Ignoring the bodies scattered on the floor, holes in their bodies still gently cooking from the hot plasma that had been forced through them, Clara and Ashildr crept through the hallways of the Torchwood base. They were on a mission to save Vastra and Jenny, and then get the hell out of there. The fact that Clara had been under a bag and Ashildr had been unconscious didn't help things, in essence they had no idea where they were going.

"I came from this direction," Ashildr stated, walking out in front of Clara and down the hallway. "It would make sense if all of the holding cells were in the same area, they'd want to be able to easily contain a breakout if one happened and they would only be able to do that if all the cells were in the same spot."

Clara's eyes widened when she saw what was in Ashildr's hand, yet another gun. This one was no where near as sleek and refined as the one she had already destroyed and instead looked as if it had been created from scraps, shards of metal sticking out of nearly every surface in violent angles, pieces of wire connecting the trigger to the barrel and body of the gun. Whatever it was it looked dangerous, a weapon made out of scraps with the explicit purpose of killing.

"I can't believe you," Clara muttered, stopping dead in the middle of the corridor.

"What do you mean?" Ashildr replied, taking a few more steps before realising Clara was no longer following her.

"Even though I just explained why weapons are wrong… you just pull another one? I thought you understood my point."

Ashildr let out a long breath of air, looking to the ground not in fear or embarrassment but her own disbelief. She gave Clara a sad smile, one that betrayed the age of her youthful face.

"I've lived longer than your Doctor you know, such a long time… Billions upon Billions of years. Some things are ingrained deep into me, and peaceful negotiation is not one of those things. You're young Clara, still naive, I survived to the end of time itself, long since all the other immortals had crumbled into dust… I didn't do that by talking."

"The Doctor wouldn't approve…"

"Well the Doctor isn't here," Ashildr yelled out, causing Clara to flinch. "The Doctor isn't here and for me he never was, so it's just us now. He doesn't even remember you, he forgot, so why don't you get off of your self righteous high horse and help me save your friends."

"But Me… Killing people is wrong, how can you seriously not see that?" Clara responded, feeling a lump form in her throat at Ashildr's reminder of the Doctor's memory.

"How many times, Clara, the universe is kill or be killed, even your precious Doctor understood that," the immortal Viking sneered. "The amount of races he has wiped out, the amount of blood on that man's hands and you still hold him in such high esteem?" Ashildr shook her head and turned away from Clara, once more walking down the corridor. "One day you'll realise how dangerous that man was, how he could turn armies merely by the mention of his name, and then you'll come to realise he was nowhere near as much of a pacifist as you believed him to be."

Clara didn't know how to respond to that, so she didn't counter Ashildr any further. It was useless when she was being so stubborn, not listening to any kind of reason. The Doctor may not have been a complete pacifist, but he never would have willingly hurt an entire species, not unless he absolutely had to. Not unless he was so backed into a corner that he had no other choice. His last words to her while he still remembered, never be cruel, never be cowardly… she would follow those words and if it was the last thing she did she'd make sure that Ashildr understood them as well, what they meant and what they stood for.

She was brought out of her musing by a flash of green and the sound of energy being discharged followed by a heavy clank of metal. The door to one of the holding cells fell backward, hitting the ground hard,revealing Jenny and Vastra. Jenny was chained to the wall of the cell, one arm pulled tight against the concrete and the rest of her body slumped into a pile. She rose her head weakly as the door fell to the ground, revealing violent hues of red across her face and a trickle of blood coming from between her lips. It was obvious whoever had been with them before Ashildr started firing had been torturing the girl.

Vastra had been placed onto a metal table, all four of her limbs strapped down by heavy metal clamps. Above her unconscious form hung what looked like a laser, bulky and heavy powered by a glowing generator in the corner.

"They were goin' ta dissect Vastra," Jenny coughed weakly, barely able to raise her head. "Find out what she was, how they could kill the rest of her people."

Ashildr raised her makeshift weapon and aimed it at Jenny's shackle, blasting it apart into tiny fragments of molten metal, before turning the weapon on the table Vastra was strapped to and blasting those champs to smithereens as well.

"Jenny, get close to vastra, we'll be back with the TARDIS in a matter of seconds. We'll materialise around the both of you, okay? Easiest way to get you both out," Clara instructed, grabbing Ashildr's hand and pulling her along with her. Ashildr came along willingly, Clara was right with the assumption that using the TARDIS would be the easiest way to get them out. They were too injured to make the walk themselves. She knew the plan had worked as the sounds of the TARDIS echoed through the halls of the Torchwood base.

AN: Underwhelming, I know. I was meant to be halfway into a christmas special by now, maybe even at the tail end of it, but I'm not. I was visiting family and things got slightly out of hand in the visiting department. So many family members so little time… Anyway, merry christmas hope you all had a good one! Very nearly done with this storyline thank goodness, no where near as good as I thought it would be. in the next chapter we get to do things like see the new interior to the TARDIS which will be fun fun fun fun fun! I actually have an artists rendition kicking about somewhere… might take some time to locate it though…

Replies:

skarosianlifeform: All things will be explained! Deals have been struck, immunities forged, and I am glad you are enjoying so far! Oh I have also probably sent you a PM clearing up some of your confusions, this is technically the Beta Verse in a bigger Super-Verse that combines with the greater 3D9C Alpha-Verse of Seafoam-Tainted-Memoirs. Dont worry, you dont need to have read that 1.7 mill epic really.

bwburke94: And she still hasn't learned her lesson. These 12 storylines will give both ashildr and Clara a chance to evolve in terms of character.

Robert and Jacks Marie: Thank you both for reviewing!

Question of the Chapter: Should I still go through with my christmas plans but make them less christmassy? I had a cool idea with Pluto and killer robots...Seafoam liked it