Hello again! Blimey, its been a long time. Hello hello! Here is Chapter 20!
Oh, and thank you so much to those who read, reviewed, followed, and favorited (Is that a word...? Hmm...) I hope you all enjoy the following chapters!
Chapter 20
The Doctor is brought into a giant room with knight armor standing at attention. Clara places the chess table with the Doctor barking orders about where the pieces go.
As soon as its done, the Doctor sits down on a chair and Clara begins to tie him up.
I pull Angie and Artie by their hands, leading them to the same room. I place them side by side, and stare into their eyes.
Don't die... I order them in my mind.
"Right, that's good," he smiles. "I won't be able to move, but hands free, good."
"You're playing chess with yourself?" Clara peaks her head over the chair as she continues to tie the Time Lord down.
"And I'm winning!" The Doctor reaches up and rips the gold paper off of the metal wiring on his face. His expression turns cold and his voice deepens, "Actually, he has no better than a twenty-five percent chance of winning at this stage in the game."
Clara is moving slowly around the chair to look at him. His eyes are dark, and I feel a goose bump or two begin to rise on my arms.
"Some very dodgy moves at the beginning," he continues, tilting his head up at me. "Hello flesh girls. Fantastic! I'm the Cyber-planner..."
"Doctor?" Clara asks.
"Afraid not. I'm working the mouth now."
I cross my arms and stare at him.
"Allons-y!" he smiles.
What the hell?
"Oh, you should see the state of these neurons!" he keeps babbling on. "He's had some cowboys in here," the Cyber-planner Doctor thing points at his head. "Ten complete rejigs."
"You aren't the Doctor..." Clara moves in front of him. Her hand goes behind her back and motions for me to come closer.
I glance back at Angie and Artie before silently making my way towards her.
"No," the Doctor leans forward towards her. "But I know who you are," he looks from me to Clara, "both of you..." A smirk rises in the corner of his mouth. "You're the impossible girls. Oh, he is very interested in the two of you."
I narrow my eyes.
"Why am I impossible?" Clara asks.
"Hasn't he told you, the sly devil?" Cyber-planner looks back at me. "Thought he might have told you, at least. Known you longer." He glances back down, then up again at Clara. "Dear me. Listen. Soon we wake."
Clara puts her hands on the table and leans in towards him.
"We'll strip you down for spare parts, then build a spaceship and move on," he says.
"More Cybermen?" Clara interjects.
"They're waking from their tomb right now."
I notice his hand pick up a pen and begin to write on a scrap of paper. I subtly yank on Clara's shirt.
"You can either die or live on as one of us." The Cyber-planner threatens.
"Death any day," I move closer.
"Might want to rethink that," he snaps.
"The Doctor will stop you," Clara looks down at the paper.
It reads HIT ME in all caps.
"He can't even access the lips," the Cyber-planner taunts.
Clara suddenly slaps him across the face. I jump back in surprise.
The Cyber-planner Doctor yells and reaches for his face. "Ow! Ow! Oh, that hurt."
He's back.
"No, stop, enough, bit of pain, neural surge, just what I needed. Thank you," he smiles.
"Happy to not be threatened anymore," I laugh, crossing my arms.
"Why am I the impossible girl?" Clara adds.
"Yeah, that too," I quickly stand next to her again.
"It's just a thing in my head, I'll explain later," he blurts.
"Doubt it," I wink.
"Chess game. Stakes?" Clara brings us back to the problem.
The Doctor rolls his eyes, "If he wins, I give up my mind and he gets access to all my memories, along with knowledge of time travel, but," he takes a slight breath, "if I win, he'll break his promises to get out of my head and then kill us all anyway."
I let my head fall with a sigh. "Crap."
"That's not reassuring!" Clara reminds him.
"It never is with him!" I point out.
"No..." he agrees.
"Please tell me you can fix whatever happened to the children."
"Children," he remembers. "Yeah, they're fine. I mean, right now their brains are just in stand by mode."
"That is not fine!" Clara lightly pounds the table.
"Listen," the Doctor lowers his voice and leans in closer. "Right now, they have a much better chance of getting out of this situation alive than you do."
I glance back at Angie and Artie who are still staring blankly ahead.
"Which one of you said that?" Clara asks.
I whip back around to see the Doctor smiling.
"Me, Cyber-planner. Mr. Clever," he winks at me. His face turns back to solid. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a chess game to finish," he pushes Clara's head away, "and you two have to die, pointlessly and very far from home."
I glare at him with anger boiling in my stomach.
"Toodle-oo," he waves at us.
My jaw tightens and I move forward to hit him. Clara grabs my hand and pulls me back. We both leave the room and I breath out the air that I was holding in.
"I'm gonna kill him," I look up at Clara.
She continues walking, but there is a smile on her face. "Which one?"
"Mel," Clara calls to me.
I am sitting on a case of weapons, looking out of the concrete window.
"Come and get some food!"
"Comin'!" I stand up and make my way towards her.
Porridge is handing out servings of what looks like soup.
"Here you go, both of you," he hands us thermos cups. "Warm you up."
"Thanks," I smile, sipping the warm soup. It's actually pretty good.
"Ah, thank you, Porridge," she raises her shoulders at the warm soup.
"Oi! Clara!" I hear the Doctor call.
Clara sighs, "I'll see what he wants. Call me if there is any change."
"Gotcha, Captain!" I laugh.
I drink my soup quickly.
"That is so nice," I pretend to shiver.
"I'm glad," Porridge smiles. There is a small time of silence before he speaks again. "You know, you and Clara look nothing alike."
I nod, "There is a reason for that." I sip more soup awkwardly. "And you look a lot like that wax guy in the room. You related?"
He opens his mouth to reply before I hear the Doctor screaming from the room.
"Hold on," I put the cup down and run into the room. "Clara!" I stop dead to see Clara stepping away.
"He means," the Doctor's voice is back to cold and angry. "Good news, boys and girls. They're here!"
Clara spins around and runs. She grabs my hand and I follow her out the door. We run up the castle's stairs to a window.
My eyes widen and I rub the back of my head in shock. Thousands upon thousands of Cybermen are outside of the walls, waiting to attack.
Clara leans against the wall. "One gun, five hand pulsers, and a planet-squashing bomb that doesn't work anymore."
"Why not?" the ginger asks.
"Broken trigger unit," she responds.
"Are you serious?" I look at her.
"But, you signed for that," ginger reminds her.
All the Cybermen move forward a few steps, towards the water. One steps into it, frying its circuits. Blue sparks fly from its metal body as it begins to shut down.
"Yes!" I jump in the air.
The rest of the soldiers are cheering. Clara claps her hands together, "Brilliant!"
Suddenly, the Cyberman raises back up into walking position. "Upgrade in Progress," it recites.
Great...
Everyone is exchanging looks. I swallow a lump in my throat.
"Who is our best shot?" Clara asks.
"Probably its me," one soldier says.
Clara grabs the Cybergun from ginger and hands it to him. "Shoot any of them who make it across." She spins around, "The rest of you, take defensive positions!"
"Got it!" I smile, running after the soldiers.
"No, Mel, not you," Clara stops me. "Porridge?"
"Yes?" he looks up at her.
"Stay with Mel and keep yourself safe." She follows the troops.
Porridge looks up at me, unsure what to do.
"The hell with this," I wave at him as I run after Clara.
I reach her within a few moments. She is with one other soldier, watching the Cybermen come marching into the castle.
"Melanie! Go back with Porridge!" she yells at me.
"No! I'm not gonna wait for them to kill me!" I argue.
"This isn't the time, Mel! Now, go back!"
"No!"
The Cybergun goes off and blasts the first Cyberman to make it across.
More start swarming in and Clara grabs my shoulders, pushing me ahead of her. "Run!"
Cybermen are coming from all directions, firing at the three of us. I duck my head multiple times, some screams echoing through the castle.
We race through the corridors, and we eventually come out into the main circle. Cybermen are filing in through the drawbridge doors.
The soldier fires the Cybergun one more time and nails a Cyberman in the soldier.
It flinches to the attack, but rises back up. "Upgrade in Progress."
Clara grabs a spiked weapon from the ground.
I stay behind her, slowly backing away from the metal men.
"I've got no charge left!" the soldier yells.
Clara raises the weapon and throws it down at the Cyberman. It holds up its hand and catches the attack, grabbing it away from her and throwing it to the side.
"Oh, God," I hit the wall behind me.
"Please stand by," the Cyberman in the front recites. "You will be upgraded."
We are all up against the wall. The four Cybermen in the front raise their arms at us and I shut my eyes.
"Welcome to the Cyberiad. You will be upgraded." Their voices begin to slow down and their words become garbled.
I open one eye, keeping the other shut. All of the Cybermen have stopped, and I nervously laugh at the hand at my face.
I slowly move away from the hand, ducking under the arm. The four of us are still laughing, dodging the metal bodies around us.
We all run to the room where the Doctor is tied up. As we enter, he is fixing his bow tie, and the metal wiring on his face is gone.
Angie and Artie are standing up, but Artie is still asleep. I go over to them, "Are you okay?"
Angie nods, and I turn back to the Doctor.
"Ah, hello. Can somebody untie me, please?" he asks.
"Do you think I'm pretty?" Clara asks.
Bit random...
"No, you're too short and bossy, and your nose is all funny."
"What?" I laugh.
"Good enough," Clara hurries behind him and unties the ropes. "What happened to the Cyber-planner?"
"Out of my head and redistributed across three million Cybermen right now and about to wake them all up, kill us and start constructing a spaceship."
"Great," I smile.
"We need to destroy this planet before they can get off of it!" ginger yells.
The Doctor starts playing with the bomb, scanning it with his screwdriver. "Okay, it has a fallback voice activation."
"The Captain," one soldier says. "But, she's dead."
"I think you should ask Porridge," Angie says.
"Why?" Clara asks.
"He is the Emperor," I say, looking over at Angie.
"Yeah," she points at me, "it's pretty obvious. He looks exactly like he does on the coin, and in the waxwork, but they made him a bit taller." She looks over at me and smiles. "Are we the only ones paying attention to anything around here?"
I chuckle a bit.
"You are full of surprises," Clara compliments her. "Porridge?"
"She's right," he admits.
"So you can save us?" Clara's voice turns to relief.
"We all die in the end. Does it matter how?" he asks.
"It does when there are kids," I blurt out.
"I don't want to be emperor," he tells us. "If I activate that bomb, its all over."
"And if you don't, three million Cybermen spread across the galaxy," the Doctor says. "Isn't that worth dying for?"
When Porridge doesn't answer, the Doctor tries again. "Three million Cybermen."
"The bomb, the throne," Porridge continues. "It's all connected. I just have to say 'This is Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick Cordlongstaff the 41st, defender of humanity, Imperator of known space," he pauses, looking at the bomb, "activate the desolator.'"
The bomb beeps and starts to blink red.
"And its done."
The Doctor takes out his sonic and scans the bomb.
I reach for Clara's hand and hold it.
"It'll blow in about 80 seconds, easily long enough for Imperial flagship to locate me from my identification, warp jump into orbit and transmit us to the state room."
As soon as he finished speaking, the room around us turned into a throne room with large windows. A planet floated outside the window that was surrounding by stars and galaxies. Purple flags hung on the walls with marking and symbols.
"Nice ship. A bit big, not blue enough," the Doctor says.
I smile.
"Listen," he walks up to Porridge. "There is a large blue box at coordinates 6-Ultra-19-P. I need it transmitted up here right away."
"Right," Porridge nods. "Did you get all of that?" he asks a girl at a control panel.
She nods and begins to type in the coordinates.
I hug Clara instantly, and she doesn't hesitate to hug back. I don't let go until I am for sure that I am making her uncomfortable.
"And that's that. 76..." Porridge begins to count down. Clara has her arm around me and I have my arm around Angie. "77... 78... 79..."
The planet becomes an explosion of orange. All of us stagger as the planet is split into several pieces of rock.
"Farewell, Cyberiad," Porridge looks at the planet's remains. "You know, it was good to get away. Good to be a person. Good to not be lonely and emperor of a thousand galaxies with everyone waiting for me to tell them what to do."
"Can't you run away again?" Artie asks.
I look up at him, hoping he will say yes.
"They'll be keeping a close eye on my this time," he sighs. "That's what happens when you're emperor. Loneliest job in the universe."
"You don't have to be lonely," Clara smiles.
"I don't," he agrees. He turns towards her and kneels to one knee. "Clara, will you marry me?"
After a pause, Clara and I both say, "What?"
"He said-" Artie starts.
"She heard what he said," Angie laughs.
"Clara," I put my hand on her shoulder.
"You're smart and your beautiful and and I've never met anyone like you before."
I glance up to see the Doctor agreeing to what Porridge is saying.
"And being emperor won't be as hard if you are by my side. And you'd rule a thousand galaxies."
The Doctor makes his way next to Porridge.
He is trying to change her mind. Please do, Doctor.
"This sounds like an actual marriage proposal. Tricky," he glances at Porridge. "Now, if you want my advice-"
"You, not one word," Clara interrupts. "This is between me and the Emperor."
The Doctor nods and stops talking.
"Porridge," Clara looks at him. "I don't want to rule a thousand galaxies."
The Doctor gives her a thumbs up and I breath a heavy sigh of relief.
"Yeah," Porridge nods his head sadly. "Silly of me."
"I'm really sorry," Clara apologizes.
"But, that's stupid," Angie looks back at her.
I roll my eyes.
"You could be Queen of the Universe. How can you say no to that?" she asks.
The Doctor gives her a look, a curious look.
"When someone asks you to be Queen of the Universe, you say yes. You watch. One day, I'll be Queen of the Universe," she smiles.
Porridge laughs and stands up. "Of course, I could have you all executed, which is what a proper emperor would do."
Clara still has her smile, but her eyes are hesitant.
I chuckle a bit at the Doctor's face.
"You're not actually going to do that, though, are you?"
Porridge laughs, cutting him off.
"Oh, you're... Hey?" the Doctor points at him, joining his laughter.
"Go on, get out of here, all of you." He pats me on the shoulder as I pass. "Before I change my mind."
I follow after Angie and Artie who are talking about everything that happened. The Doctor opens the TARDIS doors, and we all step inside.
Clara comes in a few moments later. I hug her again as the Doctor pulls the lever to leave the spaceship.
As we land at the house, Artie shakes the Doctor's hand.
"Thank you for having me. It was very interesting."
"My pleasure," the Doctor smiles. He leans in, "Thank you for coming."
The Doctor spins towards Angie, "Now, I've got something for you."
He runs around the console with Angie behind him. "Its not from me, its from the TARDIS."
He turns around, handing her a new phone. "Ah, new phone!"
"Thanks," she takes it in her hand.
"You're welcome," the Doctor shakes her hand.
"Sorry I said that this box was stupid," she says before leaving the TARDIS.
"Bye!" they both wave.
"Thanks, Clara!" Artie says. "And Mel!"
"Thanks, Clara's boyfriend!"
I smile and lean agains the console next to the Doctor.
"Thank you, Doctor," Clara says.
"For what?"
"Kids day out, getting us off the planet alive, whatever you were doing with the Cybermen."
"Yeah, what was that?" I asked, following Clara as she heads towards the doors. "And you never explained the impossible thing."
"I'll talk about that with you later," he whispers.
"Goodnight," Clara opens the doors. "Come on, Mel."
I wink at the Doctor from the door.
"See you next Wednesday!" Clara says.
"Well, a Wednesday, definitely, last Wednesday, next-" he continues.
Clara closes the door behind her as I wait for her in the cold, starry night.
"I'm still mad at you, you know?" I smile.
"For what?"
"When you went on that last adventure without me," I remind her.
"That was nothing," she laughs. "Just a lizard lady and a red sucker."
"See?" I hit the side of her arm as she enters the front of the house. "I will probably never see a lizard lady now! Just because I didn't go with you on some stupid adventure."
"I won't leave you next time," she nudges me with her elbow. "I promise."
"Keeping you to that."