*Hello Stonehenge! Chapter 4, and it's time to introduce the dashing Gallifreyan known as: The Doctor! Let the Whouffle commence! I super hope that you guys like this chapter and as ever, thank you so much to Chantelle for all of her help and all of you wonderful peeps who read, review, follow and favourite! Pretty please with a cherry on top review! TPD*
The TARDIS dropped Clara, lugging the unconscious body of Walter Simeon behind her, onto a pad in a small entrance corridor, not very big and white, though the warmer sort of white, not the clinical shade that she had left behind at Simeon's compound. She stepped out of the corridor, dragging Simeon along behind her, gripping him firmly by the collar in her right hand.
Once she was out of the corridor, she was into a very large, very well lit room. An entire wall was dedicated to computers. There were seemingly hundreds of the things, blipping and beeping, with all manner of interfaces. It was like a computer nerd's dream. There were plenty of chairs and sofas in the room, along with a pool table, which struck her as odd for a strategic base to have in its main meeting room. There were several tables, each set up so that an interface could pop out of the bottom. There was even a bar in one corner. It was also tall, so when Clara looked up, she could only just pick out the ceiling, high above her.
They were underground, she knew that much. Very far underground, judging by the height of the ceiling. The main entrance was by the TARDIS, but there were a plethora, according to Jake, of secret tunnels that surrounded the base. There were two other corridors, apart from the one that Clara had just stepped out of, adjoining the room, one to either side of Clara and the computer wall was directly opposite her.
A man was sat in a chair facing the computers and she heard his frantic typing stop when she entered. He swivelled his chair around and stood. This was the man that she had referred to as the big-chinned man. The one with the eccentric dress sense. He was almost a foot taller than her, with the most floppy hair that she had ever seen on a human being and sure enough, he was wearing the purple tweed jacket and matching bow tie. And a waistcoat. He stalked over to her, his gangly limbs looking particularly odd as he walked, a peculiar look on his face as he stopped about an inch from her and looked her up and down, craning his head in every direction to fully examine her, almost as if he was dissecting her.
"You're much shorter than I anticipated from your file," he concluded.
Clara was taken-aback by this, so she said the first thing that came into her head. "Well your chin is much bigger in person than it was on TV!" she riposted, raising an eyebrow, a faint smile playing on her lips as she stared him down. He gave her the biggest, warmest, most welcoming grin that she had ever seen and then pulled her into a hug that probably would have been a lot less painful had she not been utterly shattered.
"Clara Oswald?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye as he broke the hug.
"And you must be the Doctor," Clara found herself unable to stop smiling in response to this thoroughly incredible man. She glanced back at Simeon. "I brought you a present."
"Walter Simeon!" the Doctor shot him a look. "We've had a holding cell with his name on it for a few weeks now. I take it that it went off without a hitch?"
Clara shrugged coyly. "There was a complication. Nothing that I couldn't handle."
"Ah," the Doctor nodded, gesturing for Clara to follow him down the corridor to her right, his left. "The Whispermen. Unpleasant creatures. We knew Simeon was trying to splice himself, create soldiers utterly loyal to him and nigh on unstoppable. We didn't realise that he'd achieved it. How did you defeat them?" he asked eagerly, and the look on his face told her that this was what he lived for.
"By hitting them very hard repeatedly," Clara replied.
"Well that's one way," the Doctor chuckled. "Sorry, I should be giving you a tour of sorts. This is your first time in the base. This corridor leads to all the work stuffs. So training areas, holding cells, medical bay, armoury, garage etc. The holding cells are just down here," he indicated to another corridor off-shooting the one that they were in and Clara followed him down it, making no effort to stop Simeon's body from hitting the wall as she turned the corner. "And the other corridor that goes off from the main base room is living quarters. Bedrooms, kitchens, swimming pool, bowling alley, cinema etc. There's also some more bits and bobs, I'll give you a proper tour later. Do you need any medical attention?"
"Honestly," Clara let the hardness drop from her voice. If she was going to be working with the Doctor, living with the Doctor, almost certainly ending up being friends with the Doctor, then it made no sense to pretend to be something that she wasn't. "I just want a long hot bath and to sleep until I'm dead. I'm absolutely knackered."
He gave her a sympathetic look. "I've been there," he murmured. "First mission and it was solo, you've earned a bit of rest. I'll take you to your room once we've disposed of Simeon. Jake said you made a list of stuff that you wanted to keep from your apartment and he brought everything that you listed. Apparently you two sorted it out before you left to take on Simeon?"
Clara nodded. She and Jake had spent the day running over plans for taking on Simeon, but also preparing for Clara's disappearance. He'd helped her pack anything that she wanted to keep, clothes, photos, teddies, even a poster for a crappy band that she liked and bundled it all into boxes. If she was going to leave her old life behind her, at least she didn't have to forget it.
"Is that it then?" she asked, sounding more vulnerable than she meant to. "Am I dead?"
The Doctor stopped in his tracks and she almost walked into the back of him. He swivelled and gave her a sad smile. "See for yourself," he said and tapped his watch a couple of times, bringing up a newspaper entry about an apartment block fire. "Your entire block burned down. Frankly it's a miracle that only you were in that day. Apparently, everyone else won the lottery." She smiled at that. "How does it feel to be a ghost Clara Oswald?"
Clara bit her lip and shrugged slightly. "We're all just ghosts in the end," she told him, stepping into the room that they had stopped outside, making sure to bang Simeon's head against the wall as she threw him into his cell. The room he would spend the rest of his miserable, uncomfortable life in. " Everybody dies in the end Doctor. I'm just glad that I can make my death worth something."
As promised, the Doctor showed Clara her room and left her to relax. It was spacious, bigger than she had been expecting, with a four-poster bed, her own ruby red sheets emblazoning the top of it. Her clothes had been put away properly, as if someone had taken the time and effort to make her feel at home the second that she had arrived. The attached en-suite bathroom was filled with her things as well, little slices of home comfort that Clara had wanted to keep hold of. The shampoo her mum had always used, her favourite lipstick, the little things. The room already smelled like home. It was as if someone had bottled the scent of her apartment and sprayed it in her new room. Her crappy band poster had even been pinned up for her. Clara had a bath, as long, hot and bubbly as she could make it and washed the grime and blood from her hair and skin. She felt like herself. Which she knew was important to Jake. He told her that the most important thing was not to lose yourself to the job. It became your life, but it didn't have to become you. And clearly, Jake or someone else had gone to great pains to make Clara feel like she was still Clara.
She sat on the edge of her bed, her hair wrapped in a towel, a pink fluffy dressing gown over her shoulders. She was stroking a picture of her mother, one of the last that she had. There was a knock at the door and she felt the sudden urge to hide the photo, as if she wanted to protect the memory. Instead, she placed the photo back on her bedside table and crossed the room to open the door. The Doctor was stood there, twiddling his thumbs and he tried not to look uncomfortable as she gave him a nod.
"Ah!" he greeted. "Clara."
"Doctor," she acknowledged in an amused tone, the smile creeping back onto her face as she raised an eyebrow at him. "How can I help you?"
"I was just uh," he fumbled slightly over his words. "Jake sent me!" he realised eventually, as if he had been looking for the reason that he had come to her door. "Yes, he's holding a group meeting. Wants to introduce you to the team. And to debrief you on the Simeon mission. Christ," he shook his head and chuckled. "I make it sound so formal. We're just going to grab a drink and chat!" he tried, shaking his head at that too. "I just mean…"
"It's okay," Clara giggled, despite herself. "I'll be in the main room in five. And don't worry about hovering outside my room while I change, I can find my way."
"Right!" the Doctor nodded. "Yes. Indeed. Onwards. I'll uh, see you in a moment then."
"Goodbye Doctor," Clara shook her head as she shut the door on him, still laughing slightly at the incredibly odd individual that she had just met. He was nothing like she had been expecting. Jake had warned her that the Doctor was eccentric, but she had been expecting mad scientist and he was more like an excited child or a puppy. Jake himself was very terse, kind but not the kind of person who you wanted to cross. He had never been anything other than lovely to her, except when they were fighting. Then he had kicked the shit out of her and been merciless. She wondered what the others would be like.
Clara dressed quickly, pulling on her favourite spotted red dress that fell about her knees. She dabbed a bit of makeup on and swept her hair from its towel, letting it fall in waves to her shoulders. She examined herself in the mirror. She didn't know why she was making the effort, after all, these people were going to see her in all manner of compromising situations, but then, she wasn't doing it for them. She was doing it for her. Every little detail of Clara's life had changed. But she still had her favourite red dress. And damn it all, she wanted to wear it.
Clara stepped out of her room and the walk down the corridor felt like the entrance to an arena. She could hear the crowds cheering inside her head, but really, there was just a smattering of cheerful conversation, drifting down the walls. Someone was laughing, a girl, with a very jovial laugh. It made Clara feel at ease instantly but only momentarily and when she stepped into the main room, the small group sat on the plush sofas turned to look at her.
The Doctor was smiling, his face warm and welcoming. She could have almost expected that, as the Doctor struck her as a very warm and welcoming person, if a little awkward. As if on cue, he almost tumbled backwards off of it, grabbing the tall, ginger girl next to him for support. Jake was giving her a smirk, a look of what Clara could only discern as pride as he slouched back, arms crossed and he nodded to her as their eyes met. The red headed girl next to the Doctor was eyeing Clara with a wary look, but it was only there for a second before her echoing laugh returned at the Doctor's antics. She must have been Amy; for her hand was clasped around the hand of the mousy-haired man sat on her other side. He looked awkward, but not awkward like the Doctor. The Doctor's awkwardness was a bumbling, carefree sort, like his brain and his body didn't quite fit together, whereas the mousy-haired man, who Clara diagnosed as Rory, looked like he was perpetually uncomfortable and even when his lips twirled upwards in Clara's direction, it felt resigned, rather than genuine. The woman sat on the chair between the two sofas folded her arms when she saw Clara, arching an eyebrow and eyeing Clara up in a fashion that Clara could almost call patronising. She had wild hair and military-like clothing and she shot Jake a look when she had finished weighing up Clara, as if to say: 'I approve.' She was River Song.
"Clara!" Jake greeted, patting the sofa spot beside him as the Doctor managed to rescue his position opposite where Jake was rapping his hand. "Join us! Fancy a drink?"
"No thanks," Clara replied, her voice quieter than she'd been expecting it to be as she flopped down beside Jake and crossed her legs, placing her hands in her lap. She was very much used to having all the eyes in the room on her, so she didn't flinch at that. Instead, she took the opportunity to do to them what they were all doing to her. Dissect them, read them, learn them. Rory was the only one not looking at her, yet another sign of his uncomfortability. Amy was desperately trying to assess whether she liked Clara or not and Clara suspected that their entire friendship, or lack of, would depend on what Amy decided in those next few moments. The Doctor was practically drinking her in. He probably didn't even realise what he was doing, unlike the others and was merely looking at Clara with an eagerness that she hadn't been expecting. Jake had hinted that the Doctor was excited by the prospect of Clara, but he'd never said why. And as for River, well she was looking at Clara in amusement and defiance, almost daring Clara to try and read her back.
"So you took down Simeon?"
It was Amy who had spoken, trying and failing to keep the suspicion out of her voice, which earned her an exasperated and almost pissed off look from Jake, and one of confusion from the Doctor. Clara nodded, then straightened slightly, and allowed herself a smile.
"He's in your holding cells right?" she asked, in a manner that made it perfectly clear that Clara knew exactly where Simeon was.
"Nope," Jake said nonchalantly and Clara whipped round so fast she almost decapitated him with her hair. "I executed him," Jake shrugged and Clara frowned instantly.
"You told me to bring him in!" she accused.
"Yes," Jake agreed. "I did. Alive or dead. And you brought him in alive. Now he's dead. Problem?"
"I don't like it," Clara snapped. "I didn't sign up for a regime where you execute people instead of giving them justice."
"Yes," Jake said, his cool demeanour rapidly disappearing and Clara had forgotten that the rest of the group existed in that moment. "You did. I made it clear to you from the off that there would be death involved. That we operated within a moral grey area. You're not a killer Clara and that's fine, that's your way of doing things. But Simeon was too dangerous to be left alive and once I'd extracted all the information of value that he was holding, I put him down."
"Surely he deserves to suffer in a cell for the rest of his miserable life, rather than the quick release of death that you gave him?" Clara protested and Jake was smiling now.
"So this isn't about justice, but vengeance?" he challenged and Clara paled. "Believe me Clara, the remainder of Walter Simeon's paltry existence was far from pleasant. He suffered plenty. But if this base is compromised or Simeon finds a way to escape, then he could wreak untold havoc on this galaxy. You knew the conditions coming in. I'm not going to make you do anything, but you know where the door is. I can have the Doctor set up a cushy new identity for you in minutes."
Clara heard the Doctor protesting but she was only focusing on Jake, their eyes locked, hers blazing, his ice cold and almost threatening her to walk out, confident that she wouldn't. He was right of course, but Clara didn't want to appear weak, so she didn't break the contact, she merely gave him a fake smile and ran a hand through her hair. He broke the contact for her and as she turned, she found herself staring into the eyes of the Doctor, who looked more uncomfortable than she could have imagined. River's smirk hadn't wavered. Amy's had. Rory was still looking at the wall.
"The data that I received off of Simeon," Jake continued as if nothing was amiss, his voice cool and breaking through the tension in the air. "Helped us determine that there are rumours, whispers of a political assassination in the air. Harriet Jones, you know of her?"
Clara snapped back into Jake's words, all thoughts of the darkest nether regions of morality abandoned when she heard the name. The British Prime Minister. She knew that she wasn't the only one, as everyone had stopped looking at her and were focused on Jake. The mission came first.
"Well, it turns out, the delightful Miss Jones," Jake's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Is the target of a bounty. There are twelve million dollars on her head. But, for the bounty to be collected, then the assassination has to take place on Halloween, during her big speech outside the House of Commons."
"Halloween's only eight days away," Clara murmured, as if counting the days in her head. "What's the plan?"
"I've made a list," Jake explained, activating the hologram on the table and pulling up said list. "Of the top fifteen international assassins. Assuming that they stay Earth based. Three of them are currently out of action, and if I send off a warning that we're involved, I have deals with another three, and I know two of them will shit themselves and not turn up."
"So what do we do about the other seven?" River asked, the curl of her lips and the inflection of her voice making it clear what she had planned for them. Clara could see her hand move two inches to the left, almost on instinct, presumably reaching for her gun.
"We terminate them," Jake said with a smile, before shooting Clara a look. "If that's alright with Clara here?"
The look she shot him was pure poison. "You can terminate whoever the hell you want," Clara informed him, seeing River's smile grow out of the corner of her eye. "If you assign me any targets, they'll end up in your holding cells. And next time I put someone in there, I'll have the Doctor change the codes so that you can't get in there."
If the Doctor disagreed with this, he didn't say anything and Jake shot his friend a look that said: 'If you even dare!' Clara heard a laugh and to her surprise (and it seemed, almost everyone else's) it was Rory who had laughed. Jake glared at Rory, who simply shrugged. Jake threw his hands up in the air in defeat and Clara allowed herself a little giggle of triumph. She could practically hear the Doctor's sigh of relief. When Jake turned back to look at Clara, he had a reluctant and begrudging grin plastered on his stupid face.
"Fine," he laughed. "Fine. I'm the one who trained you, I should have known that you'd fight me over every little thing. You do your missions your way Clara Oswald, God knows it's refreshing to have someone with a scrap of morality around here for a change." The Doctor cleared his throat but Jake ignored him. "I have two targets for you Clara, I want them in the holding cells by the end of the week. River, likewise. Amy, Doctor, I have the perfect targets for you two and Rory, this one's yours." He was swiping furiously, sending names of targets flinging around the table as everyone sat up to stare at the names in front of them. When Clara looked up, Jake was smiling at her warmly again. "Welcome to the team."