Chapter 9

'I'm not even bothered about her…' Missy thought to herself as she trudged down the street, 'Call me heartless, but the foolish girl deserves all she got. If this is how she abuses help, it's a good job for her that she's almost immortal…'

The streetlights flickered as the Time Lady wandered the alleyways. Every so often, she'd hear the quiet chatting of two people: Psi and Saibra. They were looking for the TARDIS, she knew, which reminded her that she was supposed to be finding the TARDIS, too…

She frowned and considered heading back to The Doctor, but decided that, since Clara would have told him what had happened, that would be a bad idea. Missy was currently trying to stay on The Doctor's good side, but after today, she might have to start from scratch.

Clara was also searching for something: the sonic screwdriver.

She had explained everything to The Doctor and had generally felt very guilty of her own stupidity. The Doctor hadn't responded at first, only looked at her with a face that Clara couldn't decide whether was disappointment or sympathy.

"Forget me: I'm fine…" Clara had huffed, turning away, "Just… make sure everyone else is OK, I can sort myself out," and she had walked away.

"Clara!" The Doctor had called after her, but she didn't reply, just sped up her pace and eventually ran.

She ran from the distress she had caused and the shame of having to explain her mistakes.

'If he really loved me,' she thought now, as she wandered on her own (save from her unwanted companion), 'He'd have stopped me. Don't you think, Whisper?'

"My thoughts precisely!" Whisper smirked as Clara let her control, "Now, what is this 'sonic screwdriver' thing you're so bothered about finding?"

"Just a… a device…" Clara replied, tiredly.

"What does it do?"

"Things."

"Things…" Whisper repeated, hopping down the path and looking around. She decided to creep round the other way, towards the factory, to go and look for the sonic screwdriver without being seen by The Doctor. So to Sandygate she headed.

"Would said device that does things be worth stealing?" She asked, eventually.

"Oh, definitely," Clara hummed, "That's why I don't want it falling into the wrong hands. If it did, I don't know what would happen…"

Whisper shrugged and started to walk through the streets to the factory. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing going on today, she realised, and she was getting rather fed up. All she wanted was for The Hummingbird to finally cave in and die, and then she could be human and go about her new life.

"Would you say mine are the wrong hands?" She mused.

"No…" Clara sniggered, "Cause they're mine!" And she laughed at her own rubbish joke.

"What do you think's so funny?" Whisper snarled, annoyed at the realisation that she didn't yet actually have hands.

"Nothing… I just thought we'd be better off making friends: after all, you're stuck with me for three hours yet!"

"Listen – I don't want your friendship, I just want to be human," Whisper spat, angrily.

"Fair enough, killjoy," Clara replied, light-heartedly. She believed what she'd said. She'd had time to think while they were walking and she realised now that she wasn't going to get anywhere if she didn't carry out the next part of her plan. She could do this, she told herself, if only she could think of how…

When they eventually reached the factory, there were still police officers everywhere, still searching the place. Clara was fed up of the police: whether she was hiding from them or helping them, they never really brought her anything good.

Whisper stayed out of sight, listening to the officers talk among themselves.

"Vandals?" One suggested.

"Probably. If so, we need to find them," another replied, flashing his torch about.

"Talking about finding…" Whisper murmured, "We need to find this sonic screwdriver…"

"Careful not to be seen," Clara warned her, hissing. She didn't want to be locked up for something she hadn't done – that was definitely not on her list of things she'd like to do.

Whisper shrugged and waited until the coast was clear, then ran like a bullet towards the entrance to the factory. When she entered, there were still policemen inside, but they didn't seem to see or hear her. Good.

"You take over," she thought, "You know what the thing looks like."

So The Hummingbird snapped into power and started to retrace her steps through the place, trying not to be heard by the men. All the while, she was thinking. She had gone back to her negative view: it had been alright when she was alone with Whisper, but when she came into close proximity to other people, she tensed up and somehow convinced herself of her own fate.

And Whisper was grinning. Grinning because every time Clara gave in, she gained a little bit more life – one step closer to achieving her goal.

'Is it all just a show of sympathy put on for me? I don't need sympathy: all I need is help…' Clara thought, 'Not that I can't deal with my own problems, it'd just be nice to have a hand with the decision-making. After all, I wouldn't be in the position I am now if someone hadn't turned it all into an argument. Maybe Missy is better off as an enemy… or maybe I'll try and make it up to her when I'm fully sane.'

The Hummingbird was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she forgot what she was looking for and tripped up over something. Gazing down to the floor, she saw that it was the sonic.

She picked it up and tossed it up and down in her hand,

"Easy…" she whispered, "Now all we have to do is get back to The Doctor and wait for 8 o'clock."

Whisper was silent. And she stayed silent as Clara headed out of the factory and back out onto the cold streets again. Both she and Clara knew where The Doctor would be waiting: near the cycle shop. But when they had made their way over the river and rounded the corner of Charlotte Street, they heard two voices talking… one of them being Missy.

Clara snarled, overhearing Missy talk about her,

"I don't know why you like her so much," she heard, "I mean, she's hardly at all tactful."

Whisper could feel The Hummingbird becoming more and more incensed as though she was just about ready to snap again and destroy everything anyone had ever loved. But Clara managed to pull herself together and composed herself before heading round the corner,

"Missy, Missy, Missy," she tutted, "Have you forgotten who you're dealing with here?"

"Oh, poppet! We were just talking about you!" Missy grinned, sheepishly, realising by The Hummingbird's stance that she meant business: outspread wings and folded arms.

"I heard…" Clara growled.

The Doctor stood, quietly. Secretly, he felt rather sorry for Missy: she was about to experience the wrath of the Wisp-influenced, half insane young woman of whom she had so openly insulted. Best just to take a step back.

"Don't you have bigger worries at the moment?" Missy asked, tentatively, "Just focus on Whisper and-"

"Be quiet, Missy; I can hardly remember how this all started, but all I can hear is your nagging voice teasing and criticizing me for making one simple decision: the best decision I could have made, in fact. Right now, you're pushing my limits and I'm just so fed up of it: of you, of everything. And don't you anger me when I'm like this, or you'll be in even more of a predicament than I!" Clara snapped, and her eyes seemed to flash.

"Oooh! A cat fight!" A voice said, suddenly.

Clara spun around to see Psi and Saibra standing close behind. She growled, under her breath, as her anger built up. She felt just about ready to kill everyone and make it look like some sort of freak accident, but at that moment, she spied something… another Wisp. It was lurking behind Missy, but the Time Lady didn't seem to notice.

"Echo…" Whisper hissed.

"Who?" Clara thought.

"My sister… my strange, strange sister…"

"What's so strange about her?"

"She only feeds from 'bad' people and leaves the 'good'. She desperately wants to become human, even more than I do, but I always tell her it will take too long if she spares 70% of her prey. When she does find a 'bad' person, however, she will try and make their death as painful as possible as she drains their life."

"She sounds nice… as nice as a Wisp can be, anyway."

"But you're angry at Missy, so she's seeing Missy as a bad person, I think." Whisper explained.

Clara bit her lip. She had a decision to make, seeing as nobody else had seemed to notice Echo. Her decision was a difficult one: save Missy and experience even more pain than she was going through now, or leave Missy to face the pain she was currently facing.

What made her decision a bit easier was thinking of all the times Missy had been callous: abandoning her, ridiculing her, bad-mouthing her…

The Hummingbird sighed and made her final decision.

She knew she would regret this.