And with how ancient your tech is, if we were to use setting C49 on it, it could blow this entire room, probably the entire ship up. So don't test us, ok?" she smiled at him, putting her hands on her hips, "Never try to con a mother into telling you where her son is."
"Hold on," Clara cut in gently, a question niggling at her, "Why are you so set on finding them in the first place? Why did you invite us here?" she eyed the cyborg, "WAS it you? Was it you that put the message in the paper?"
The cyborg was silent, not giving a yes or no though they both had the feeling that the answer was likely negative.
"Well, I think that's just about all the useful information we'll be getting out of him," Evy murmured, "And it seems the Doctor's had a bit of trouble getting back to the TARDIS," she looked at Clara, "Care to say the word and get us out of here?"
"What?" Clara glanced at her.
"As though Vastra would let you come here, with our son, without some sort of way to protect you or extract you if you needed it?"
Clara smiled at that and reached up to touch a broach she was wearing on the collar of her gown, making it glow blue, "Geronimo!" she called into it.
And just a moment later two women fell down from the ceiling in black catsuits, dangling from long pieces of what looked like silk attached to their waists, whipping out swords the moment they were on the ground.
"Remain still," Vastra turned to the cyborg, "And lay down your weapons in the name of the British Empire."
"Argh!" they could hear Strax cry out before he promptly fell from the ceiling, a large gun clutched in his arms even as he hit the ground, his own piece of fabric not long enough to help him descend.
"Strax," Vastra huffed.
"Sorry," he mumbled, scrambling to his feet.
"I've told you before. Take the stairs."
"Stairs are boring," another voice spoke and, slowly sliding down Vastra's fabric, the Doctor slid into the room.
"Oh look what the cavalry dragged in," Evy shook her head, a fond smile on her face as she moved to take her son from the Doctor's arms, hugging him, "Have a bit of trouble finding the TARDIS?"
"Ran into them," he nodded at Vastra, Jenny, and Strax, "Thought it would get you out faster than to run all the way back to Vastra's and not even know if the TARDIS was ready."
"Clara!" LJ wiggled in his mother's arms till she put him down and he ran to hug her legs, making her smile.
"Now," the Doctor looked over at the cyborg, glad that his son was distracted, "I do believe you threatened my Link?"
"I burned an ancient, beautiful creature for one inch of optic nerve," the cyborg threatened, "What do you think you can accomplish, little man?"
"What do you?" the Doctor eyed the robot, unfazed, "Vastra?"
Vastra stepped forward and held up her sword to the cyborg, "The establishment upstairs has been disabled with maximum prejudice, and the authorities summoned."
"Hang on, she called the police?" Clara looked over, picking LJ up into her arms, anticipating, now that the Doctor was there, there would be running involved very soon, "We never do that. We should start."
"Well, we DO travel in a police box," Evy remarked with a small laugh, "We'd probably end up calling ourselves."
"You see?" the Doctor ignored the small chatter, stepping up to the cyborg, "Destroy us if you will, they're still going to close your restaurant…" he frowned, glancing back at Clara and Evy, both of whom looked amused by what he'd said, "That was going to sound better…"
"I'm sure it was," Evy patted his arm as he moved over to her, sliding his arm around her waist.
"Then we will destroy you!" the cyborg shouted, lifting his other arm, activating the robots to step forwards, all of them pulling their arms off to reveal swords and other weapons beneath.
No, you won't," the Doctor rolled his eyes though Clara could see him squeeze Evy tighter to him, "You're logical. You have restraint. You killed to survive. You're not a murderer."
"He's not a what?" Clara scoffed, "This is a…" she pressed a hand over LJ's ears, hissing, "Slaughterhouse!" at them.
"And how does that make it different from any other restaurant? You weren't vegetarian the last time I checked."
"The point is," Evy got them back to task, "This is over, it's finished," she told the cyborg, "Killing us won't make a difference so what would be the point?"
"To find the promised land," the cyborg stated, mistaking her words for a question on their prime directive.
"You're millions of years old," the Doctor shook his head, "It's time you knew, there isn't one."
"I am in search of paradise," it jerkily turned to the other robots in the room, "I will leave in the escape capsule. Destroy where necessary," it ordered.
"Escape capsule?" Vastra frowned, "This ship is millions of years old. It'll never fly."
"It has been repaired," it turned and started moving towards the bench that had taken the Time Lords down.
"What people?" Clara glanced at the Time Lords, they could only nod grimly.
"Defensive positions, everyone!" Strax called as the robots began to head towards them.
"Go!" Vastra called to them, "We will hold here," she urged them on after the cyborg.
"Come on!" Evy grabbed the Doctor's hand and pulling him towards the bench as it started to head up, taking the cyborg away from them, letting him get away. They'd only just gotten to the edge of it and it was already halfway up their bodies with no way to get on it.
"Give him to me," the Doctor turned to Clara who had run with them, taking LJ from her and ducking down, moving under the bench's platform, securing his son in one arm and grabbing a hand hold under the platform with the other, Evy and Clara hurrying to do the same as it raised them up into the air.
Evy kept her gaze on the Doctor, but he made no indication at all that it was a struggle to hold their son and himself up, his face set in a determination to not leave their son down there surrounded by the robots. The doors had opened just as they'd reached the bench, revealing the diners from the restaurant so they knew that the building above them was likely empty save for the cyborg by now. The moment the bench stopped moving she made her way closer to the Doctor, to a hatch in the floor and pulled out her sonic, flashing it at the lock and pushing the hatch open. She climbed through it, Clara after her, reaching down in to take LJ as the Doctor handed the boy over before climbing out himself to see that the restaurant was indeed empty, only the cyborg was there, at a control panel on the other side of the room.
"Clara," Evy turned to her, placing LJ into her lap, "You two STAY here," she told her, a warning finger raised when Clara tried to argue, "Please. Leave this to us, just…keep LJ safe."
Clara sighed but nodded, curling her arms around the boy and moving to sit on the edge of the bench's platform, not trusting to sit on the bench and get trapped like last time, LJ on her lap as the two Time Lords headed across the room, the cyborg not even noticing till the Doctor began to pour three glasses of whiskey, the tinkling of the glass making the robot look over.
"What are you doing?" it asked.
The Doctor looked back at LJ and turned to the cyborg again, keeping his voice low so his son wouldn't hear him, "I've got the horrible feeling I'm going to have to kill you," he admitted, "I thought you might appreciate a drink first. I know I would," he held up his glass, handing it to Evy and taking another even as the cyborg turned its back on them and pulled a lever in the control panel.
"51st century?" Evy guessed, "You crashed farther back in time than you planned and you've been spending all this time trying to get home."
"I go to the promised land," the cyborg shook its head.
"So you keep saying," the Doctor muttered, knocking back his drink and taking a breath, "Ok, so your restaurant is made out of your old ship. But you're wasting your time. It can't ever fly."
"The escape pod is viable."
"How?" Evy frowned at that, "You can't actually repair a space ship, metal parts, with organic human remains."
But just as she finished speaking the room began to shake, the ship actually powering up, working.
"Ok…" the Doctor blinked at that, "That's clever."
"How are you powering it?" Evy turned to the cyborg.
"Skin," was all it said before the room shook even more.
The Time Lords looked over at windows, seeing that the restaurant was lifting into the air, starting to fly into the sky, and there, just beside a fuse box in the wall near the control panel was an inscription, "SS Marie Antoinette," the Doctor muttered.
"How would you kill me?" the cyborg spoke once the ship had started to fly off above the buildings of London, turning to face them.
"Why don't you have a drink first?" the Doctor gestured at the last glass of whiskey still sitting there, "It's only human."
"I am not human."
"Neither are we," Evy remarked, drinking her glass, before noticing they were drifting past Saint Paul's Cathedral and moved over to a glass doorway, looking down at where they were.
"What do you think of the view?" the Doctor asked as he moved to join his Link.
"I do not think of it," the cyborg stated.
"I don't think of it," he corrected with a huff, "I don't. Droids and apostrophes, I could write a book."
"Except for the fact that he's barely a droid now," Evy eyed the cyborg, still standing at the control panel, glimpsing Clara out of the corner of her eye, watching them intently, "You've spent so long trying to become human after all."
"So tell us," the Doctor nodded at the glass, "What do you think of the view?"
The cyborg was still a moment before he shuffled over to the doorway, the Doctor and Evy moving to the side to allow him to see out, to see Westminster Bridge drawing nearer, "It is beautiful."
"No, it isn't," the Doctor shook his head, "It's just far away. Everything looks too small. I prefer it down there. Everything is huge. Everything is so important. Every detail, every moment, every life clung to."
The cyborg looked up at him at that, tilting its head in a way that disturbingly reminded the Doctor of Evy's 10th incarnation, "How could you kill me?"
"For the same reason that you're asking me that question, because you don't really want to carry on."
"If you're deactivated permanently," Evy began, "Will that affect the other droids? You're the control node, if you deactivate, so should they. They'll stop attacking our friends, they'll stop trying to complete your mission and killing more humans."
"I will not die," the cyborg straightened, "I will reach the promised land."
"There isn't any promised land," the Doctor repeated, "This is just. It's a superstition that you have picked up from all the humanity you've stuffed inside yourself."
"I am not dead."
"You are a broom," the Doctor sighed, rubbing his forehead in frustration till Evy took his hand in support, "Ok, question," he looked at the robot, "You take a broom, you replace the handle, and then later you replace the brush, and you do that over and over again. Is it still the same broom? Answer? No, of course it isn't. But you can still sweep the floor. Which is not strictly relevant…"
Evy leaned over and kissed his cheek, "Focus, Doctor."
He nodded, "So you have replaced every piece of yourself, mechanical and organic, time and time again. There's not a trace of the original you left. You probably can't even remember where you got that face from."
Evy reached into her pocket and pulled out a mirror for the cyborg to look at his face in, allowing the robot to take it as he gazed closer at it…before dropping it, "Well there's 7 years bad luck…"
"It cannot end," the cyborg stated.
"It has to," the Doctor countered, "You know it does. And there's only one way out," he turned and pushed the doors open.
"Self-destruction is against my basic program."
"And murder is against mine," the Doctor stated, glancing back at Clara and LJ and back, "That is not what I want my son to see. That is not something I want to teach him, to murder."
"You are stronger than you look. To resist what you wish to do."
"And I'm hoping you are too," the Doctor nodded, "This is over. Are you capable of admitting that?"
"Do you have it in you to murder me?"
"This planet is precious to us," Evy told him, "And those people down there," she gestured at the roads below them, "All of them are important to us. And you have been hurting them, killing them, using them. We have done far worse in the past to protect them, deactivating one cyborg is nothing compared to that."
"Don't make assumptions about how far we will go to protect them," the Doctor warned, "Because I've already come a very long way. And unlike you, I don't expect to reach the promised land," he eyed the cyborg carefully, squeezing Evy's hand, "You realize, of course, one of us is lying about our basic programming."
"Yes," the cyborg gave a jerky nod.
"And I think we both know who that is."
The cyborg looked at them a long while, holding their gazes, before his flickered to Clara and LJ, and back. Perhaps it was a testament to just how human the cyborg had been able to make himself, perhaps it was a cry to how human he wanted to be, but he turned and let himself fall out of the doorway, let himself race down towards the ground till he was impaled on a spire at the top of a building, Clara quickly putting her hand over LJ's eyes the moment she realized what the cyborg was about to do.
That was not something any child needed to see.
~8~
Clara breathed out as she stepped into the TARDIS after the Doctor and Evy, LJ walking between them. They'd managed to get the escape pod set down, leaving it to Vastra and Jenny and Strax to deal with, the three of them (Clara was a bit surprised that SHE was one of the three) wanting to just get back to the TARDIS and check on the box, to get out of there and onto their next adventure. That and LJ was very excited at the prospect of a 'new Tardy!' as he kept shouting the whole way there. It seemed like the last time the Doctor regenerated the TARDIS had changed shape on the inside, that it had done it again around a Christmas, and LJ wanted to see if it would do so again.
Apparently it had. It was a rather…more mature setting, less like a cold alien machine and like a cross between what it had been and a library of sorts. There were steps leading up to the console, and more around it, one to the side that led to a leather armchair, and one in the middle that led to a gallery that had a line of bookshelves across it with a large blackboard too.
"You've redecorated," she called up to the box.
'Yes I have,' the TARDIS responded.
"And fixed the chip back in I see," Evy remarked, moving to the console to check on the chip she'd made that had allowed the TARDIS to speak to them.
'Of course,' came the response, sounding as though the box were rolling her eyes at them, 'I've been silent for too long, you can't shut me up now if you tried.'
"Nor would we want to," the Doctor patted the console, picking LJ up to show him the new controls as the boy was on ship tip toes trying to see.
"I like it," Clara smiled, making the box hum in happiness.
"Round things!" LJ cheered, pointing over his father's shoulders at what seemed to be almost a wallpaper of the roundels.
"Yes, boyo," the Doctor laughed, taking his pointed finger, "I used to have lots of round things. Real round things. I wonder where I put them?" he fell silent at that, looking down at the console in thought.
Evy moved over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder, "What is it?"
He looked at her, reaching out to touch her cheek, making Clara want to look away at the intimacy of the moment, making Clara smile as well at the memories of when the Captain would do that to her as well, "I've lived for over 2,000 years," he murmured, shocking Clara slightly at that. She knew he'd been about 1200 when she'd met him, that 300 years had passed on Christmas the first time she'd been parted from them, but she hadn't know so much time had passed in the second go, "Not all of them were good."
"I know," Evy reached up to touch his hand, "I've been in your head almost every single one of those years."
"I've made many mistakes, and…" he looked at his son, "It's about time that I did something about that," he kissed LJ's head, smiling as the boy tried to wave him off with a huff, "It's time I made up for that."
Evy smiled gently at that, at how he wanted to make amends, fix his mistakes, set a better example for their son, "Then we will," she told him, "Whatever you want."
He smiled at her, leaning in to rest his forehead to hers a moment.
Clara smiled at that, when a thought hit her, she still had Evy's sonic! She quickly reached into her pocket and pulled it out, only to pull out the advert clipping as well, "Who put that advert in the paper?" she had to ask, if it hadn't been them or the cyborg, then who?
The Time Lords looked over at her, Clara's expression going soft at the sight of LJ starting to drift away in his father's arms, "Who gave you our number?" the Doctor countered, "A long time ago, remember? You were given the number of a computer helpline, and you ended up phoning the TARDIS. Who gave you that number?"
"The woman," Clara answered, "The woman in the shop."
"Then there's a woman out there who's very keen that we all stay together," he eyed Clara, "How do you feel on the subject?"
Clara smiled at that, moving closer to them, "I wouldn't have it any other way!" she cheered, reaching out to hug them both, careful of LJ in his arms.
But the Doctor tensed, "I don't think that I'm a hugging person now…"
"I'm not sure you get a vote," Clara remarked.
"Your…boyfriend…won't like you hugging other men," he tried, being careful to not say Link around LJ, the boy just on the cusp of sleep.
"I think he'd make an exception in this case," she pulled back, giving him a pointed look, he was as good as her father-in-law in a way, if there was one man on the planet that the Captain wouldn't have an issue with her hugging it would be his own father.
Evy smiled at that, "How about I put him down for his nap," she reached out to take LJ from the Doctor, smiling as the boy's hand curled around her hair, "And the three of us go out for coffees, a nice normal trip to finish off this last doozy."
'I know a lovely one in Glasgow!' the box informed them.
The Doctor smiled, "I'd like that, yeah."
"Coffee would be great," Clara agreed, "You're buying, though."
"I don't have any money!"
"I do," Evy cut in with a roll of her eye, turning to head for the stairs to the halls, the Doctor and Clara following behind, the two heading for the wardrobe as she went for LJ's room, needing to change before setting out in the modern era in clothes from Victorian London.
Evy couldn't help but smile as they parted, the Doctor taking her hand to pull her to him, stealing a kiss from her that she owed him for returning to her in under five minutes, before she shook her head and pushed him way to the wardrobe with Clara. She turned, letting out a happy breath as she walked on, pressing a kiss to her son's head, mysterious adverts or phone calls or promised lands aside, they were all together still, and that was what mattered.
~8~
In a bright garden, the cyborg woke with a start, sitting up straight in his chair on a small, white patio overlooking a fountain where a woman in dark, Edwardian style clothing was sitting on the edge, her black hair pulled into a tight bun, her eyebrows as severe as her grin.
"Hello," she greeted, standing, "I'm Missy. You made it," she made her way over to him, sitting on the other side of a small table where a pot of tea was resting, "I hope my little darling's boyfriend wasn't too mean to you."
"Who?" the cyborg tilted his head.
But Missy just waved it off, "Now, did he push you out of that thing, or did you fall? He can be very mean sometimes, quite manipulative, even when he doesn't mean to be. Except to me, of course, he always means it when it comes to me," she sighed, "Misunderstandings in the past, bad blood, fights over a woman," she laughed, "Not that he ever realized it was because of that," she sighed, "Not sure about his new accent, though. She seems to like it though. Might keep it…"
"Where am I?" the cyborg inquired.
"Where do you think you are?" she smiled, gesturing around, "Look around you. You made it. The promised land. Paradise," she grinned, hopping up and throwing her arms out on either side of her, spinning around in a bit of a dance around the fountain, laughing as she went, the cyborg just watching on, "Welcome," she called, "To heaven."
A/N: I had to switch posting this and my Star Wars story chapters today :( A lot of physical work the last couple days made for some pain and headaches with moving and, while I'd had my Star Wars chapter edited, I'd only gotten through about 1/4 of this chapter by 2am and I had to sleep :( So I switched the posting order just for today, but tomorrow Evy will be back bright and early ;)
As for this chapter...I really wanted to put in the phone conversation with 11, but it felt out of place here. Clara knew more about regeneration and handled it better so I couldn't really see 11 calling her to help her through it :( But I hope her acceptance of the new Doctor makes up for that :) I also wanted to sort of help set up Clara for later in the series with her and Evy facing the cyborg together. I tried to make it a sort of jumping off point/lesson for how Clara can help take care of herself and survive if she ever found herself alone without anyone there :) I know it was also implied in the show that the Doctor pushed the cyborg out of the ship, but here, with LJ watching, I couldn't see him do that so the cyborg tapped into his desires for humanity and took the plunge :)
Quick note about episode covers for the story. I'll be posting them on my tumblr in terms of how they relate to the chapter posted. If the cover is a scene from the second part, it'll be posted on that day, if it's a scene from the first part it'll be posted on the first day ;)
Some notes on reviews...
J might not show up at Coal Hill, but he'll definitely pop up quite a bit ;)
Missy will sort of try to get both their attention :)
I can't say if it's a foreshadow or not }:) I can say I do plan for Clara to regenerate one day, but I won't say when that day might be }:)
True :) Lots of scheduling conflicts :( I'm sorry your head still bothers you :( I broke my foot once and whenever we're supposed to get rain it gets all stiff :(
Oh Evy will have quite a new way to handle 12, I think she's at the point where she's just old enough to be amused by him and his rudeness which sort of helps ease the tension with others :)
Yup, J will pop up here and there and feature into at least 1 episode ;)
Clara became a Time Lady in the time tunnel :) When she entered it, she was broken into little pieces that represented her multiple echo-lives. The largest chunk ended up being her life as a Time Lady on Gallifrey and, when she fell to the bottom of the tunnel and reformed, all the different broken pieces reformed around that larger part (like gravity) which reshaped her into Clara, but a Time Lady version of her :)
That part bothered me too, that she reacted so much to him changing his face, in a way it was a little worse than when Rose reacted to it :/ Clara definitely had a different reaction here :) I feel like, with seeing Evy regenerate, she had a better grip on what to expect and how to deal with it. When Evy did it, she had the Doctor, J, LJ, Rose, and two other versions of the Doctor to help her cope, as well as her own memories of what regeneration is. So she's much more prepared and comfortable with the idea here :)
The Doctor, at that point, was sort of still recovering from regeneration, still loopy and scatterbrained, hard to hold his focus, so it was meant to be out of place so I'm glad you noticed! ;)