The harvest was the best way to stay alive - this, the Other came to realize fairly quickly. He couldn't regenerate. Omega sucked all that out of him when he sealed him away. Just as insurance, if ever he somehow escaped...he'd wither and die in time, the power of regeneration stolen from him.
But he found it again. He got the better of that old fool, didn't he? He saved himself! He did more than that - he enhanced himself! Gave himself unimaginable strength, an endless lifespan (barring accidents) and the power of time travel. He won! He lived! While Omega died.
It took him years to prepare. He selected Earth as his farm. Earth, full of silly little people who'd walk right into the slaughterhouse. Finally, in the year 2005 of that sorry little planet, the harvest began. Ellie Oswald, chef, jobseeker, mother, and wife...what a wonderful first meal she made! And once she was of no further use, her remains were stitched back together and dumped in some random corner of London.
The Other's monsters were never caught disposing of the bodies. Some, they would dump in some dark alleyway in the city, careful never to be spotted. But that was only the people who'd be missed. Many of their guests - homeless, dispossessed and addicted - would never be looked for. There was a place underground for them - a forgotten labrytinth of tunnels underneath London, directly beneath the Panoptican itself.
It all came to an end in 2010, of course. Way before it's time. It took her ten whole years to repair the Panoptican following his turbulent regeneration, by which time she (the new Other) grew weaker, her stocks of regeneration energy spent on the change...
Until now. She's absorbed so much regeneration energy, she's stronger than ever before. So much stronger!
So she tries to tell herself...
Clara still lay motionless on the floor, lifeless and pale like Tricky. The Doctor and the Other were both on their knees now. But there was no doubt about it in anyone's mind now - the Doctor looked to be the stronger of the two. Thomasina was shaking violently now, whimpering. The Doctor looked little better, but there was a strange sort of calm washing over her. She was enduring. She was suffering, but she was enduring it. The Other was not.
But then what? Clara was the Doctor's champion. She was the only one who could make the kill! But one, she was knocked out cold. And two, the ice gun didn't have enough power to turn Thomasina into a block of ice like her own champion...but equally, Thomasina's champion was dead. So she couldn't kill the Doctor, right? Maybe... but what if neither of them could kill one another? Would they be forced to fight on and on, until one or both of their brains imploded? Mickey had a particularly gory image in his head of their skulls collapsing in on themselves, blood and soupy brain matter pouring from their ears, mouths and noses...could they really not interfere?
He asked this to Lady Me, who shook her head. "I don't think so. We'll kill 'em both...only Clara can do it."
But Clara couldn't do it, for the reasons given some moments ago.
With a flash of blue light and an electronic zap, Clara appeared ten feet in the air. She was back on the snowy battlefield, the war still raging on. And - just as she'd wanted - Thomasina Wrench was just below her, a splodge of crimson against the white of the snow, like a droplet of blood on a marble floor.
Clara yelled with cold fury and dropped to the ground. She hooked her arms around Thomasina's neck and yanked her down with her. Thomasina let out a shrill scream as she fell. The two women landed in an untidy sprawl on top of each other, Thomasina's high-heeled shoe digging uncomfortably into Clara's leg. The soldiers - among them, Clara noticed with a shock, several Missys - charged at her at once. But the moment was prepared for.
Thomasina was spreading herself too thin, controlling all of these troops. None of them were very strong. And, as Clara noticed with a thrill of hope, they were looking weaker than before, while the Doctor's looked just as strong.
Clara channeled all her willpower into the facsimiles of Twelve and her mother, who swept the endless crowds aside as if they were nothing but clouds of vapour. Each one they struck burst into a cloud of snow, and drifted to the ground. Clara tightened her grip around Thomasina's neck and slammed her back and forth into the snowy ground.
"Does that hurt?" She screamed, seizing a fistful of snow and rubbing it vigorously into the Other's eyes, trying to lacerate them. Thomasina was too bewildered and weak to fight back for the moment. She lay on the floor, her eyes red and sore, pink fingermarks around her pale neck. Clara took her hand away from the face that was livid with makeup, wiping the white powder off on Thomasina's red dress. She grabbed Thomasina's dress and lifted her partly off the floor. She kicked her in the face, once, twice, three times. "Does it hurt yet?" She screamed, slapping her and tossing her back to the ground. "You die in here, you die out there! How about that?"
Clara knew in her heart that it didn't work like that. But she was enjoying this. It had been a long time coming. All the pent up rage and grief was coming out at once, and for the moment, Clara Oswald was totally unable to control herself.
The Other whimpered and spat blood, trying to scrabble to her feet. She got up unsteadily, pushing Clara away as she came in for a second attack. She straightened up. She was holding a sword! She hadn't been a moment ago. She'd imagined it. So Clara imagined a shield. A large, silver square of metal appeared in her hand. She held it up just as Thomasina's sword came slicing through the air. Clara felt shockwaves judder through her arms as the metal hit the metal. She didn't hesitate. She charge forward with the shield, crashing into Thomasina and throwing her again to the floor.
Clara turned her shield to a rounders bat, and brought it down on the Other's ribs. She groaned.
Then Clara was on top of her again, hitting her first with the bat and then with her bare hands, striking her in the face again and again, until Thomasina Wrench lay still, bloodied and bruised.
Clara nodded with satisfaction, and got to her feet. The fighting had stopped. Thomasina's army was gone, and so was the Doctor's...
"The Doctor!" Clara exclaimed. "Where's the Doctor?"
"Here," Twelve said. "I'm so impressed with you, Clara."
"Thanks, but I meant..." Clara stared at Twelve. Suddenly, he wasn't Twelve. The Thirtieth Doctor stood in his place.
"Good afternoon," she beamed. Clara gasped. The Thirtieth Doctor's voice was lucid and soft, like a hearing person's voice.
"Can you hear?" Clara asked.
"If you want me to," Thirty laughed, "anything goes here."
Ellie took Clara in her arms again, "I'm so proud of you," she whispered into Clara's ear, "I'm not Ellie Oswald, but I think like her...and she would have been so proud of you Clara."
Clara rounded on Thomasina Wrench. "Have you won then?" She asked the Doctor.
The Doctor shook her head. "Not until you come back to reality. You need to get her. Kill her, or capture her...she's immobile now, and only you can do it."
"But the ice gun!" Clara protested, "it doesn't work! I"
But then Clara stopped...
For a moment there...just one moment...it looked like the Doctor had won! Thomasina slumped on the floor, paraylsed like the Doctor said the loser would be. The Doctor got to her feet again and stood over her. Just for a second, Thomasina didn't move. She only stared up at the Doctor in cold fear. But then the Doctor grimaced. Thomasina twitched a little, and then got up again!
"Argh!" Jamie moaned. He had been on the verge of cheering.
Nobody noticed Clara's right hand twitch slightly, tightening it's grip on the ice gun...
Thomasina rose to her feet. "Did you think it would be that easy?" She screamed, her face bruised and broken, "Don't you know who I am? I, the Other, the heir to Gallifrey! I let you win, girl! Pathetic girl! Pathetic, useless girl! I needed the rest, and I let you do it!"
Clara charged at her again, but the Doctor held her back. And Clara's heart began hammering in her chest she saw the Doctor's face. The Doctor looked scared.
"I'll fight you to the end." The Doctor said, trying to sound brave. "Be sure of it."
Thomasina laughed hysterically. "And fight you must! But this ends now! I'll win the Da'agon Hhai! Oh, I know my champions dead. I'll win, and I'll cut your throats! But this ends now! I'll fight you myself, not with an army! You will face my final form in this world, and...oh how you'll burn! How you'll scream!"
Then she vanished. The field was empty.
"What's happening?" Clara asked, her mouth dry.
"She was holding back," the Doctor said, shaking with fear. She grabbed Clara tightly with both hands. "Clara, I know what this is...she's using all her energy, betting that whatever's coming will finish us quickly. We have to try and hold out! Wait for her to tire herself out. And you have to wake up! Use the ice gun!"
"It's out of power!" Clara screamed yet again, her eyes darting left and right, looking for any sign of danger. Nothing yet.
"No!" The Doctor shouted back. "It's nearly out of power. You know something about it which Thomasina doesn't! She doesn't think it's a danger! Just remember! Think!"
"Oh my stars..." Ellie gasped. Clara looked at her. She was staring at something behind the Doctor. Reluctantly, her heart thundering in her chest, Clara slowly looked past the Doctor.
Then she screamed.
Something enormous was flying towards them. It had two huge, spiky wings and four legs, the feet tipped with nails like axe heads. It was a dragon. Clara guessed it must have been twenty meters long, and ten meters from head to foot. It's skin was covered in red and white scales, and there were bright red frills around it's neck and it's ankles. It's exposed underside had three large, button shaped spots, and the top of it's head and neck was covered with thick, blonde-white fur.
And they were completely defenceless, standing in the middle of an endless field.
The dragon opened it's huge, fanged mouth and made a strange gasping noise. Clara knew what was about to happen. A jet of flames shot out, straight at the three of them. They ducked, and Clara felt the intense heat above her, just a few feet away. But she was fine. Hot air rose.
The dragon landed with a thump and began to charge at them. It moved astonishingly fast. Clara screamed again, and the three of them rolled to the side, out of it's path...
"Come on Doctor!" Amy screamed in panic. Thomasina was up on her feet now, and the Doctor had collapsed. Thomasina stood above her, an evil grin on her face.
Again, Clara's hand twitched very lightly.
"We're out of here," Clara panted, concentrating very hard...she knew where they had to go.
With a pop, they were back in the castle. Omega's castle. They were on top of one of the old towers.
"Can she get here?" Clara gasped, her skin stinging - she'd been burnt worse than she thought. She looked at the Doctor, who's face was turning pink. Only Ellie, who was a figment of Clara's imagination, was unharmed.
"Oh yeah..." the Doctor said, looking up. Clara craned her neck. Thomasina the dragon was there, dive bombing them. Her eyes were exactly the eyes of Thomasina, only bigger. A look of pure hatred was etched on them. She opened her mouth and made the hissing, gassy noise again.
This time, Clara was ready. A trapdoor appeared in the middle of the floor, which burst open at once, pushed from the inside. The Twelfth Doctor's head poked comically up from the hole. Under other circumstances, Clara would have laughed.
"Might be safer down here," he said, sliding back down the ladder, into a dark, round storeroom inside.
"Go!" The Thirtieth Doctor screamed, throwing Clara towards the trapdoor. She clambered down. Ellie didn't need to. Clara just imagined her at the bottom of the ladder, and that's where she was.
The dragon blew it's next jet of flames. The Thirtieth Doctor was too slow. She was mostly down the ladder, but her hands were still on the upper rungs, which caught fire. She screamed. Clara grabbed her wait and yanked her down, using her mind to slam the trapdoor shut behind them.
The Doctor moaned in agony, examining her blistered hands. Two rolls of white gauze bandage covering them. The Doctor had imagined them there.
"Can't you make yourself a dragon?" Clara demanded of her. The Twelfth Doctor chuckled.
Thirty shook her head. "I don't have the strength...we've gotta keep going! If we can survive long enough, she'll get weaker!"
But Clara shook her head. She was in a storeroom. Which gave her a very good idea...
"Hey look!" Lady Me exclaimed, drawing everyone's dismayed attention from the fight. "Look! It's Clara!"
Clara was moaning softly, stirring on the ground. Her eyes were still shut, but her hand gripped the ice gun tighter. Back across the room, the Doctor cried out in pain, as the make believe version of herself got her hands singed by dragon fire...
Clara suddenly felt something cold in her right hand. Quickly, she looked down...no. Nothing there. But there had been, she was sure of it! She'd felt the ice gun!
She forgot it, and concentrated back on the task in hand. The took the Doctor's bandaged hand, ignoring her cry of pain.
"You've got enough strength for this," Clara told her, "you need to have - think gunpowder!"
Thirty smiled. "Amazing..." She said. At that moment, as Clara had hoped, the whole tower shook. A scrabbling, scraping noise came from the circular walls. She was forcing her way in.
"You don't scare us, Thomasina!" Clara yelled, provoking her. "You hideous great brute! Come and have a go! Come on!"
There were brown barrels all around the storeroom now. Clara and the Doctor had willed them into existence, and there they were.
"Another trapdoor would be handy now," she told Twelve.
Twelve grinned. "What, like this?" He said, an open trapdoor appearing out of nowhere beneath him. He dropped down it instantly.
There was an tremendous thud, as part of the wall caved in. A gigantic red and white face peered in, the eyes (Thomasina's eyes) glinting with malice. That hissing noise started again from deep within her throat.
"Oh boy..." Thirty said, grabbing Clara and half-throwing her down the trapdoor. She followed suit. It was a long ladder this time - they needed to get a good distance away. Before...
Thomasina blew another jet of fire into the now empty storeroom. The flames licked over the new barrels of gunpowder.
Then the whole room exploded.
Clara screamed again, as the sound thundered through the castle, clapping her ears tightly. Everyone did the same. A waft of acrid smoke filled the air, and Clara's eyes stung viciously, as smoke and brick debris filled them. She heard an otherworldly shriek from above as the dragon was blasted backwards. Quickly, she created a window in the side of the turret and looked out. Thomasina the dragon was flopping uselessly to the floor, her wings tangled, her skin burnt. She crashed to the floor and writhed there in pain. She looked, for the first time, scared.
"Clara!" Called a far off distant voice.
"Clara!" Lady Me screamed. "Wake up!"
Clara's eyelids fluttered and she moaned softly. Her hand closed firmly around the ice gun.
Meanwhile, Thomasina suddenly cried out in alarm, and staggered backwards, upright but shaky, as she was blasted by the gunpowder in the dream. The Doctor staggered up again, taking advantage of Thomasina's lapse of concentration.
The dragon struggled back upright. She was panicking now. How could this be allowed to happen? The dragon was meant to kill them in ten seconds flat! That was the whole idea! And there was no backup! No plan B! It took all her focus to keep this up...if the dragon went down, so did she!
How could that happen?
She reared up, spotting Clara peering out of the window, lower down in the tower. The top half had been blasted clean off. The dragon unfurled it's aching, broken wings and clumsily took flight again. She couldn't fly in a straight line anymore.
Clara watched as the dragon took flight awkwardly. It let loose another jet of fire, searing the outside of the wrecked tower. The temperature inside rose notably.
Clara was just about to imagine a cannonball firing at the dragon, when her head erupted in agony. She collapsed to the floor. For a second - just a second - she saw something else...a large, metal chamber filled with machinery and operating tables...she was lying on the floor, with a crowd of people by the door looking at her...the real world! She felt the ice gun in her hand, the cold floor against her back.
Then she was back in the castle. The Twelfth Doctor dragged her upright. Her head had stopped burning, but she felt dizzy.
"You can't fight her like this anymore," the Doctor said, "it's killing you! You need to kill her! End it!"
"But I..." Clara stopped. She could hear voices, coming from the real world...
"Wake up Clara!" Jamie screamed.
"Clara! Come on!" Jo Jones yelled.
"Yeah, you can do it!" Jack Harkness said. "I know you can! Come on! Come back to us!"
"Come on!" Ian joined in.
Everyone was screaming for her.
And Clara remembered. Jack's voice did it. She remembered what she knew! What she knew, that the Other did not! What had Jack told her about the ice gun?
She thought back to earlier - "you can even send it through solid walls," he had told her, examining the gun, "lock it onto a specific target, it can bypass certain amounts of matter."
"I can do it," Clara said, her eyes widening, "I can kill her! It will work!"
But then they all screamed, as the tower shook violently and heated up again. It was about to collapse! Clara quickly imagined them away, into Omega's chamber. But the effort sent a fresh jolt of pain through her head.
The Thirtieth Doctor took her by the shoulders. "Can you really do it?" She asked. "She's weak now...I can go all out on her, but you need to be sure. You understand? If your wrong, I die."
"I'm sure," Clara said. "I just need to see..."
Clara's eyes snapped open. She was in the Panoptican again!
"Shoot through matter..." Clara said feebly, activating the ice gun. The little screen lit up. She tried to point it at Thomasina, but her vision was blurry and her hand swayed...but on that little screen, she saw Thomasina, painted as a bright red target...
And then she was back. The ice gun was still in her hand!
She fiddled with a few of the touch screen controls...power level...only half left. Targeting colour contrast...irrelevant...lock on!
That was it! She selected it, and looked at the screen. Perfect! Pointing it at a wall, she could see targets beyond that wall! If she locked onto one or some, the jets would pass through the wall and freeze them.
But then the whole roof was torn off! Thomasina the dragon leered down at them.
Clara stumbled to her feet, and pointed the gun shakily at Thomasina...it was heavy, and her grip was weak. With a shaking finger, she selected "lock on" and pointed it at Thomasina...
"Immobilize her!" Clara told the Doctor sternly. "Give it your last!"
The Thirtieth Doctor nodded. With another pop, they were out of the room, just in the nick of time. A huge jet of flame came crashing down into it.
They were on a hill, overlooking the castle! No - Clara was. She thought she'd seen Twelve and Ellie out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned around, they weren't there...nor was Thirty...Clara gasped. Thirty was on top of the dragon, riding on it's neck! She was holding a fire hose, and pouring a jet of high powered water into the dragon's mouth!
With a shaky finger, Clara pointed the weapon at Thomasina's body...through the clothes and the skin, a spaghetti of organs and bones appeared, highlighted red and orange...and there, in her chest were two roundish muscles. Clara could hear them! Boom-boom-boom-boom. Boom-boom-boom-boom... the sound of drums. The beating of a Gallifreyan's two hearts!
The gun started buzzing. Safety buzzed red (for off). Clara tapped the outline of Thomasina's hearts on the screen. Locked. Locked flashed red...and then primed flashed red...
Thomasina let out a huge shriek, which caused Clara to look up in alarm. She was standing stock-still, her eyes darting left and right. She couldn't move! But the Doctor could! She was shaking violently, her bones making hideous noises..."c...come on..." she mumbled to Clara in her deaf, muffled voice..."do it!"
Clara raised the gun...she couldn't! She couldn't aim! The gun was too heavy! Her vision was blurred, and her muscles were weak. She was concussed and injured! She couldn't take the shot accurately!
She was about to say as much when she heard her mother's voice.
"Not here Clara! Trust me! Fire from the hill!"
Clara suddenly had two visions before her eyes - the real world, and overlapping it, the world of the Da'agon Hhai...they superimposed one another.
"From the hill, Clara!"
Clara shut her eyes tightly.
She reopened them. She was back on that hill, overlooking the castle! The Doctor still rode on the dragon's back, pouring water into it's throat. Clara raised the gun towards the dragon...the thing was ready to fire, the dragon's hearts targeted.
"Clara, hurry!" Ellie's voice exclaimed.
Clara gripped the gun with both hands and screwed up her face in concentration...she wasn't injured in this world, and her head and vision were clear...she gripped the gun tightly, so tight it hurt her fingers...she moved one finger down over the trigger...the dragon's hearts were in her sights...
She held her breath...and pulled the trigger.
She snapped back into the real world with a jolt, just in time to see two clouds of icy energy flying towards Thomasina Wrench. They hit her, making no impact. They travelled through her clothes, through her skin and landed right on target. The Other's hearts froze solid.
Thomasina jumped, a bewildered look on her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but only a strained rasp came out. She looked at Clara. For a moment, their eyes met. Then, Thomasina Wrench stumbled forwards two steps, leaning to the side, grabbing one of the operating tables for support. She gripped the side with shaking hands, the rasping helplessly, her mouth hung open. Then, her eyes rolled backwards into her head, and her grip slackened on the table. She fell to the floor like a ragdoll, and lying on her back. She let out a breath, and didn't inhale another one. Then she lay utterly still on the floor, her eyes rolled back so only the whites showed, her mouth hanging open, her tongue poking out to the side. The Other was dead, killed by the daughter of the very first victim of the harvest all those years ago.
The room was silent. Clara just stood there, staring at Thomasina's corpse, emotionless, the gun hanging limply in her hand. The Doctor gasped in relief, and snapped back to the real world, her face sweaty and her eyes bloodshot. She was free! The Da'agon Hhai was over. She stared over at Clara, breathing deeply. Clara looked into her eyes and, dropping the gun, ran over to her. The Doctor collapsed, exhausted, and Clara skidded down onto the floor, hugging her tightly, hugging her like she'd never hugged anyone before. They were both crying.
Clara jumped a little as someone's hand rested on her shoulder. It was just Lady Me. Smiling and crying at the same time, Clara grabbed her friends arm and pulled her down into the scrum. Then Jack appeared overhead, wrapping his arms around the three of them. Suddenly, they were all there, wrapped together in one tight circle, holding onto each other as if they were afraid to let go. Amy, Rory, Jack, Jamie, Jo, Martha, Mickey and Ian, with Clara, Lady Me and the Doctor in the centre. Mickey dragged Tricky along the floor to the hug as well.
The Other just lay there, on the floor, in total and absolute silence. She wasn't breathing. She'd never breathe again.
The friends were all crying now. They gripped each other tightly, sitting in a scrum in the centre of the abattoir. Nobody spoke a word.
It was a long time before they moved.