Episode 8 – Time Hustle
Chapter 1
The walls of Clara's flat were bouncing to sound of music, specifically a Spotify playlist packed with 90's pop music. Clara herself wasn't a huge fan of the genre but it reminded her of her youth when times were much simpler. Back then she didn't have to worry about alien invasion fleets and psychopathic murderers from the future. She also didn't have to worry about the Doctor, her erstwhile friend who had seemingly abandoned her for good.
After returning from Columbia, Clara spent the following day languishing in bed. Her experience on the planet had shaken her to the core and she had trouble getting to sleep. During those lengthy periods of insomnia she had plenty of time to think about the Time Lady. Clara wondered if the Doctor had been right, things hadn't felt the same since her regeneration but that give her the excuse to dump her back home without so much as a goodbye. Sadness soon turned into anger by Sunday evening and Danny quickly regretting staying over that day as he felt the full brunt of Clara's fury at the Doctor. In an effort to cheer her up, Danny had suggested a mid week date night. Clara felt a little apprehensive when she found out it was the same restaurant where the couple had gone on their first date. That night didn't end particularly well but surely lightning couldn't strike twice.
Wanting to make sure that she looked her best, Clara took one last look in her bedroom mirror. Her outfit for the night drew inspiration from the classic heist movies of the 50's and 60's. She teamed a pair of loose dark red trousers with a white blouse and a matching blazer. To complete the gender flipped rat pack look, she added a skinny black tie to the ensemble. She checked her eye make up again to make sure that it had the perfect level of smokiness before grabbing her purse and keys off the dresser.
She was slipping on her tallest pair of heels when there was a frantic banging at her door. She frowned and cautiously approached the door. Her block of flats was usually quite peaceful but this area of London still had a few unsavoury characters and Clara was usually reluctant to open the door to unexpected visitors. Clara peeped through the spy hole and quickly recoiled, that was the last person she expected to knock on her door. She was tempted to ignore it but the banging continued and Clara knew that her guest wouldn't give up until she answered.
Clara drew a deep breath and ran through a few things that she wanted to say to her visitor. All those thoughts quickly went out the window the second the door opened. Her vision was suddenly filled with purple and black as the uninvited guest wrapped her arms firmly around the school teacher, "Clara, oh Clara thank goodness you're here", the Doctor said quickly, "I know I was horrible to you but I really need your help and I have absolutely no one else to turn to".
This wasn't the greeting that Clara was expecting and it completely caught her off guard. She was reluctant to hug the Doctor back though, she was still incredibly angry with the dark haired woman. There was definitely something up with the Time Lady though. There was a frantic almost desperate tone to her voice which Clara was used to hearing from the woman. The Doctor was normally so in control that she didn't expect to hear her sounding so emotional. As the Time Lady pulled back Clara noticed that the Doctor's normally perfectly styled hair was a mess and her eyes were a little bloodshot. Either she had been crying recently or she hadn't slept in a very long time. It was hard to be angry with the Time Lady when she looked such a mess so Clara decided to keep her tone polite yet business like, "Doctor", she began, "is everything alright?"
The Doctor's mouth flapped a couple of times until she managed to form the correct words, "Jenny's missing", she stuttered, "she came to find you because I was such a bitch towards you, really sorry for that by the way, I will apologise properly later but my daughter's been missing for several days and I have no idea when or where to look anymore-".
"Alright Doctor slow down", Clara gestured for the Time Lady to stop speaking. Despite the quick fire rate with which the sentence had been delivered, Clara managed to take most of the content in. Evidently Jenny had come looking for her, probably not long after her own departure from the TARDIS and had somehow disappeared. Clara guessed that Jenny had used her vortex manipulator so if that had malfunctioned, the red head could be anywhere in time and space. "Let's start at the beginning", Clara said, "how did you know that Jenny could be here?"
"Tracked her manipulator", the Doctor replied, visibly looking a little calmer now, "located a signal in this area and guessed she missed your return date by a few days". Silence descended on the pair, neither of them really knew what to say to the other. There was plenty to discuss but with Jenny apparently missing, this didn't seem like the time or place.
"Can you think of anyone who would want to take her?" Clara asked. She was pretty certain that Jenny wouldn't run away from the Doctor, unless the argument they had was really severe. Even then Jenny had spent a good chunk of her life trying to find the Doctor again. To disappear without a word knowing how she felt when the Doctor did exactly that seemed out of character for the young Time Lady.
The raven haired woman in question was nervously biting her nails and only appeared to be half listening to Clara's question, "Not that I know of", she mumbled in reply, "then again Jenny doesn't talk much about what she did in her previous life". Clara had noticed that as well, whenever she asked Jenny about the things she had gotten up to between Messaline and meeting the Doctor again, she tended to be vague with her answers. She hadn't put the pieces together until then but could the evasiveness mean that the younger Time Lady had something to hide?" "You look nice", the Doctor commented, "did I catch you at a bad time?"
Clara wasn't sure how to answer that question. Despite her anger towards the Time Lady, she didn't want her to disappear into the night, never to be seen again. She had to be honest though, the Doctor was many things but wasn't stupid. Ignorant possibly but definitely not stupid, "Kind of", she said hesitantly, "I have a date with Danny in half an hour".
"Oh", the Doctor's face fell and she bit her lip, "well don't let me interrupt your plans", she turned slowly and headed for the door, "sorry to have disturbed you", she added with a small voice and began to leave.
A small part of Clara wanted to let her leave but she felt some sort of affection towards the Doctor. To leave her alone to search for Jenny just didn't seem right, "Wait", she called out and checked that she had her mobile phone, "I'll help you look but you have to promise me that you'll get me back for my date". A small bit of hope crept into the Doctor's eyes and she nodded in agreement.
Clara locked up her flat and followed the Doctor closely down the stairs and out into the car park. She spotted the TARDIS parked in the middle of the empty space without making an attempt to blend in. The Doctor was already several paces ahead of the school teacher and was about to open the doors to the time ship, "I picked up a strong signal in King's Road", the Time Lady called out, "that's seems as good a place as any to start". The school teacher nodded stiffly, reminding herself that she was doing this for Jenny most of all, "Let me just grab something from the TARDIS and we'll-".
The Doctor was cut off mid sentence because she had disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving Clara alone in the car park. Whatever or whoever had taken the Doctor had done so without any prior warning and in theory they could take her too. She ran for the TARDIS but before she could reach the door, the same flash of blue light engulf her, transporting her away from Shoreditch and Earth entirely.
Somewhere not near Earth, Jenny was alone in a small metal cell. There was just enough room to contain the chair she was sitting on and not much else. Her hands were tied behind her back and she could feel something cold and metallic rubbing against her right wrist. It couldn't be a pair of handcuffs, it felt too large and bulky. Fortunately her vortex manipulator remained in place, that was probably the only positive point so far.
With only the metal door to admire, Jenny had plenty of time to think since her capture. She hadn't seen the building where she was being held which made traditional methods of escape difficult. If she could release her hands then she could teleport herself out using her vortex manipulator. The only problem was that she knew who her captor was and evidently he had a way of tracking her across time and space which left her open to being captured again. Quite where the General had gotten access to time travel technology she had no idea. If the man wasn't a dangerous psycho then she might be inclined to stick around to find out but right now, she wanted to put as much distance between her and this place as possible.
As she was struggling to reach the controls to her manipulator, the door forcefully opened. The hulking mountain of a man that she had seen earlier loomed into view. Somehow he squeezed his bulk through the frame and forcefully dragged Jenny, still tied to the chair out into the main hallway. Jenny could feel the vibrations underneath her feet, indicating that she was on board some kind of starship, "I hope you weren't thinking of escaping", the man chuckled.
"Wouldn't dream of it General Jackson", Jenny offered a cheeky smirk, "I can still call you General right, even though you're no longer running your country".
General Balthazar Jackson tightly clenched his fists into balls and seemed to be having an internal debate about lashing out against the Time Lady. After a few moments his anger seemed to pass and he let out a booming chuckle that severely unnerved the Time Lady, "Oh you're definitely Jenny", he began, "I must admit that if my associate hadn't tipped me off to your real identity then I never would've found you".
Standing just behind Jenny was a tall man with short brown hair. He was standing underneath a burned out light so Jenny couldn't get a good look at his features but he was wearing a long dark coat with light coloured shirt underneath, "My associate has also told me about the vortex manipulator on your wrist", General Jackson continued, "so don't even think about using it to escape because I will find you again".
Jenny ground her teeth in frustration, her primary method of escape was now out the window, "Forgive me General but I must take my leave", the man called out with a smooth voice, "but my boss keeps me to a tight schedule".
"Very well", the General said grudgingly, "but this makes me even with your people now".
There was a brief silence before the man answered, "Of course, try not to get yourself into his debt again". With that parting shot the man disappeared into the shadows before leaving the ship all together.
"Another lackey General", Jenny began, "I thought all of them were under arrest".
"All thanks to you", the General roared, "I will never forgive you for removing me from power".
"You were a despot who didn't deserve power", Jenny spat back, "removing you was the right thing to do". The second part of her sentence was delivered a little more hesitantly like only half believed what she was saying.
General Jackson looked out of the viewing window at the planet far below. It was a mixture of sea and land, not to dissimilar from Earth, "Macadia was my home", he said wistfully, "and you and those blasted rebels kicked me out without due cause".
"I'm sure the people falsely imprisoned in your labour camps didn't complain", Jenny replied, "I'm not helping you return to power Jackson if that's what you want".
"I don't think you're in a position to bargain with me Jenny", Jackson began, "I've ensured your compliance two different ways. Firstly that device on your wrist", Jenny remembered the metal band she felt, "that's a thermal grenade. If I sense you're not complying with my wishes then I'll detonate it without a second thought".
Jenny was suddenly very alert, having a thermal grenade explode anywhere near her would certainly be fatal. Not even regeneration could save her from that, "And the second thing?" she want to ask that question but she had to know what the General had in mind.
Almost on the cue the doors at the far end of the room opened and two guards were pushing in a couple of people that Jenny immediately recognised as the Doctor and Clara. Both of them had been restrained and also had a large metal bracelet on their wrists, "Ah I see you recognise them", the General smile maliciously, "do I have your attention now Jenny", he added with a dangerous whisper. Jenny shot with her angriest look but she was in a tight point and reluctantly had to listen to this mad man's request.
A/N - There's a couple of primary influcences for this story. Firstly is the "Time Heist" episode from the actual Series 8, although this story bares no resembalance to that episode. This is more like a classic heist movie or aTV show like Hustle or Leverage
Couple of other things, I've updated my Flickr page with a images that apply to this episode, including face claims for a couple of characters. Finally I'm going to close the poll to determine the fate of Danny at the end of this episode. The "Save Danny" campaign has worked wonders and the majority of you want to see him live. If you want to change that, go to my profile and cast your vote.