"Actually, you can still call yourself Master," Star rambled, not at all surprised that she had survived, the Doctor had cremated the Master before, and she always came back, so it didn't surprise her anymore. And besides last time when the Master was sent back to Gallifrey through the Gate they thought they had been sent to their deaths, but now knowing Gallifrey was out there, she guessed that the Master was likely still alive. The different gender surprised her though. "Didn't you choose the name because of the masters' degree?"

Missy, the Master, didn't seem to be listen to her, or at least chose to ignore her, "Look at them!" she gestured to the Cybermen covering the streets, "My boys."
"Cybermen in broad daylight?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows, "You think people won't notice?"
"Photos with the big metal men, one pound." Missy set her hat on the ground before one of the Cybermen, as people took pictures of them. "Oh, love!" she turned to the Time Lords as they watched people take pictures in disgust, this was so human, did they not remember all the other times Cybermen had invaded.
Missy pulled out a small device, showing it to them, showing that Cybermen were everywhere, "New York. Paris. Rome. Marrakesh. Brisbane. Glasgow. Everywhere. Anywhere. Me and my boys. We're going viral."
"Would you like me to take a picture?" someone asked, they looked over to see Kate's assistant, Osgood, walking over, "Sorry, selfies are never as good, are they? And you're having a lovely moment. Hang on!" she snatched the device.
"No, just…" Missy tried to snatch it back but the Doctor held her arm.
"Nice bow tie." Star grinned at the woman.
"Bow ties are cool." Osgood beamed back at her, "Big smiles, and…now!"

The humans who had been taking photos quickly pulled out guns from pushchairs and backpacks, some soldiers running out of the nearby buildings.

"Move, move, move!" the soldiers shouted, "Stand by. Surround target. Hold back!"
"Afternoon." Kate greeted, walking over, "You've picked a lovely day for it. My, don't you look shiny." She glanced at the Doctor, "Haircut?"
"Bit of a trim." He shrugged.

"And he dyed it," Star added

"Might want to do the roots." She offered, "The woman."
"Yes, ma'am." Two soldiers held Missy.

"Kate Stewart." She announced to the Cybermen, "Divorcee, mother of two, keen gardener, outstanding bridge player. Also Chief Scientific Officer, Unified Intelligence Taskforce, who currently have you surrounded."
"Human weaponry is not effective against Cyber technology." One Cyberman answered.
"Sorry, you left this behind on one of your previous attempts." She threw a battered old Cyber head to its feet, "So now that I have your attention, welcome to the only planet in the universe where we get to say this." she nodded to the Doctor and Star, "They're on the payroll."
"I am?" Star blinked, the Doctor, yes, because he used to work for them, but her, that surprised her.
"Well, technically."

"No, I'm not."

"Shush."
"How much?" the Doctor asked.
"Shush. Any questions?"

The Cybermen all stomped their feet, small rockets appearing before they all shot off into the sky.

"They can now fly!" Star cried.

"Oh, my God!" Osgood gasped, seeing the cathedral opening at the top, "Is it supposed to do that? Is that new?"

"A sun roof on Saint Paul's?" the Doctor countered, "Yes, I'd say that was new. "
"There's going to be mass panic." Kate remarked, as more Cybermen flew out of the open dome, "Everyone in London can see that."
"Everyone in London just clapped and went whee. Hush, I'm trying to count."
"87, I think." Osgood called. "OCD."
"91." Missy corrected. "Queen of evil."

"Oh, was King of the Wasteland not good enough for you?" Star turned to the woman, planning on annoying her as much as possible, because, well, that what she did.

"How could Saint Paul's be full of 91 Cybermen and nobody noticed?" Kate shook her head.
"Dimensional engineering." The Doctor realised, "One space folded inside another. Bigger on the inside. Easy if you're a Time Lord."
"Mostly deploying south, a smaller number east." Osgood told them, watching the Cybermen fly.
"Yep, but one straight up."
"So 91 isn't a coincidence?"
"Of course it isn't."
"Osgood? 91. Explain." Kate instructed her.
"91 areas of significant population density in the British Isles."
"That's one Cyberman for every city and major town." Star nodded,

"It's happening everywhere," the Doctor approached Missy, "all over the world, right now."
"Sweet planet, this." Missy smiled, "I think I might keep it."
"One Cyberman per city. What could they hope to accomplish?" Kate wondered.
"Doctor! Star!" Osgood shouted as the Cyberman detonated itself.

"Has it exploded?" Kate frowned at it.
"More than that," Missy called, grinning, "Cybermen don't just blow themselves up for no good reason, dear. They're not human."
"If it's not exploding, what's it doing?" Star demanded.
"Pollinating. Falling like rain into the cracks of the Earth. The dead are coming home. All shiny and new. In 24 hours the human race as you know it will cease to exist."
"Tell us the plan. Please." She added, knowing she would get more from her with manners.

A solider fired at dart at Missy's neck, making her fall to her knees, "Oh! That was nice. Must do it again."
"No. No, no, no, no, we need to talk to her! We need her awake." The Doctor argued, only to get shot as well. "Argh! No. No, no. Stupid. Stupid! No, no. Argh!"

Star held her hands up in surrender, "I won't cause a fuss. Unless there isn't much room or im blindfolded or you're taking us to the black archive...but you need to guard the graveyards…" she was cut off by Kate nodding to the soldier who fired at her. "Ok. Rambling was causing a fuss…"

"The first protocol is implemented." Kate spoke into her mobile, "We're good to go."

~.~

Soldiers led the Time Lords into a room holding an airplane, both tied onto a box trolley, hands cuffed behind their backs, they gasped awake as they were injected again.

"Why handcuffs?" Star asked, slipping out of them, "you should know how easy it is for me to slip out of them. I could punch you in the face while you thought I was tied up. I did that to the Master once, he wasn't pleased. Well, I say once…" more every time they met.

"I'm sorry," she told them, as a soldier uncuffed the Doctor, "In the event of an alien incursion on this scale, protocols are in place. Your co-operation is to be ensured and your unreliability assumed. You have a history."
"You don't have a future without us." The Doctor told her. "Do you think your father would've done this?"
"We both know he absolutely would."
"Who is she?" Kate nodded to the still unconscious Missy as she was rolled onto the plane.
"Long story."

"Where's Clara?" Star demanded.
"Clara Oswald, your assistant?" Kate recalled.

"Cousin! I think she's mad at my though. I need to see her!"
The Doctor nodded his agreement, "She was with us in Saint Paul's."

"Was she mad when I left?" she asked the Doctor.

"Well…no…but I'm not the one who knew when her boyfriend was going to die and kept it quiet."

Star swallowed, looking down at the ground, not liking the tone of his voice. It sounded like he was upset with her himself. "Are YOU mad at me?"

He looked at her, blinking owlishly, "why would I be mad at you?" he sounded genuinely confused she would even ask that question.

She grinned, "No reason!"
"The team's still on site but they've been unable to gain access to the building." Kate told them.
"I want her found and brought here. I need her with us."
"Then give the order. As soon as you're on board your word is law. Quite literally."
"You got the TARDIS out, though?" Star spotted as the old girl was lifted into the plane by a crane.
"Yes, and Saint Paul's locked down."

They walked into the main cabin room of the plane, an office of the sorts, lined with computers and chairs surrounding a long table in the centre of the room.

"Where are we going?" the Doctor asked, looking around the room, "Cloudbase?"
"You mean the Valiant?" Kate asked.
"Cloudbase was Thunderbirds." Osgood told them.
"Too conspicuous." Kate said, "We need your location concealed, not advertised. From now on you're a moving target."

The Doctor wandered over to the portrait of the Brigadier, "Ah, I see you're bringing Daddy along, too. That's very sweet."

"I do that," Star grinned, "I bring my dad along despite being grown up."

"You're grown up when I say you are."

Star opened her mouth, then closed it again and opened it again, "you are aware I WILL make you say I am a grown up, right?"

"I am very aware."

She narrowed her eyes at him, ONE day he would admit she was a grown up. She'd make sure of it.

"Sir. Ma'am" An Indian officer saluted the Time Lords.
"Oh, don't do that." The Doctor groaned, "You look like you're self-concussing, which would explain all of military history, now I think about it."
"Colonel Ahmed, sir. Privileged to meet you."
"Love your outfit, Colonel Ahmed. Are you in the Scouts? Are you a Man Scout? I didn't know they had those." He walked over to the small table and make himself a coffee.
"It was Captain Scarlet." The man, Colonel Ahmed, told Osgood.
"Sorry?" she frowned.
"Cloudbase. It wasn't Thunderbirds, it was Captain Scarlet."
"Oh God, so it was."
"My confidence is growing every minute." The Doctor muttered.
"The President is on board." Kate picked up the phone, informing the cockpit.

"What about you and Sylvia Anderson, you fox-trotted with her..." Star began.

"Good point," the Doctor nodded, before realising what Kate had said, "Hang on a second. The President? We don't want Americans bobbing around the place. They'll only start praying."

"Not the President of America, sir." The Indian man corrected him, "The President of Earth."
The Doctor sat at the head of the table, dumping a lot of sugar cubes in his frothy coffee, "There isn't one."
"There is now."

"Who?" Star tilted her head, popping a sugar cube in her mouth.
"The incursion protocols have been agreed internationally." Kate explained to them, "In the event of full-scale invasion, an Earth President is inducted immediately, with complete authority over every nation state. There was only one practical candidate."
"That's your answer for everything, isn't it?" the Doctor rolled his eyes, "Vote for an idiot."

"If you say so, Mr President. So long as you're on this plane, you're the Commander in Chief of every army on Earth. Every world leader is currently awaiting your instructions. You are the Chief Executive Officer of the human race. Any questions?"

"What about me?" Star inquired.

"What about you, what?"

"Am I like co-president or something…?"

"No." Star pouted at that, "but when he is unavailable you will take his place."

The Doctor frowned at her, "do you even want to be president?"

"No." she admitted quietly, "but it'll be nice to be asked."

"This is your captain speaking," the captain called over the speakers, "Please prepare for take-off."

~.~

When they were up in the skies, they headed down to the cargo hold Osgood was using as a lab, with Missy still unconscious on the trolley, the TARDIS in the corner.

With a nod from the Doctor, a soldier injected her, making her jerk awake.

"Why are you still alive?" the Doctor got straight to the point.
"You saved me." Missy smiled at him.
"I saved Gallifrey."

"WE saved Gallifrey," Star corrected, "I destroyed the Moment so we couldn't use it." she informed Missy.

"Yes, I heard about that. Spectacular, by the way. There's always collateral damage with us isn't there?"
"Gallifrey's lost in another dimension."
"Yes and no."
"Meaning?" the Doctor frowned.
"Yes, it's in another dimension. No, it's not lost."
"You know where it is?"
"Yep! You know the best part about knowing?" she smirked between them, "Not telling you."

"You little…" Star lunged at her but the Doctor tugged her back. Now was not the time for Star to attack and likely kill her. As much as he hated to say it he wanted her alive, they needed her alive to stop the Cybermen and to find out where Gallifrey is.
"Mr President, sir, we're ready for you up here." The Indian man called over the speakers.
"Remember all those years when all you wanted to do was to rule the world?" the Doctor asked Missy before answering the man, "On my way."
"Thank you, Mr President."
"Piece of cake."
"What ya doing?" Star skipped over to Osgood.
"Oh, er, it's her little device thingy." Osgood held up Missy's device, "I thought there might be useful information on it. Who is she?"
"You'd never believe us if I told you." the Doctor muttered walking over.
"Cos I thought she might be the Master, regenerated into female form? Your childhood friend, responsible for a number of previous incursions."
"That was fairly quick." The Doctor murmured, impressed with Osgood for figuring out who Missy was.
"We do have files on all our ex-prime ministers. She wasn't even the worst."

"Really?" Star laughed, "here that!" she grinned at Missy, "there was a HUMAN prime minister worse than you."

Missy sent here a sour look, really not currently liking the girl, she was too confident and loud for her own good. She'd have to do something about that.

"Doctor, there's something nobody's talking about." Osgood continued.
"Which is?" he asked.
"The clouds caused by the exploding Cybermen, they haven't dispersed. They're still there. In fact, they've expanded and are covering almost all the land masses. We're all looking at the graveyards. Maybe we should be looking up? What do you think?"
"All of time and space?" he asked, walking back up the ladder.
"Sorry?"
"Just something for your bucket list." He left the room as Star winked at her, following him, Osgood taking a breath from her inhaler, shocked that they had basically giving her an invitation to travel in the TARDIS with them.

~.~

"Localised rain in the cemeteries has resulted in what can only be described as disturbances to the soil." A newsman reported on the TV screen back in the main cabin, everyone sitting around the table, the Doctor at the head, Star next to him, everyone else taking the remaining seats, "Extraordinary eyewitness accounts are claiming that silver creatures are climbing from the graves."
"These scenes are being repeated everywhere." Kate informed everyone as she walked around, "Every cemetery, every mortuary, every funeral home, every hospital, the dead are returning to life as Cybermen."
"The public are being advised to stay away from all cemeteries."

"We've done heat scans of some of the cemeteries and, in each case only a handful of Cybermen have so far emerged. But every individual burial site is active."
"Active?" the Indian man frowned.
"Hatching." The Time Lords corrected.
"More are coming." Kate added, "Potentially millions."
"So the rain caused all that in just a few hours?" the Indian man tried to follow.
"It wasn't rain." Star argued, "It was pollen. Cyber-pollen. Every tiny particle of a Cyberman contains the plans to make another Cyberman. All it has to do is to make a contact with compatible living organic matter and bang! Full conversion. But if they have learned how to convert the dead…" everyone glanced at her, making her shrug, "Know your enemy."
The Doctor looked up at the monitor of the cargo hold, showing Missy tied up, "That's what she was doing. That's what 3W was for. She creates an all-new paranoia among the super-rich about dying. She exploits the wealth and the mortal remains of selected idiots so she can create a whole new race of Cybermen. Cybermen who can recruit corpses. Throw away your guns, Man Scout, it's all over. How can you win a war against an enemy that can weaponise the dead?"
"They're not attacking, apart from isolated incidents." The Indian man frowned, "They're just wandering about."
"They're newborns. Give them time." Star reasoned.

"Why were you there this morning?" the Doctor asked, it wasn't just a coincidence they were there already, they must have know, "Why were you already attacking?"
"Been investigating 3W for a while, then we got a tip-off." Kate said.
"From a woman with a Scottish accent." The Indian man added.
"Can't play to the gallery unless there's a gallery, and here I am." The Doctor mumbled, knowing Missy had told them. "Dead bodies don't have minds, of course, but she's been upgrading dying minds to a hard drive for a long time. So she upgrades the hardware, and then she updates the software."
"What do you mean, a long time?" Kate turned to frown at him, "How long?"
"Well, she must have a TARDIS somewhere, so as long as she likes. The past, the future."
"How long, Doctor?"

"How long has the human race had a concept of an afterlife? Turns out the afterlife is real, and it's emptying. Every graveyard on planet Earth is about to burst its banks."

"Mr President, you need to get back in your seat." Kate ordered the Doctor as he stood up to wonder around the room.
"I don't like being the president." He moaned, "People keep saluting. I'm never going to salute back." He picked up a lily, smelling it as he stood in front of the Brigadiers portrait.
"Do you know, that was always my dad's big ambition," Kate gave a small chuckle, "to get you to salute him just once."
The Doctor looked up at the portrait, "He should've asked." He murmured, before setting the flowers down and looking out the window.

Missy stuck her tongue out on the monitor; Star scrunched her nose up at her.

She didn't technically hate her, but she had joined with the Cybermen know her hatred to them for killing her mother, but Missy herself hadn't done anything to make her hate her yet.

She glanced at the Doctor who was busy talking, not paying any attention to Missy, so Star quietly snuck off to keep a closer eye on the woman.

~.~

Star jumped down the ladder just in time to see Missy disintegrate poor Osgood. She shook her head at the Time Lady, "why did you feel the need to do that?"

"Well she was so pretty. I couldn't resist." Missy grinned as she stepped on Osgood's glasses, the only things left of the human.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked, walking closer to the woman.

"We could do it together. Just us girls."

"You're an idiot," Star sneered. She, or more he as the Master used to be, had asked her to join him last time when the Time Lords had used him as a link to escape the war. She said no, mainly because she was afraid of herself back then and didn't want to do anything that would make her the bad guy but this time she couldn't use that excuse.

"You said that last time."

She nodded, "so I did."

"Why don't you want to help me? We'd be the perfect team. You'd never have to worry about hurting people you care about, they'd be perfectly safe, come on. Use that remarkable brain of yours for something else than just helping your old man out."

Star paused at that. She knew she had a brilliant mind. She'd been told plenty of times but she only used it to think about what the enemy's plans would be and so they got the upper hand. Without her the Doctor would still be stuck on their plans but she could always work out the plans, the plans of their enemies, like her mind knew the evil plans and knew how to get caught or how not to.

Star let out a small breath at that.

~.~

"Star!" the Doctor jumped down the ladder into the cargo hold. He had asked a question to Star only he didn't get an answer and saw that the monitor had turned to static. He ran here without another word just knowing Star was down with Missy. He looked down as he stepped on something, only to see it was Stars yellow hair bow. "Star?"

"I screamed," Star muttered, sitting on a large crate, staring at him with cold icy blue eyes, "but you didn't hear me."

"Star…" he breathed, "im sorry," he moved a piece of her now raven black hair behind her ear. She was slightly older now, looked a few years younger than Clara now, her long black hair falling over her shoulders, parted down the middle.

"I died. I died because you didn't come. You promised."

Missy appeared out from behind the TARDIS, "N'aww, she was brave until the very end, no wonder she's your favourite" She walked over to them, "ask me."

"Shut up!" he yelled at her, he didn't know what exactly had happened but he guessed that she had just killed Star and no doubt on purpose to get to him. His childhood best friend had just killed his daughter and was still hoping for him to be nice to her. He had no idea why they were ever friends.

"Ask me. I know you want to know what my plan is. You'll be surprised. I've got a gift for you. You know, I've been up and down your timeline, meeting all those silly people who died to keep you alive. And you know what I worked out? What you really need."
"What?"
"To know that you're just like me!" she grinned.

The TARDIS phone began to ring.
"Oh, and now it begins." Missy smiled, "Doctor, I do believe you're on call. Miss Oswald expects. Who else but the girl who's got your number? Whoops!"
"It was you!" the Doctor gasped as he realised she gave Clara the number, saying it was a helpline, "You put us together."

"No, Star did. I just kept you together."
"What?" he breathed, glancing at Star who shrugged, muttering about timelines and paradoxes, "Why?"
"Cos she's perfect, innit? The control freak and the man who should never be controlled. You'd go to hell if she asked. And she would. The phone's ringing, Doctor. Can you hear that? Now that is the sound of your chain being yanked. Heel, Doctor!" she began to mimic Clara, "Help me, Doctor. Help me. Help me, Star."

"Shut it." Star sneered.
"Clara," the Doctor picked up the phone.

"Doctor, im with Danny," the woman replied.

"Danny's dead, Clara."
"Not yet. Not quite. But he wants to be."
"Clara…Clara?"

"He's a Cyberman. Doctor, Danny's a Cyberman. And he's crying. Doctor, he feels it. He's crying."

"Clara, don't do it. Just don't do it!"
"It's in his chest. He says it's an inhibitor. It can delete emotions or something."
"I know what it does. If you turn it on he'll become a Cyberman."
"He's already a Cyberman."

"Not yet, he isn't." he argued, if he still felt emotions then he wasn't fully a Cyberman, wasn't under their control.

"He's hurting because I hurt him and he wants it to stop."
"Stop the pain and he'll kill you!"
"Look, are you going to help me, because I can't do this alone."
"I'm not going to help you commit suicide."

"Look, the TARDIS can home in on this call, right? Either you help me, or you leave me alone." She hung up.

"Clara?" the Doctor tried, "Clara, no."

"Doctor!" Kate ran in the room, "The Cybermen are in. The plane's going down."
"Oh, great." Missy rolled her eyes, "It's the daughter one. Do you like her? I like her." She grabbed onto one of the straps as the plane turned sharply, the Doctor grabbed the other one with one hand, Star grabbing the TARDIS door handle just as Missy opened the hatch, sucking Kate out with a scream.
"Why did you do that?" the Doctor yelled, "You didn't have to do that!"
"Oh, don't be so selfish." Missy shouted back, "I'm going to miss her, too. In fact, you know what? Just for that, I'm leaving." She called into her bracelet, "Boys, blow up this plane and, I don't know, Belgium, yeah? Kill some Belgians. Might as well. They're not even French. Byeeee!" she teleported away in a blue light, leaving the Doctor holding on for his life and Star jut managing to get the door open and inside.

The Doctor fell through the sky as the plane exploded.

'Star!' the Doctor shouted in her mind, 'Anytime you want to help would be great!'

Star opened the TARDIS doors and he fell in, landing on the chair by the console.

"Happy?" she asked, tracing Clara's call to a graveyard.

"Thank you." he hurried over to help her, unable to help but notice she kept her distance from him. She was now avoiding him and he didn't blame her.

Or maybe it was just the regeneration...he didn't know which he preferred right now.

~.~

They materialised in the graveyard the TARDIS had traced Clara to, the woman working on Danny's inhabitator, "Clara, don't!" they ran over.

"Help me." She pleaded.
"If you do what you're trying to do, if you succeed, he will snap you."
"No."
"Then he will step over your broken body and break another and another and another. He will never stop."
"I will not harm her." Danny swore.

"You won't even remember her." Star sneered ar him.
"Who are you?"

"Take a guess."

"Star." Clara blinked; surprised the girl so strong had regenerated in such a short period of time. And wondering; how? Did Missy kill her, she wouldn't put it pass the woman. Now wasn't the time to ask. Danny was more important right this minute and the other Cybermen. Besides she was still mad at her.

"I had a friend once." The Doctor told Danny, "We ran together when I was little. And I thought we were the same. But when we grew up, we weren't. Now, she's trying to tear the world apart, and I can't run fast enough to hold it together. The difference is this." He put his hand on Danny's chest disc, where his heart would be, "Pain is a gift. Without the capacity for pain, we can't feel the hurt we inflict."
"Are you telling me seriously, for real, that you can?" Danny asked, skepical.
"Of course I can."
"Then shame on you, Doctor."
"Yes. Oh, yes."

The clouds above rumbled, "What are the clouds going to do?" Star demanded of him, "What is the plan?"
"How would I know?" he shook his head.
"You're part of a hive mind. That would be how you found Clara, or you are unbelievably clingy."

"I can't see much."
"Look harder." The Doctor said.
"Clara, watch this. This is who the Doctor is, what he made his daughter into. Watch the blood-soaked old general in action. I can't see properly, sir, because this needs activating. If you want to know what's coming, you have to switch it on. And didn't all of those beautiful speeches just disappear in the face of a tactical advantage? Sir."
The Doctor sighed, "I need to know. I need to know."

"Yes." Danny nodded, "Yes, you do."
"Give me the screwdriver." Clara held out her hand, prepared to do this herself.
"No." the Doctor refused.

"Just do it, Doctor. Do as you are told." Regretfully, the Doctor gave her the sonic, before walking away.
"Typical officer." Danny looked at him in disgust, "Got to keep those hands clean."
"You do not insult him," Star growled at Danny, "something you should know, I destroyed a whole planet of Cybermen just because we didn't have a bomb to blow up the planet."

"You are so full of yourself."

Star held out her hand, her dagger dropping into a moment later, she smirked, "I know what I can do, and I'll do it to succeed." She currently didn't know who she was, but she was sure Danny was correct. Too many times she had died because she hadn't defended herself, she hadn't been cautious, well, no more. Now she was letting her bad side out, no more weak little Star.
"Just point and think, yeah?" Clara asked, aiming the sonic at Danny.
"Yes." She nodded. It was barely 5 minutes but she already knew she was no longer a good girl; she would do whatever it took to get an advantage, she would do anything to be the best.
"Okay. I wasn't very good at it, but I did love you." Clara told Danny.
"I love you too." Danny replied to her.
"I'm never going to say that again."
"Me neither."
"Ready?"
"Yeah."

"I feel like im killing you," she sobbed.

"I'm already dead. You're here this time at least."
"Goodbye, Danny."

"Goodbye, Clara."

She flashed the sonic at him, he straightened up as his face expression blanked, without thinking she ran to hug him tightly.

"Clara, no!" the Doctor ran back over, seeing her hugging him, "Step away! He's activating! Clara, step away now! Don't. Danny. Danny, if you can hear me, if you're still there, what are the clouds going to do?"
"The rain will fall again." he stated, his voice as blank as his face, "All humanity will die."
"And rise again as Cybermen."
"Correct."
"How do we stop it?"

"We cannot be stopped."

Missy appeared, floating down with a umbrella, "someone enjoys Earth TV," Star muttered under her breath, seeing the similarities between her and Mary Poppins.
"Oh, that was brilliant!" Missy grinned, "Oh, I love the telly here, but did you see that? Oh, Clara, you poor thing. You must feel like death. Let me pop away the pain." She pulled out her device but Star grabbed it and tossed it to the side, "oh, give it up already! This is pathetic!"

"Oh, sorry, hon, I'm just getting a bit carried away. It's your friends, they're so more-ish. Hmm? Oh, stop looking all cross-pants. Both of you. I'm here to give you a gift. Could you at least try and be excited?"
"What gift?" the Doctor eyed her, not trusting her at all.

Missy spoke into her bracelet, "Cyberdears!" the Cybermen all turned to her, "Look at Mummy! Raise your arms." The Cybermen did at told, except Danny, "Lower your arms. Raise your right. Lower your right. Turn on the spot. There are exits at the front and rear of the aircraft. Please follow the lights up the aisle. You see, Doctor? The power to slaughter whole worlds at a time, then make them do a safety briefing. Everyone who ever lived, man, woman and child, is now at my command. An indestructible army to rage across the universe. The more they kill, the more they recruit. Happy birthday. Oh! You didn't know, did you? It's lucky one of us remembers these things. And your own daughter forgot as well."

"I didn't forget," Star remarked, "We celebrated earlier. Don't you ever make me seem like a bad daughter!"

Missy just smirked at her as she snapped her bracelet on the Doctors wrist, and the Cybermen turned to him, "Happy Birthday, Mr President. Tiny bit pleased?" she smiled, "Oh, go on, crack a smile. I want to see if your eyebrows drop off."
"All of this. All of it, just to give me an army?" The Doctor shook his head at the preposterous idea.
"Well, I don't need one, do I? Armies are for people who think they're right. And nobody thinks they're righter than you. Give a good man firepower, and he'll never run out of people to kill."
"I don't want an army!" he yelled at her.
"Well, that's the trouble!" she yelled back at him, "Yes, you do! You've always wanted one! All those people suffering in the Dalek camps? Now you can save them. All those bad guys winning all the wars? Go and get the good guys back."
"Nobody can have that power."
"You will, because you don't have a choice. There's only way you can stop these clouds from opening up and killing all your little pets down here. Conquer the universe, Mr President. Show a bad girl how it's done." She dropped into a curtsy.

"Why are you doing this?" he glared.
"I need you to know we're not so different. I need my friend back. Every battle, every war, every invasion. From now on, you decide the outcome. What's the matter, Mr President? Don't you trust yourself?"

The Doctor paused, thinking back to when he asked Clara if he was a good man, how she didn't know. How Rusty had called him a good Dalek, how he hadn't even realised his own daughter had snuck off and died and then…he laughed, "Thank you. Thank you so much. I really didn't know. I wasn't sure. You lose sight sometimes. Thank you! I am not a good man! I am not a bad man. I am not a hero. And I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. Do you know what I am? I am…an idiot!"

"Agreed." Star stated.

"With a box and a screwdriver. Just passing through, helping out, learning, teaching. I don't need an army. I never have, because I've got them. Always them. Because love, it's not an emotion. Love is a promise." He turned to see Danny wrapping an arm around Clara, "and he will never hurt her. P E, catch!" the Doctor threw him the control bracelet on his arm. "You didn't notice, did you? While you were doing all your silly orders, while you were showing off, the one soldier not obeying."
"No, that's wrong." Missy shook her head, "That's impossible."

"The rain will not fall." Danny stated, marching over.
"Oh? Why won't it?"
"The clouds will burn."
"And who'll burn them?"
"I will burn them."
"How?"
"I will burn."

"One burning Cyberman is hardly going to save the planet." Missy rolled her eyes at the idea.
"Correct." He nodded before speaking into the bracelet, "Attention!" the Cybermen turned to him, "This is not a good day. This is Earth's darkest hour. And look at you miserable lot. We are the Fallen. But today, we shall rise. The army of the dead will save the land of the living. This is not the order of a general, nor the whim of a lunatic."
"Excuse me?" Missy put her hands on her hips, offended.

"This is a promise. The promise of a soldier!" he turned to Clara, "You will sleep safe tonight." He ignited his rocket boots and rose up, the Cybermen following, flying into the clouds, exploding, letting the light seep through as the black cloud disappeared.
"Well. The clouds have all gone." Clara remarked quietly.
"Yes, burned up." the Doctor nodded. "Totally burnt. Burnt to nothing." He glanced at the tears in her eyes, realising that the man she loved was now gone, "Sorry."
"10 0 11, 0 0: 0 2." Missy said quietly.
"What did you say?" Star whipped around to her, recognising those coordinates.
"The current coordinates of Gallifrey. It's returned to its original location. Didn't you ever think to look?"
"Liar!" she growled, it couldn't possibly be there, it was too obvious.
"We can…we can go together…just the three of us. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"You'd be clapped in irons." The Doctor told her.
"If you like."

"Doctor Im assuming you can remember those coordinates," Clara said, aiming the device at Missy.

"No." the Doctor shook his head at her, "No, don't you dare. I won't let you."
"Old friend, is she? If you have ever let this creature live, everything that happened today, is on you. All of it, on you. And you're not going to let her live again."
Star grabbed the device.

"Seriously." Missy raised an eyebrow at her, "Oh, Star. To save her soul? But who, my dear, will save yours? Say something nice. Please?"

"Why should I?" she scoffed, preparing to kill her.

"Star. no." the Doctor pulled the device out of her grip, putting on a fight as she stubbornly refused to let go off it before he finally loosened her grip. She really hadn't changed THAT much. Missy smiled only for the Doctor to aim the device at her, "you win." He murmured, offering such a small condolence for his best friend.

"I know," she whispered, her gaze shifted to Star to see if she had anything to stay but she just stared right back at her and smirked.

The Doctor swallowed at he readied the weapon to fire…only for another bolt hit Missy first.

They turned to see a Cyberman still standing, pointing to the side. They hurried over to the direction to find what it was pointing at.

"Over here!" they rushed over to see Clara kneeling next to Kate on the ground.

"Kate." The Doctor gasped, crouching at her side, "She's breathing! She's alive! She can't be here."
"She fell out of a plane. The Cyberman must have caught her." Star realised, glancing at the Cyberman.
"Doctor, she's talking about her dad." Clara looked at him, hearing the woman muttering.
"Of course." The Doctor nodded, standing up again, "The Earth's darkest hour and mine. Where else would you be?"
The Doctor saluted the Cyberman, knowing it was the Brigadier, the Cyberman bowed it head and shot into the sky, exploding himself.
"Thank you." the Doctor smiled as he watched his old friend fly off.

~.~

Two weeks later found Clara sitting in a café, waiting for the Time Lords to enter. After the graveyard she had gone home to mourn Danny, asking to meet again in two weeks. "Well?" Star gestured to her new chosen outfit. "What'd think?" it was all black, a simple black top, black leather pants, black leather jacket and black chunky knee high laced up boots, her black hair falling loose over her shoulders.

"Improving." Clara offered a smile.

"I meant my clothes."

"I don't like it," she stated bluntly, curious to what Star was reply with, despite knowing full well that there is the possibility Star will stab her.

"Have you seen what you're wearing?"

"It's too black." It was too weird seeing Star, the girl who used to wear brightly coloured clothes now all in black. "and that is a lot of leather."

Star looked down, "hmm. Maybe I should find something purple." Since travelling she had always tended to wear the colour purple, something that didn't change was the fact that it was her favourite colour. "or maybe not, just to annoy you."

"See you've got news for us." The Doctor cut in, sitting opposite her at the table, trying to tug Star into the chair next to him, but she moved to sit next to Clara.
"News?" Clara frowned.
He nodded to the bracelet she had on her wrist, Missy's control bracelet, "He figured it out then? PE figured out there was a way home."
"Yeah. Yeah, he did."
"Oh, good old PE. He'll make a maths teacher yet."

"Listen, Doctor, Star. There's, there's something that I have to tell you and, er, it's not good news so just, just listen, okay?"
"We know."
"Sorry?"

"We know exactly what you've got to tell me."
"You do?"
"You and Danny are together now. That's great. That's how it should be. But the old man and the blue box, that's never going to fit in. So no more flying around. No more lying."
"Okay, no, that's not exactly…"
"It's fine."

"No, it's not fine. It, it really isn't fine."
"We've found Gallifrey." Star cut her off. They gone to Gallifrey's old coordinates as Missy had said…but they were only greeted with dark space, no orange planet in sight or in other universes of the same coordinates. Just…nothing. She had lied to them. Naturally.
"Wow!" Clara blinked, surprised at that information, "Oh, my God."

"We entered the coordinates, just like she said." The Doctor told her, "And found Gallifrey. For once, she wasn't lying."

"So, what are you going to do now?"
"Go home."

"Okay." She nodded slowly.
"Gallifrey can be a good place. We can help make it that."
"What, you two?"
"Shut up."
"You won't just steal a TARDIS and run away?"

"No. not this time…"

"Maybe you," Star sighed, "I wont stay there for long…too many memories."

She would never give up travelling just like that, whether they did find Gallifrey again or not. Besides, when they did eventually actually find the planet she'd be able to live her own life how she wanted too, she wouldn't have to do as daddy said, do what he did. She could do what she wanted, how she wanted to do it.

"It's a long commute, so, you know, I thought, with you and Danny…" the Doctor began.
"Yeah. Me and Danny. Me and Danny, we are going to be fine." She reassured them, seeing him looking concerned and loving that, loving how they both cared deeply for her, even if it hurt her to say that, to lie to her favourite cousin and uncle. "Don't you worry. You go home. Go home. Go be a king and…" she glanced at Star, "queen or something."
"We could rule the planet!" Star smirked looking very excited before she slumped in her seat, "boring!"
"Or the other way round, you know. Whatever."
"Yeah, queen, that would be good too." The Doctor nodded his agreement.
"Yeah." She sighed deeply, "Tell you what, seeing as its goodbye, shall we break a habit?"
"What? What habit?"
"Hug."

"I hug!" he defended, "all the time."

"So shut up and hug the woman then." Star rolled her eyes.

"Yes ma'am." The Doctor stood up, "Come on, you're on the clock."
"Fair enough." Clara stood up and hugged him.
"Why don't you like hugging, Doctor?" Clara wondered.
"Never trust a hug." He muttered, "It's just a way to hide your face."
"Yeah." She closed her eyes at that before pulling away, "so…is this it?"

"Well, you have our number," Star shrugged, turning and heading back to the TARDIS which was parked outside.

"Doctor? Star," Clara called, "Travelling with you made me feel really special. Thank you for that. Thank you for making me feel special."
"Thank you for exactly the same." The Doctor smiled heading inside the TARDIS.

"Give us a call when you get lonely." Star looked at her, she could tell something was bothering the woman.

"Yeah," Clara let out a breath as Star began to close the door, "Star?" She poked her head back out, "thanks for giving me your number."

Over the past few weeks she had recognised Star as the woman in the shop, dressed in a tattery white blouse and burned purple skirt, looking as though she had never slept in her life and never been in the sun but somehow she had trusted her with the phone number, not even questioning her looking like death.

"Just keeping the timelines in order," she shrugged, "see you, cousin." She shut the door on the woman.

The Doctor sat in a chair by the console, his head in his fingers, half asleep as Star stood in the console, checking the old girl wasn't damaged from when they fell out the plane, if she was (she wasn't, thankfully) Missy would pay next time they met, because she knew they would meet again.

"Coo-ee!" A voice called from outside the doors, "Hello? Doctor? Star? You know it can't end like that. Hmm? We need to get this sorted and quickly. She's not all right, you know. And neither are you two. I'm coming in." the door opened and snowflakes fluttered to the ground, the Doctor walked over as a man in red entered with a long white beard, "Ah, there you are. I knew I'd get round to you eventually. Now, stop gawping, and tell me. What do you want for Christmas?"

Star stared a moment longer before giving Santa a sour look, "not you."