Clara led the woman into a shop that had just been vandalised by the spheres, and shut the door behind them, as they hid behind a row of shelves.
"I thought he said they were friendly" The woman said.
"He fooled us," Clara stated, "All of us. The whole planet"
And yet The Great Intelligence was yet to show his face. So all this devastation happened. That couldn't be, though. The Doctor would have figured something out to stop it, and things would be back to normal. And speaking of the man, she still needed to find him. If The Great Intelligence found him before she did, it would be an even worse catastrophe than what was currently happening.
"So what do we do?" The woman asked.
"Give me a minute," Clara replied, "I'll think of something"
Clara looked around the shop for anything that they could use to disguise themselves from the spheres, and escape before they killed them...But there was nothing. They were going to have to take a chance.
"Stay close to me," Clara told the woman, "We need to go back out"
"Back out there?! Are you outta your mind?!" The woman yelled at her, "You're bonkers, girl!"
"Hiding in here isn't any safer," Clara told her, "They'll be back"
Besides, she thought, I need to find The Doctor. Every minute she wastes hanging around is another minute closer to The Great Intelligence ruining this event. But she knew she couldn't just leave this woman to die. The Doctor would have done the same thing. Clara peeked around the corner of the bookshelf, and noticed the street was quiet, so motioned for the woman to follow her. The two quietly snuck into the street, the woman looking around as they quickly darted through the backs of buildings.
"Ohmygod...," The woman said, noticing all the hacked up bodies lying around the street, "Did those sphere things do all this?"
"Most likely," Clara told the woman, "We don't have time to stop, though, hurry!"
They run past a house, with a woman outside, beckoning them to come in. Left with no choice as they notice the spheres come back, they follow her call, and the woman slams the door behind them.
"Are we safe in here?" Clara asked.
"For now" The woman told them, pointing to the door.
The door was sealed as much as it could be, with heavy planks of wood to heavy bolts of metal.
"But what about everyone else?!" The redheaded woman shouted, "My family's still out there!"
"You need to stay calm, I'm sure they've found shelter of their own, Miss...," The door woman said, "I'm sorry, what was your name?"
"Donna," answered the redhead, "And you'd better pray they found shelter, or else..."
Donna. That name rang a small bell in Clara's head too, but everything was a blur at the moment, with everything that was going on.
"Donna," she said, grabbing ahold of Donna, "Look. You're safe. And I'm sure your family's safe aswell, wherever they are. You need to relax, and keep that in mind."
And with that, Clara went to leave, but the other woman stopped her.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, I can't stay" Clara replied.
"You can't go back out there!" the woman told her.
"I have to" Clara said.
"You really are mad," Donna said, "What on Earth could be so important that you'd risk your life for?"
Clara was silent for a moment, until someone from the other room yelled out to them.
"Helga, come quick! He's on TV again!" they said.
With that, the three women ran into the living room, where a whole bunch of people were sitting around in front of the television...and Harold Saxon appeared on it.
"It's the Prime Minister" Clara said.
"Calls himself The Master now" Helga corrected her.
The Master. That name rang a bell for Clara too. Being so far in The Doctor's timestream, though, she couldn't remember any details. Funny thing that, details. They disappear with every echo she becomes.
"Something weird about that man, I tell ya" Donna added.
"Shh!" Someone quieted them as they all paid attention to what was being said.
"My people," The Master was saying, "Salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there, stories of a child, walking the Earth, giving you hope. But I ask you, how much hope has this man got?"
He then wheeled an old man onto the screen. But it wasn't just any old man. Donna and Clara recognised him. Clara could feel it in her bones, and Donna recognised that ugly suit from Christmas day. That was him. That was The Doctor. Harold Saxon, or The Master, or whoever he was, had clearly done something to him.
"Say hello, Gandalf. Except he's not that old, but he's an alien, with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. But what if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All nine hundred years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?"
The Master then proceeded to adjust the tool in his hand and zap The Doctor with it, causing him to age more and more.
"Older and older and older and older. Down you go, Doctor. Down, down, down go the years" he said.
The Doctor got older and older until he reduced to a shrivelled up little Gollum-type creature, which made both Clara and Donna's hearts sink.
"Doctor," The Master said, then looking deep into the screen, "Received and understood, Miss Jones?"
And then the TV went back to it's original programming. Clara was utterly shocked, as was Donna, but she was more angry. There was also something else, in subtle view, behind The Master that Clara could see. The Great Intelligence. She had to be there.
"I'm sorry, Helga," she turned to the woman who let them in, "Now I really have to go. Where is the Prime Minister? Or The Master, whatever he calls himself"
"You're kidding..." Helga trailed.
"You can't go back out there, child!" said an elderly woman.
"I can, and I am!" Clara fumed.
"Even if you did, there's no way you'd be able to actually get to The Master" said a man.
"Why not?!" asked Clara.
"He took control of the Valiant, one of UNIT'S biggest ships. It's presumably still up in the sky, somewhere" the man replied.
"Then I'll find a way on it!" Clara said, heading for the door.
"And I'm coming with you!" Donna added, following her in her footsteps.
"Donna...," Clara said, turning around, "You can't..."
"I can, and I am," Donna repeated Clara's words, "Now shut it, and let's go!"
And with that, Donna pushed Clara out the door. Besides, The Doctor wasn't going to die before she took him up on his offer.
