CHAPTER 21

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WAY TOO MANY AMYS

"You really don't want to do this. Do you want to know why?" Theta said as he stared warily down the barrel of Mels' extremely huge gun.

"Go ahead. Tell me. I'm just going to warn you right now though. Nothing you could possibly say would convince me not to kill you. I'm wise to all of your tricks," Mels said.

"It's not a trick, whoever you are. You don't want to kill me because you're going to need my help," Theta said.

"Well, that approach is certainly novel. I'll give you that. Okay, what is it that I need your help with exactly?" Mels asked.

"With that!" Theta said as he pointed behind Mels to the crack in the wall.

Mels just sighed and rolled her eyes at him as she said, "That's really lame even for you."

"I'm telling you that there's something behind you. It's something really, really huge, and it's got six heads and really big teeth," Theta said.

"Don't tell me. It's almost on top of me, right?" Mels said in a bored voice.

"How did you guess?" Theta asked nervously.

"I was going to keep you alive as long as you entertained me. Now I'm just plain bored though. So I guess I'm just going to have to kill you. You know I really thought that you'd be more of a challenge. I have to say that you've just been a huge disappointment. Do you know that I once even thought about marrying you? Well, you can forget about that now," Mels said.

"How will I deal with the disappointment? I don't get to marry the crazy lady who wants to kill me. Be still my beating hearts," Theta said sarcastically.

"Oh, they'll be still all right. Very soon now," Mels said as she put her gun directly between Theta's eyes. The tip of the gun was so close to his forehead now that it almost touched it.

Theta knew that he had to think fast or he would be dead within seconds. He knew that it wouldn't help him survive even if he regenerated because this crazy woman would just shoot him again in the middle of the regeneration and kill him for good.

"Don't I get one last request?" Theta asked.

Mels considered this for a moment and finally said, "I suppose I can do that. As long as your request isn't to let you go. That's not going to happen."

"I wouldn't even think of it. You're much too intelligent to fall for that old trick. You proved that earlier. In fact, I admire your intelligence and great beauty so much that I think that you'll gratefully agree to my last request," Theta said as he laid on the charm.

"I have to admit that you've got me intrigued now. What is it?" Mels asked with a grin.

"I want one last kiss," Theta said.

"Okay. I can do that. With which woman?" Mels asked as she gestured toward Arkytior, Cliodna, and Clara.

"No, not with them. With you," Theta said as he suddenly kissed her while her attention was diverted for a second.

Arkytior's jaw fell open in shock while Theta instantly took advantage of his surprise kiss to knock the gun from Mels' hand. The two of them started to struggle with each other immediately as Theta desperately tried to knock Mels out before she could get back to the gun.

Mels easily overpowered him though and pinned him to the ground before he knew it. She smiled at him with a huge grin on her face as she said, "You don't quite have your fighting skills just yet, do you? This must be very early for you. I have to admit that I liked the kiss though. A lot. Let's do it again."

"Get away from him!" Arkytior shouted as she picked up Mels' gun off of the floor and held it on her.

Mels smiled as she said, "You must be Arkytior. It's so nice to meet you. I had imagined someone a little bit blonder though."

"Don't hurt her. Do whatever you want to me, but leave her alone," Theta said in a panicked voice.

"She's the one with the gun, sweetie. You should be talking to her. You don't have to worry though. I won't hurt her. I may be a psychopath, but I don't kill pregnant women," Mels said with a serious look on her face for once.

"Thank you. Why are you trying to kill me though? I don't even know you," Theta asked.

"No, but the people that I represent certainly know you. Believe me when I say that they really don't like you to say the least. They've trained me from birth to be your assassin, and that's what I'm going to do," Mels said.

"Let him go or I'll shoot," Arkytior said.

"No, you won't. Not unless you have no other choice. You're not a cold blooded killer. I can tell by looking into your eyes," Mels said.

"You're not either," Clara said.

"How do you know? You don't know me," Mels said.

"If you really wanted to kill him, you would have already done it by now. You're fighting it," Clara said.

"That shows that you don't know me. I'm not fighting it at all. I'm just having a little fun before I make the kill. That's all," Mels said with a wicked little smile on her face.

Clara brought little Amelia out from behind her and showed her to Mels. She had been hiding behind her in terror until Clara brought her out, and Mels' eyes went wide in recognition for a second in surprise before she quickly regained her composure.

"Look at her. She's terrified. Do you really want her to see you kill him? Do you?" Clara asked.

Mels looked down in shame as she said, "No."

She immediately let Theta go and got up off of him. Clara took the gun from Arkytior's hand and said, "I don't think that we'll need that anymore."

"Do you know her?" Arkytior whispered.

"Yes, in the future. She's not as bad as she seems," Clara whispered back.

Arkytior nodded and decided to trust Clara's judgment in this. She just hoped that she knew what she was talking about. She didn't trust this woman for an instant.

Cliodna's face turned red with anger as she yelled at Mels, "How could you do that? Just look what you've done. You scared the wits out of that little girl, and you've gotten everyone else here shaking in fear. Don't you have any sense? I don't care if someone told you to kill Theta. That doesn't mean that you have to do it just because someone told you to. Would you jump off a bridge if someone told you to?"

Mels looked at Cliodna with a strange look on her face as if she recognized here as she said in an annoyed voice, "Just stop lecturing me, okay?"

"Well, someone clearly needs to. Where's your mother at? That's what I'd like to know. I'd really like to give her a piece of my mind. How could she let you wind up like this?" Cliodna said in anger.

"It wasn't her fault. I can guarantee that she would react exactly like you would if she knew. You're a lot like her actually. You might even say that you're practically identical," Mels said as she smiled at Clara who briefly smiled back at her.

Arkytior knew then that something was going on that she had no idea about. There was some private joke in Mels' words that only Mels and Clara had understood. She would ask Clara about it, but she knew that the less that she knew about the future the better.

Suddenly Theta started shouting, "There's something coming through the crack!"

"You don't have to do that anymore. I'm not going to kill you. At least not this time. It's too early in your timeline anyway. I can see that now," Mels said.

"I'm not lying this time. Something's coming through the crack!" Theta shouted.

They all ran to the back of the basement to see that Theta was right. Something else was emerging from the crack in the wall. This time it was Amy, the one who Clara knew obviously from the way that she looked at her.

"Oh, great!" Amy said to Clara with a look of recognition on her face even as she tried not to look at Mels and her younger selves too much.

"So do you know what's going on here then? I take it that you didn't create the crack," Clara asked.

"Nope. I never did really understand what was going on when it happened before, but now I think I do unfortunately," Amy said in a worried voice.

"Why would you remember it happening before? Who are you?" Theta asked Amy as he looked at her and Clara in suspicion.

Amy briefly wondered how Theta didn't recognize her, and then she realized that it must be because she was so different from the Cliodna that he knew. This showed her more than anything how much she had changed since the old days.

"Well, she asked where my mother was," Mels muttered under her breath.

Amy smiled at her for a moment as she heard this remark and then said to Clara, "The others are worried sick about you. I was coming back here in my ship to find you and bring you back home, but now it looks like I've joined you. The crack appeared inside my ship and sucked me into it."

"Hopefully you won't have to stay too long. Things could get very explosive if you stay here too long if you know what I mean," Clara said as she looked at Amy's other selves.

"Yeah, unfortunately I do," Amy said as she eyed the crack warily.

She silently wondered to herself just what was going on here. Was she a time crack magnet or what? Why were all of the people who came out of the crack something to do with her?

"There's something else coming through now. What is this?" Theta asked in disbelief.

Several Cybermen came through the crack as their leader said, "The time scoop device has finally succeeded. We have finally located the enemy of the Cybermen at last. Delete! Delete!"

"They did all of this while trying to find you?" Clara whispered to Amy as they started to run away from the Cybermen's attacks together.

"Apparently. They must have created some kind of time scoop that created a crack everywhere connected to me that sucked me or people connected to me into it while they were trying to find the current version of me. Their time travel technology always was pretty much substandard junk compared to the Time Lords or even to the Daleks," Amy whispered back while she suddenly pulled out her sonic screwdriver and used it to blow several of the Cybermen attacking them up.

"How did you get that? That's mine. I would never give my sonic to anybody," Theta protested.

"Now you know I can't tell you that. You're not supposed to know too much about your own future, Theta," Amy said with a grin even as she blew up more of the Cybermen attacking her with her sonic.

"Who are you to me? Why do you seem so familiar to me?" Theta asked as he started using his own sonic to help Amy.

"Like I said before, I can't tell you that. All that I can say is that I'm a friend. Sorry," Amy said as she continued to fight with the Cybermen.

Theta nodded as he said, "I guess I'll just have to accept that then. Can you fix this crack in my wall then?"

"I think so if I can ever get rid of them," Amy said.

"We'll just have to help you to do that then, won't we?" Mels said with a grin as she started fighting the Cybermen unarmed.

"You always did have more guts than sense at times," Amy said with a sigh.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Mels said happily as she continued to attack the Cybermen with no weapons and still managed to survive somehow.

Arkytior, Cydonia, and Cliodna joined into the fight too now as they used the combat skills that they had learned from K'anpo against the Cybermen even as little Amelia hid in the far corner of the basement. She had absolutely no idea what was going on here and just stood there watching the whole thing in disbelief.

The Time Lords and Clara working together all managed to quickly make short work of the invading Cybermen, and Amy stood over the last one with a triumphant grin on her face as she caused it to explode into a million pieces with the press of a button on her sonic. She then turned toward the crack and started to scan it.

"I think that I know how to fix this, Theta. First, I have to send what's left of the Cybermen back home," Amy said as she used her sonic to take control of the Cybermen's Time Scoop and used it to send the bits and pieces of Cybermen back to where they came from.

"Now to send everyone that doesn't belong here back too including you," Amy said to Clara.

"So you're not Cydonia's sister I take it?" Cliodna asked Clara in a hurt voice.

"I'm sorry. She had to say that to avoid suspicion. She's from the future, but I can't tell you any more than that. I hated having to lie to you and the others," Cydonia said to Cliodna.

"It's okay. I understand," Cliodna said.

"What about you? Can you send yourself back from here?" Clara asked Amy.

"I hope so. I really don't want to be stranded here of all places," Amy said.

"It's not so bad," Clara said as she looked at the others and smiled.

"It's time to go home now," Amy said to Mels.

"Do I have to? I was having so much fun," Mels protested.

"Yes, you do. Get in front of the crack. Now!" Amy ordered.

"Fine. At least give me back my gun," Mels said to Clara.

Clara did as she requested, and then Amy sent Mels back to her proper place in time.

"Now you, sweetie. We're sending you back too now," Clara said to little Amelia.

"Isn't anyone going to explain what's going on?" Amelia asked.

"I'm afraid not. You'll find out someday though," Clara whispered.

"Will the Raggedy Man tell me?" Amelia asked hopefully.

"No, but you will see him again. I promise," Clara said.

"Are you sure?" Amelia asked her skeptically.

"Yes, very sure. You just have to hold on to your belief in him, and he'll come back to you one day, Amelia," Clara said.

Amelia smiled at that as she said, "Thank you! I needed that. I was starting to doubt myself. It was starting to feel like it had all been just a dream. Now though I know that it was real. No one will ever tell me any differently now."

Then Amy sent Amelia back to her own time even as she whispered, "I don't know whether I should thank you or slap you for saying that to me. I had to go to so many psychiatrists in the future partly thanks to you."

"How about just thanking me instead? I've had enough happening to me lately," Clara said.

Amy smiled sympathetically at her as she said, "Yeah, I guess you have. Alright, it's time for you to go home now. Then I'll set the time scoop to self-destruct just before I send myself back."

"Wait a minute! Will you get back in time before the crack goes away?" Clara asked in concern.

"Yeah, of course. There should be plenty of time," Amy said as she tried to sound more confident than she felt. Clara could detect the doubt in her voice even as she tried to hide it.

"Maybe you should go first, and I'll shut down the time scoop. You'll be missed much more than I will. You have a family that needs you," Clara suggested.

"No. You have a family too, and you've been separated from them long enough. Now go. Stand in front of it," Amy ordered.

"Look!" Clara said as she suddenly pointed to the crack.

As Amy turned to look, Clara knocked her out with a solid punch to the jaw.

"I guess that old trick does work sometimes. I'm so sorry," Clara said to Amy as she moved her in front of the crack and took her sonic from her hand.

She knew that Amy already had it set for her own time and presumably her TARDIS so she just pushed the button, and Amy automatically disappeared as she went home. Now Clara just had to hope that she could use the sonic well enough to destroy the time scoop and close the cracks that it had made while sending herself back home before it closed. She silently hoped that she had learned how to use the sonic well enough from the Doctor in order to pull this off.

"Let me do that," Theta volunteered.

"Are you sure that you know how? I'm not even sure that I should let you look at this. I could be changing history," Clara said hesitantly.

"It's better for me to do it then to let you do it. You might wind up trapped somewhere besides your own time forever with no way to get back or worse yet you may be trapped inside of the cracks forever. Let me do it," Theta insisted.

"You'll destroy the sonic when you're finished?" Clara asked hesitantly.

"I'll make sure of it," Arkytior assured her.

Clara started to cry as she said, "I'm going to miss all of you and yet I won't at all. I know that doesn't make any sense to any of you, but someday it will. I love all of you. I just wanted you to know that. Okay, I'm ready to go now."

Theta looked at Arkytior in puzzlement at Clara's words as Clara stood in front of the crack waiting. Theta quickly mastered how to operate this strange new version of the sonic and used it on Clara. As soon as Clara vanished, Theta quickly used it to cause the time scoop to self-destruct and the cracks closed within seconds. Theta was sure that he had done the right thing now. There would have been no way for Clara to have sent herself back home in time if she had done it.

"Are you sure that you sent her back to the right place?" Arkytior asked Theta hesitantly.

"I hope so. It didn't seem that hard to use," Theta said.

Neither of them were sure if their new friend was okay or not, and a worried glance passed between them now as they began to wonder about it. Cydonia was worried as well. She was trying to contact Clara and was receiving nothing from her. She hoped that wherever she was now that she was okay.

"You have to destroy the sonic. You promised her," Arkytior reminded Theta.

Theta hesitated for a second and then nodded as he said, "Okay. I did promise. I just wish that I could have studied it a little bit longer. It would have really helped my sonic research."

"That's the point, Theta. You're supposed to come up with that on your own," Arkytior said.

"Alright! You're no fun sometimes, Ari. Do you know that?" Theta protested as he set the sonic on the floor after setting it to overload and destroy itself.

As the sonic melted into goo and then the goo disappeared and evaporated into nothingness, Arkytior said, "Why don't you replace me with your new girlfriend then? I'm sure she would be much more fun to be around when she wasn't trying to kill you."

"I'm sorry, Ari. I had to do that in order to distract her. It was the only thing that I could think of," Theta protested.

"Really? Somehow I doubt that. I think you wanted to kiss her," Arkytior said with extreme jealousy in her voice.

"No, I didn't. I was just trying to use my natural charisma and charm to keep her distracted so that I could get the gun away from her. I mean I knew that she wouldn't be able to resist me if I did that. I'm just too much for most women to handle," Theta said smugly.

Arkytior started to laugh despite herself as she said, "I'm the only woman that you have to worry about handling your charms, Theta Sigma. You make sure that you remember that from now on."

"That kiss didn't mean anything to me, Ari. I'm sorry if I hurt you. I didn't mean to. You're the only woman that I love. No one else," Theta apologized.

She smiled as she could see the truth of that in his eyes, and she kissed him passionately in response to show him that she had forgiven him. The two of them became so absorbed in each other that they completely forgot that Cydonia and Cliodna were even there.

"Come on, Cydonia. I don't think that we want to stick around much longer. I know that I certainly don't. There's no telling what they'll do next," Cliodna said with a frown.

Cydonia said nothing as Cliodna led her out of the basement. She couldn't help worrying about Clara. She was still getting nothing from her. Where was she?

Clara suddenly appeared right back in the basement again watching Theta and Arkytior being caught up in the moment. As she turned her head away to avoid seeing something that she didn't want to, she silently made her way back out of the basement. She was just in time to catch Cliodna and Cydonia before they left the house.

"Oh, no! I knew that something was wrong when I never heard anything from you," Cydonia said in a disappointed voice.

"I'm sorry. I should have tried it myself. Leave it to Theta to screw it all up. At least he shut down the time scoop anyway," Cliodna said.

Clara tried to smile, but she just couldn't. She started to break down, and tears started rolling down her cheeks out of control as Cliodna said in an extremely gentle voice, "Don't worry. We'll send you back home. I promise. It'll be okay. It's alright."

"I'll make sure that you go back, okay? It'll be alright, Clara. I promise," Cydonia said as Clara continued to cry out of control.

"So she's you, the human you that you told us about?" Cliodna asked in surprise.

"Yes, this is her. She's the one who created me by jumping into the Doctor's timestream. I have to get her back home again, Clio," Cydonia said.

"We will somehow. I promise. Don't worry, honey. You'll get back," Cliodna said.

Clara smiled a little, but she just wasn't sure that she believed it. She was now afraid that she was stuck here forever. She would never see her kids or the versions of her friends that she knew ever again.

Next: Arkytior decides to use her TT Capsule to take Clara back home despite the risks of learning too much about her own history. This leads to even further problems though as Arkytior starts to give birth to Cassiopeia as soon as she enters the Vortex with only Theta and Clara there to help her. Then things get worse as something happens to the Capsule which leaves them all unable to leave the Vortex. We've all seen recently in It's Better With Two what happens when Theta has to handle childbirth. This has disaster written all over it.