Dark Water: Search
"Yeah," Seb winced, seeing the dawning realization growing across Danny's face, "That last thing that happened to you? That really happened, I'm afraid. But that's life. Well, not life, I suppose, but...there ARE some forms to fill in. Might help you relax," he pulled out a stack of papers from the IN Tray and slid them across the desk to Danny with a pen, "Well, they won't, but we DO need them filled in. Right, important thing. Need to know. Are you being cremated? Sorry, it's a fairly urgent question."
"I don't know," Danny murmured, still in disbelief, "I've never really thought of that."
"I'm going to put you down as a 'yes,' that's pretty much the default these days. If people only knew..."
"Only knew what?"
Seb didn't answer, just rolled his chair over to the door to call out, "We've got a burner in number 12. Tell them to prep, please."
"Burner?" Danny exclaimed, jumping to his feet and stepping back.
"Yeah, it's fine," Seb waved him off, rolling back over to the desk, "We'll come to that."
"But I don't understand where I am," Danny shook his head, before spotting a window with a curtain pulled over it. He hurried over and threw them open, gasping when he saw what looked like a large city within some sort of sphere curvature, dark, no sun, filled to the brim.
"Oh, look at that," Seb chuckled, joining him, "You can see my house from here," Danny threw him a look, "Yeah, sorry, probably not helping."
"Where am I?" Danny asked, because this couldn't be…it wasn't…this wasn't anything like he'd ever heard heaven or hell should look like before and therefore it couldn't be real.
"Um...you sort of know, don't you?" Seb shifted a bit, a little uncomfortable with having to spell it out for the man. Not many people reacted well when they had to be told what this was all about, he didn't want to get punched again, "Most people kind of know, it's just hard to get traction on the concept."
"Where am I?" Danny repeated, firmer.
"Ok," Seb sighed, "You're dead and this is what's next."
"I'm not dead," Danny insisted, refusing to believe the last thing he remembered had actually happened despite Seb insisting it had, "How can I be dead?"
"Our sincere condolences."
"I'm standing right here!"
"Yes, you are. Welcome to the Underworld. Otherwise known as the Nethersphere, or the Promised Land. It's where you go when you die," he watched as Danny, instead of punching him, thankfully, merely turned and leaned on the desk, starting to hyperventilate, "Would you like to breathe into a bag?"
That was supposed to help, right?
~8~
The Time Lords looked up as the TARDIS came to a stop, starting to power down and settle. The Doctor nodded at Clara, who removed her hand from the interface.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"Unconfirmed," MK9 squeaked out, trying to connect to the console.
"We had to turn the nav-comm. off," Angel reminded her, "No way to get exact coordinates…"
"When have Time Lords ever needed exact coordinates?" Tailor teased, trying to lighten the mood. Even SHE knew this was dangerous, what they were attempting, far more dangerous than anything they'd encountered yet. Her parents would be big balls of anxiety and stress, worrying constantly about her and Clara and each other. Whatever she could do to lighten their burden, make it better, she'd do.
"We'll have to do this old school," the Doctor agreed, bracing himself and heading for the doors.
"But this is where Danny is?" Clara asked as they followed him.
"It might be," Angel reached out to take her hand, "Sissy followed your timeline and brought us to the moment where your connection to Mr. Pink is most likely to re-establish itself."
"And that won't do," the Doctor added, pausing at the doors to point at Clara.
"What won't?" she frowned.
"You won't," he sighed, "Look at you. Clara, if we do this, we're going to need skeptical, clever, critical. We don't know what we're going to face or if this is some sort of elaborate trap using your memories of Danny…"
"It's happened before," Tailor had to tell her, knowing her father hadn't meant to come across so callous with that last remark but genuinely warning her about the likelihood of it not being really real, "And it nearly destroyed mum and the Universe too."
"And you," Angel spoke, her voice cracking a bit as she looked at her daughter, needing to be reminded the Pandorica had restored her, saved Tailor from the blast of the Dalek.
"We love you, Aunt Clara," Tailor continued, "We'd do absolutely anything for you. But…"
"Not at the risk of the entire universe," Clara finished, smiling a bit at them, "I know. As it should be. Danny would never forgive me if other people were hurt because of him."
"Good," the Doctor nodded, seeing that she understood, and making note of that characteristic of Mr. Pink, that was, at the very least, one tic mark on the things he could approve of about the man, "We're here to get your boyfriend back from the dead, so buck up and give us some attitude."
Clara took a deep breath and steeled herself, hearing something else in his words. If she was visibly devastated and upset, if this was some sort of trap, people might use it to manipulate her. She couldn't let herself be taken advantage of, not when her family's lives could be at stake too.
The Doctor looked at them, giving them a nod and taking a breath himself, before pulling open the doors and stepping out…into a hallway. It was quite dark, with columns lining it. Angel stepped forward, her hand in a fist that she threw up in the air, creating a globe of Vortex energy to light the way, not wanting to set them down a hand by needing to use torches. They walked along till they came to a large, obelisk with a logo set on it in gold, the words 'Rest In Peace, We Promise' etched there.
"What are those?" Tailor frowned, squinting ahead. She cautiously began to walk towards the one side of the hall, the others and the globe following, till they reached what looked like tanks lining the wall. Just spaces the size of a small bedroom filled with water with a single chair set in the center of the floor.
"Fish tanks?" Clara guessed.
"In a mausoleum?" the Doctor scoffed.
"Why would they need chairs?" Angel pointed out.
"Mistress," MK9 called out, causing them to turn to see his eyes, in torch-mode, were shining on a set of stairs he'd found.
They hurried over and headed up them, only to be confronted with even more tanks on either side of an eternal flame flaring out of an urn set on a pedestal. It had the same words carved into it.
"What does that mean?" Clara frowned.
"I'm getting the feeling those really aren't fish tanks," Tailor muttered, shifting a bit, smiling gratefully when her father reached out to take her hand in reassurance.
"Which way?" the Doctor asked, looking at a second set of stairs that split to the left or right. Angel nodded to the right and so they went that way, coming to another level of the facility to see tanks, this time with something else in them.
A skeleton sitting in the chair.
"Oh, that's creepy," Tailor grimaced at the sight, moving closer to the Doctor.
Angel frowned at it, she'd seen this before, in the vision of that woman walking down the hall, the tanks had been behind her, skeletons sitting on the chairs. But why?
"Why?" Clara asked, of the same mind.
"I don't know," the Doctor admitted, "Angel?"
She could only shake her head, "I'm not sure," she had to say. Maybe if they could find that woman, she could tell them. But…she felt weird, right now, like there was some sort of buzz around her, some sort of static. It was making it hard for her to feel anything other than her skin crawling.
"Come on," the Doctor urged, and they continued on, only to come upon row after row, floor after floor of the same thing, skeletons preserved in the water. He got quite frustrated and moved to one of the tanks, trying to peer into it, examine it, MK9 trundling along with him, his scanners out as it tried to get a read on the tanks.
"Ok, I'm assuming they didn't actually drown in there," Clara remarked, on edge herself.
"No," Angel answered near instantly, "They were placed there."
The Doctor glanced at her, knowing she'd sensed that at least, "After death," he agreed, lowering his hand and crossing his arms, staring at the skeletons.
"So…these are tombs?" Tailor frowned.
"Water tombs," he nodded, "Some sort of fluid, anyway…" he moved to another one, but it was more of the same.
"Why chairs though?" Clara asked.
"Extra comfort for the deceased? It pays to die rich."
"Oh, God," Clara gasped, a thought striking her as she turned to Angel and Tailor, terrified of the answer, "Am I going to find Danny now? Is that why the TARDIS brought us here? I don't want to see him like that."
"I don't think you will," Angel rushed to reassure her, reaching out to take her hand again, "I…Sissy wouldn't have brought us here if the timeline wasn't going to reconnect. In order for that to happen, Mr. Pink has to be…not that."
Clara let out a breath, nodding, still trembling a bit at the thought but…a little calmer for now. Danny was still alive, or alive enough to be saved, somewhere in this place, they just had to find him.
"It's a good point," Tailor remarked, moving over to her father's side, frowning at the skeletons, "Who would ever want to see their loved ones like this?"
"Another good question," the Doctor added, "Why would anyone go to so much trouble...just to keep watch on the dead?"
They began to move on, heading down the hall, though Angel paused and looked back at one of the windows, frowning.
"You alright?" Clara asked, having stopped with her.
Angel eyed the skeleton a moment, she could have sworn that its head had been facing forward but it was turned now. But…perhaps it was just her eyes and mind playing tricks on her, surely not ALL the skeletons were positioned the exact same way.
"Yeah," she nodded, clearing her throat and moving on with Clara, the four of them and MK9 coming to an information kiosk at the end of another hall. Tailor reached out to touch it and a hologram began to project itself.
"3W," it spoke, words scrolling past along with the voice, "Death is not an end. But we can help with that. Ever since 3W encountered the truth about the death experience, we have been working hard to find a better life for the deceased. At 3W, afterlife means aftercare."
"Ok," Clara blinked, "Bit strange?"
"A bit?" Tailor scoffed, "That was really strange."
"Very," the Doctor agreed, "Why have the scrolling AND a voice?"
"There ARE deaf people, Doctor," Clara pointed out.
"Was it very difficult?" Angel called, drawing the Doctor's attention away from where he was examining the kiosk.
"What?" Clara glanced at her.
"Having to read everything back to front?" Angel continued, through her gaze was on something behind the hologram.
A moment later a face appeared, a woman stepping through it, dark hair, light eyes, dressed in an Edwardian style purple gown, just like in Angel's vision.
"Hello," the woman greeted, "I hope you're well. How may I assist you with your death?"
"Well," the Doctor glanced around, unnerved when the woman looked at him when he spoke, "There is, er, no immediate hurry. We're just, er...we're just...er..."
"Browsing," Clara offered, seeing him struggle with a cover but Angel and Tailor not seeming to notice, both of them were frowning at the woman, Angel looking like she was seeing something different than what she thought and Tailor as though trying to place someone she'd forgotten.
"Yeah, yeah, browsing," the Doctor pointed at her, his gaze flickering to his Mate and daughter, having noticed their reactions too.
"Please, take all the time you need," the woman stated, "At 3W, you always have the rest of your life."
"Oh, good," he muttered, backing up a little, closer to the girls, not exactly set at ease by his Mate's reactions, nor the thoughts and feelings going through her at the sight of the woman, "That's good to know, Clara, isn't it?"
"Yeah?" Clara answered, "Great."
"Exactly what is 3W?"
"Apologies," the woman tilted her head, "Clearly you have not received the official 3W greetings package."
"Well, you know, it's just an unexpected..."
The woman moved to lunge at the Doctor, when a golden wall came up, blocking her path…which resulted in the puckered lips she'd had pressing against the shield instead of him. The woman blinked, then stepped back, turning her head sharply towards Angel, who lowered her hand, lowering the wall.
"Why would you greet him like that?" Angel asked, not seeming angry or upset the woman had tried to kiss her Mate, but confused.
"It is the official welcome package," the woman stated.
"No," Angel shook her head, now eyeing the woman intently, "Why would YOU greet him like that?"
With Clara a bit stunned by what happened, and Tailor checking on her startled father, none of them noticed the way the woman's eyes flickered just the tiniest bit wider, nor how she stiffened at the question, how she swallowed…almost as though she'd been caught. No one saw how her gaze flew over Angel, trying to ascertain if she HAD been caught, before deciding there was still a chance to avoid such a thing if only she could distract them.
And so she turned to Clara, "You also have not received the official welcome package."
"Oh, I'm good!" Clara called, backing away as the woman advanced on her, clearly about to try and smooch her like she'd wanted to with the Doctor, causing Clara to duck and hide behind Angel, "Thanks, no worries."
"Who are you?" the Doctor moved to his Mate's side, frowning deeply at the woman, standing a bit in front of Angel, maneuvering Tailor behind him, for he was not going to let her try to 'welcome' his Mate or daughter that way either.
The woman looked from him to the girls, noting their stance, and clasped her hands before her in a sign of backing down, "I am MISI."
"Missy?" Tailor repeated, something about the name striking her. One glance at her mother told her she also was a little struck by it for some reason.
"Mobile Intelligent Systems Interface. I am a multi-function, interactive welcome-droid. Helping you to help me to help you."
"Missy..." Angel frowned, eyeing her, "Do I know you?"
"Familiarity is to be expected. I am fully programmed with social interaction norms appropriate to a range of visitors. Please indicate if you'd like me to adjust my intimacy setting."
"Very much," the Doctor nodded, "Please, do that now right now," he sighed, relieved, when the woman nodded, "We need to speak to whoever's in charge here."
"I am in charge."
"Well, who controls you?" Tailor asked, if she was a droid, someone had to program her.
"I control me."
"Well, who repairs you?" the Doctor huffed, getting frustrated, "Who maintains you?"
"I am programmed for self-repair. I am maintained by my heart."
"Who maintains your heart?" Clara tried to help.
"My heart is maintained by the doctor."
Despite the situation, the gnawing feeling like something was very wrong, and the pit forming in her stomach, Angel had to chuckle at that, "Doctor who?"
Missy blinked and suddenly shouted, "Dr. Chang!" before she turned to walk away.
A moment later a young man with glasses rushed into the room, down the nearest set of stairs, "Who's there? Hello?"
"Hello," the four of them greeted.
"Dr. Chang?" Angel stepped forward a bit when he nodded, "Nice to meet you. I'm Angel, this is Clara, Tailor, and the Doctor."
The man nodded in greeting, "Condolences."
"Condolences?" Clara frowned, though her attention was partly on Tailor and the Doctor as they exchanged an odd look off to the side.
"It's a mausoleum," the man explained, "It's our hello. Is there a particular dead person you want to talk to?"
"Clara?" Angel looked at her.
Clara swallowed and took a breath, steeling herself once more, "Yes. Yes, there is."
"This way then," Chang waved, turning to lead them off.
"Will you be alright, Clara?" Angel asked her quietly.
"I'm not sure," Clara admitted, reaching out to take Angel's hand, before the two began to follow Chang.
"YOU ok, dad?" Tailor asked as they too moved along, speaking quietly so as not to be heard.
The Doctor could only shake his head.
It hadn't escaped his or Tailor's notice that Angel hadn't said 'nice to meet you' to Missy, which set them both on edge, because she'd said it to everyone, literally everyone, even Daleks...but not this woman.
And there were only two explanations for why.
Either the woman was the first Angel deemed NOT nice to meet.
...or they'd already met her once before, but how? When? Who was she?
~8~
Missy smiled darkly as she stood in a darkened corner, watching the quartet with their metal dog leave, the skeletons turning their heads just after they passed to watch them as well. She glanced up at a floating orb above her, covered in red lights.
"This is going to be so much fun," she cheered to herself, laughing.
~8~
Danny frowned, watching Seb closely as the man opened a door of his office, stepping out onto a balcony and gesturing for him to join him. Stepping out, he could hear what sounded like traffic, like it might be a normal city, which admittedly distracted him enough that he jumped when the door to the office shut behind them on its own.
"Bit of fresh air," Seb smiled, "Do you good."
"Why's it so cold here?" Danny asked, having felt a chill settle in his bones. He'd thought the office might just have the AC on blast, but it was freezing even on the balcony.
Seb didn't answer, just continued to extol the Nethersphere, "And the Wi-Fi is better out here. Don't know why."
"Wi-Fi?"
"Yeah, still a bit spotty, but basically..."
"You have Wi-Fi here?" Danny kept on, thrown by that more than the temperature or even its existence, "You...you have iPads in the afterlife?"
"iPads?" he scoffed, "We have Steve Jobs! Listen, another big question for you. Have you ever killed anybody?"
Danny flinched and turned away from him, moving to the other end of the balcony and looking up at what passed for their sky and down at what was below, over the rail, "This is surreal."
"Imagine embryos had telephones," Seb began.
Danny threw him a look, "That's really not helping."
"Go with me. Go with me. Imagine babies in wombs could talk to other babies in other wombs. What would they say? What would they think life was like if they could talk among themselves?"
"I really have no idea."
"They'd think that life was nine months long. Then, boom, trap door opens, out you fall, gone forever. Never hear from those guys again. Nothing at the end of the cord."
"Ok…" Danny eyed the man, genuinely wondering if this wasn't all just a giant hoax and he'd been kidnapped by a delusional maniac bent to convince him he was dead for some sort of cult thing.
...or aliens. Could be aliens too. God he hoped it was aliens, at least then he had a chance of...of other aliens noticing and stopping this.
"This isn't really an afterlife. It's just more life than you were expecting."
Danny was silent at that, looking out over the city for a few minutes, "Why did you ask me if I'd killed anyone?"
"Before you were a teacher, you spent some time as a soldier."
"Yeah, so?"
"Any regrets? Bad memories?"
"Is that any of your business?" Danny grew defensive. It had taken him months of dating Clara before he even felt the tiniest bit comfortable starting to talk to her about such things, his regrets, his bad memories, and this mad bloke just expected him to blurt it all out?
"Yes."
Apparently he did.
~oOo~
Danny grit his teeth at the sound of gunshots ringing out across the tiny village in Afghanistan, he and his squad pinned down by the fire. Explosions went off nearby, causing them all to flinch, but through the smoke he could see one of the insurgents run into a building across the road.
"Get to cover, now!" one of his comrades called.
~oOo~
"Sorry if I triggered something then," Seb's voice broke through his flashback, "Memory flashes can be very impactful in the early stages."
"Why?" Danny asked, his voice hoarse.
"Why what?"
~oOo~
Danny braced himself behind what was left of a car, so torn apart only the frame remained, but it was cover. He pulled a pin from a grenade and threw it, part of the building the insurgent had hidden in exploding.
~oOo~
"Why is it any of your business?"
Seb nodded, pulling up his iPad and flipping open the case to tap on it, "We've had a request to meet you. Any idea who that would be from?"
~oOo~
The adrenaline was pumping as Danny ran up the steps of the building, what remained of it, kicking open the door he'd seen the insurgent enter and opening fire at the criminal within…
~oOo~
"It's been given a priority," Seb added, "Which usually means..."
"Means what?" Danny frowned, looking at him as the man tapered off, seeming a little startled and reluctant.
~oOo~
As soon as he was sure the insurgent had been taken down, Danny lowered his gun, peering in through the door…only for his heart to stop and his insides to freeze in horror.
~oOo~
Seb gave him an apologetic look, instead saying, "Well, anyway, we've arranged a meet-up."
"When?" Danny asked, his breath lost as it came to him exactly who the man was speaking of, why he kept asking about regrets and his time as a soldier.
Seb turned to the doors, and so did Danny, calling out, "Come in."
~oOo~
Danny nearly dropped his weapon to the ground as he continued to stare through the open doorway, panting, feeling like this couldn't be happening, tears in his eyes.
Because there, in the room before him, lying on the ground, was a little Middle-Eastern boy, his eyes wide, frozen, lifeless…
~oOo~
As the doors opened, that same little Middle-Eastern boy peered around the edge of the door frame, staring at him with those same wide eyes, though this time filled with tears and fear.
"So…" Seb looked between them, noting Danny's near hyperventilating reaction, "I guess you remember him, yeah?"
~oOo~
"Danny, repeat, is the building secure?" he could hear his comrades calling over the comm., but he couldn't answer, only stare, his entire world, his entire life, everything he was, everything he was about, shattering within him, "Danny? Danny!"
It hadn't been an insurgent at all, but a scared child running home from the war that broke out on his doorstep.
~oOo~
The Time Lords and Clara cautiously followed Chang into an office that appeared a bit more like a lab than anything, gadgets and devices all around, even a miniature tank sitting on a desk, a larger one with a skeleton standing in it set up at the back of the room. MK9, ever the faithful companion, got right to work scanning the space for any dangers while his Mistress and the others spoke.
"Come in, come in," Chang ushered them, "Going to need to take a reading off you."
"A reading?" Clara hesitated, recalling what Angel and the Doctor had once told her about Amy Pond's memories being used as the trap they mentioned. How their enemies got a reading off her, a memory print, she didn't want to give them anything they could use against the Time Lords.
"Won't hurt," he promised, moving to flick a switch on a small panel.
"What won't?" Clara glanced at the Time Lords, looking more to Angel for assurance this wouldn't actually harm her or use her.
"It should be fine," Angel told her, not sensing any ill intent off of Chang. It seemed very business as usual to him, so he had done this before, many times, with no issues.
"How does the body keep its integrity?" the Doctor asked, as he and Tailor looked at the back tank, "Why isn't it just a bunch of bones floating about?"
"They're not just, like, glued together are they?" Tailor frowned, it seemed really disrespectful to the dead to do that, "Fused?"
Chang shook his head, "Each body is encased in a support exoskeleton."
"Must be some exoskeleton," Tailor mused. After the organic components had broken down, the flesh, the exoskeleton would have to be very tightly fitted to still keep the bones in place and not appear disjointed.
~8~
Just outside the office/lab, Missy stood by a series of tanks, listening in on the conversation within.
"An invisible exoskeleton?" Angel spoke.
Missy pouted, glancing behind her, there was a chance that the Angel, given all that was known of her, would sense her listening in…she almost hoped the woman would, but then again, her concern for her human might be enough to distract her. Either way, she loved a challenge.
"It's only invisible in the water," Chang explained, "There's a specially engineered refraction index in the fluid so we can see the tank resident unimpeded by the support mechanisms."
"So each skeleton is inside something?" the Doctor reasoned.
Missy grinned and laughed at the question. Oh, the Doctor had grown SO slow! There was a time he would have worked it out just from the mention of an exoskeleton. This was truly going to be utter fun!
She turned back to the tanks and pressed a hand against the glass, waiting, nearly bobbing in excitement when a skeletal hand mirrored her own from within.
~8~
"Are you serious?" Clara gaped at Chang, "X-ray water?"
"It's so cool!" Chang gushed, thoroughly pleased to be able to share the wonder with people who were so curious about it, "Look at this," he moved over to the smaller tank on his desk, just water, no skeleton, "We call it dark water," and plunged his arm in, suit and all…except that the only thing that appeared in the water was his bare arm, no suit or sleeve to be seen, not even the watch on his wrist appeared, "Only organic matter can be seen through it," he beamed, pulling his arm out to show the suit and watch still intact, moving to dry his hand off, "I keep saying they should use this stuff in swimming pools."
"Why?" the Doctor asked, at the same time Tailor grimaced out an "Eww."
"Think about it," Chang turned to him, as though it should be obvious.
"I am thinking about it," the Doctor added, "Why?"
Angel had to smile, seeing where his mind had gone. He got what Chang was implying, very clearly, and for a single moment he imagined what the TARDIS pool would be like with that water, since they had had a lot of moments in the pool throughout the course of their relationship. But then his mind had reminded him SHE was not the only one who used the pool, his daughter and sister did too…and there was no guarantee whether some future companion might be male and stumble into the pool while any one of them were in it and…no. He did NOT want any sort of water like that near any sort of pool his girls could be caught in. It wasn't right or proper to do that to people.
"Doesn't matter," Clara cut in, able to see the moral righteousness brewing across his face and preferring to avoid a lecture on why that would be a bad thing, "3W, what kind of name is that? What does it mean?"
Tailor frowned, glancing over at the single skeleton in the tank in the room, hesitating a moment. She could have sworn it was facing a different direction before…but she hadn't paid much attention to it so she wasn't sure. Still, she moved away from it and over to MK9, ready to see what his scanners had picked up so far.
"Well, you know, don't you?" Chang smiled at them, "You're here on business…" he began to realize something might be a bit off now, "Or they wouldn't have let you in. Sorry. Should have checked. Who are you actually? Who do you represent?"
The Doctor grinned, "I thought that you would never ask. Sort out your security protocols, they're a disgrace," he whipped out the psychic paper to show him.
"Another government inspection?" the man sighed, annoyed, "So soon? Why is there all this swearing?"
"Oh, I've got a lot of internalized anger," the Doctor said nonchalantly, putting the paper back, he certainly did when he didn't know what was going on and when his family might be in danger because of it, "What does 3W stand for?"
"The 3 words," Angel answered, getting that from past visions.
"What?" Clara glanced at her, "What three words?"
Angel opened her mouth to answer, before shutting it, looking very uncomfortable.
"Angel?" the Doctor frowned, moving to her side and taking her hands, seeing the answer in her mind, "Don't Cremate Me."
"What?!" Clara's eyes widened.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Tailor frowned, not sure she wanted to know.
"Well, you know how people are scared of dying?" Chang answered, a little confused as to how only two of them knew but the others were lost, it was something they should have known coming in, "Like, everybody."
"Well yeah," Tailor shrugged, "For most people, it's a fundamental fear, like a monster under the bed."
"Oh, bring that up," the Doctor muttered, though he tugged Angel into his arms, sensing her unease about all of this. Though it did explain her tension and discomfort from the moment she set foot out of the TARDIS, to be surrounded by death the way she was now...it would make someone like her very on edge.
"They'd be a lot more scared if they knew what it was really like," Chang warned, moving to set a video to run on the monitor at his desk and hoping he wasn't about to be punched for showing this, that tended to happen a lot, especially if the visiting party had had a loved one cremated.
Oh, he really hoped he wasn't about to get punched.
A/N: For the act Missy puts on, I can say she is actually very furious with how Angel interrupted her grand plans all this time. She had to play the part of the welcome droid, so she had to put a smile on and pretend she didn't know Angel, pretend so well that Angel might not pick up on the simmering anger she was feeling. But don't be fooled, Missy is quite huffy that she lost parts of her army from ever being added due to Angel's 'saving people thing' :(
This episode wasn't a favorite of mine, I'll admit. But I tried to put a little bit of a spin on it, look more at Danny's internal thoughts, the Doctor and Tailor's concerns, Angel's being on edge, and Clara trying to keep it all together and try to tie it in with the previous chapter and what happens as the show goes on. I think it picks up a tiny bit more in the next chapter and episode though :)
There were times in the past where I really debated having Angel say it was 'nice to meet you' to certain enemies. But I always sort of hoped that the Master would come back some how since he always seemed to and she could NOT say it and that sparks the Doctor on a 'but she ALWAYS says it' so she must have already met this person or they're really not a good person to meet. I was pleasantly surprised when he did come back and I could use that little part :)
Some notes on reviews...
I'm glad you liked the change in Clara :) I really didn't like how she reacted in canon too. She came across, to me, as very entitled and like she was owed things from the Doctor and that's not how a true friendship should work :(
I wish it was impossible to copy stories on any site :( I know of, so far, 2 ways to easily copy off of FF even after they tried to make it harder :( I'll definitely be keeping more of an eye out for anything popping up in the future :(
I'm really happy Clara is more likable here :) With how her relationship with the Time Lords built up in this story, I just couldn't see her reacting the same way to the same things or having Angel or Tailor letting her be caught in situations like that :( She definitely struck me as those traits in the show for this series, entitled too, like she was owed something by the Doctor and really he didn't owe her anything. MAYBE if he'd been the literal cause of Danny's death, like he died on an alien planet or the Blitzer got him, I could see her reacting like he had better fix it and make it right, but for something like crossing the road? :/ Even if the theory that Missy organized his death turned out to be true, at that time Clara wouldn't have known so it wasn't on the Doctor to go as far as Clara wanted :/ I really tried to show that family aspect, and also the echo lives she had, how we saw her be a Time Lady and if she's more aware here, then she must know the rules better. Missy, for now, is keeping her true feelings on the family to herself. She can't risk them noticing she's not a droid nor can she risk her feelings getting the better of her when Angel is psychic and might know, but we'll see her true thoughts very soon };)
I get the Doctor forgiving her because it never actually happened, melting the keys, but even then to know she'd go that far and not regret it afterwards, to do it again, that was just heartbreaking to me. Not only because he might not be able to ever enter his home again (if the finger snapping doesn't work) but those were keepsakes and reminders of his companions after the war, I think, and she destroyed probably the only thing he had left of them :( Symbolically, it came across to me like Clara was trying to say she was more important than all of them, and we all know Donna is, canon, the most important woman in the whole of creation lol ;) But still, it rubbed me the wrong way. And for him to so easily forgive that betrayal when he hadn't with others? Like, I kept thinking back to 9 and Adam, the kid made one mistake that he didn't really think through and he was kicked out of the TARDIS. Rose endured his anger during her father, when she reacted on instinct and emotion and not a planned out thing. Then Clara comes along, completely thought through, having had time to process her emotions, to plan it, to enact it, to know what she was doing and what it meant, and she gets not even a slap on the wrist? :/ I would have been more satisfied if the Doctor had ended the travelling with her completely, like a 'I did what you wanted, I tried to save your boyfriend, now you do what I want, get out and stay out' sort of thing. Actions have consequences, even if it was a dream, she was fully going to do it :( I think it definitely made her worse in the next series so we'll have to see how she turns out in this story ;)
The Time Lords are very determined to do what they can for Clara, but we'll have to wait and see what fate and the Nethersphere has in store for Danny :( I'm glad you like him here though :) I sort of tried to do what I did with Rose and River here, write a different perspective of him. I wasn't a fan of him in the show, and it sort of came across a bit in Proffy and a bit in Evy's story, so I wanted to try and write him in a better light, with Angel there and bringing out the best in people, how she helped Mickey and Rory become the men they were, I thought she'd try to do the same for Danny as much as she could :) I liked Danny in the first episode he was in, that sort of shy and awkward crush he had on Clara, but even during their date he rubbed me the wrong way and I felt like there were some red flags going up that Clara should have cut her losses. The way he kept getting defensive and not letting her explain and accusing her of things. And I get he had his own inner demons, but we didn't really see enough of it to understand it was probably a defense mechanism for him or something truly traumatizing he didn't want to talk about. And Clara kept giving him another chance and another chance, and then he acts like that to the Doctor and she defends Danny, then he keeps trying to sort of convince her the Doctor is bad for her and will push her too far? I mean, if it hadn't been literally the very next episode that she raged at the Doctor, it wouldn't have come across to me like it was Danny influencing her and coloring her perspective of the Moon trip :/ It just seemed like he was manipulating her and getting in her head :/ The way he treated the Doctor as a soldier too was upsetting, especially without knowing or bothering to know or ask about the Doctor's past as a soldier, without knowing the true scope of the war he fought in, that was really insulting and I was so disappointed in Clara for not defending the Doctor against that, especially having been there during that time he almost destroyed the planet to save the Universe :( I don't think Danny ever apologized, it seemed like they came more to an unspoken 'I don't like you, you don't like me, but we care about Clara and that's enough' type thing :/ I really tried to look at Cyber-Danny as 'he died, he experienced a trauma, and he's literally about to really die-die again so he has a right to be as hurtful and scared as he wants' but knowing how far Clara took it to convince the Doctor to try and save him, and have Danny throw it back into his face? That wasn't cool :( There are definitely going to be TLs in Series 8 who will really give Danny a piece of their mind. Angel though, she's more the sort to try and subtly give a little more light to his life and hope it improves him, so I'm glad he's come across a little better here :)
Lol, I hated Danny too. He's probably second to Rose, to me, bumped Amy to third in terms of the new-Who 'companions' I don't like :) I really wanted to try and do this series like a reversal when it came to characters I really didn't like (Rose, Danny...Amy sort of made up for her mistakes in my book), making them more likable, and taking a character I liked (River) and making her despicable :) I actually started to dislike Danny in Listen, that date between him and Clara was awful. If I was on a date with a guy who reacted like Danny did, I'd have never spoken to him again, not kept going back to him :/ The Caretaker episode, and then seeing Cyber-Danny interact with him sealed my dislike for him too :( Clara...I would have had more respect for her if she'd defended the man she'd had so many adventures with over the guy she's dating and maybe loves :/ The way she spirals after Danny in the next series sort of killed her character for me, not just literally. Like she went from a strong and independent woman to reckless and throwing her life away for a guy when that guy would have wanted her to keep living life to the fullest no matter if it meant travelling with the Doctor or not :/ It felt like she only thought her life had value and meaning when she was dating Danny and that wasn't a great message :/ Missy, for the moment, has to put on a farce about how she feels, she's the 'welcome droid' she can't hate on the people she's welcoming or else they'll know she has 'emotions' or was glitching and needed to be soniced and fixed and oh wait she's not a droid! And there goes her plans lol. But we will see her thoughts on the Doctor and his family very soon ]:)