Chapter 16

"She waved at them!"

"Clara, please, calm down," Kate said in an irritatingly quiet manner and it was driving her insane. The reports had come in yesterday already and nobody had told Clara they had seen the Doctor up until a moment ago. They could have freed him already but Kate was still hesitant.

"I will not calm down," Clara yelled furiously, "You know the Doctor is in there and you've seen only Missy and one other man around. We can get him out! You know we can!"

"It's a trap!" Kate replied more loudly now, "I don't know what Missy is up to but I know it's not a good thing. We need to be careful."

Clara was really to yell some more but instead decided that talking would lead them nowhere now. They had to act.

"Fine," she spat and reached for the gun that was lying on the table beside her, "You can stay here and sit on your hands. I'll do it on my own."

Clara turned to leave until she felt Kate's hand on her shoulder.

"Clara-"

"No," she said determinedly and shot back around to glare at Kate. She was done sitting around, doing nothing. She was done with all of it. "I'll do it with or without your help. But if you want the key you'll come with me now or you will never see it again."

That was what seemed to make Kate reconsider as she looked at Clara for a long moment, sighing.

"Give me 30 minutes to put a team together and organise a car," Kate said eventually.

Clara took a deep breath. "I'll take my own car, thanks. I'll wait for you in the parking lot," she said before she stomped off in the direction of the exit. She couldn't wait any longer. The Doctor needed her help.

The Doctor cursed as he pushed his own foot away from himself. He had been trying to open the damn shackles almost all night to no avail. He couldn't do it, not without a tool. Usually he kept a small screwdriver in his jacket pocket for emergencies but Missy had known of course and she had taken it from him.

Suddenly the door burst open and the Doctor almost jumped up in surprise as Missy appeared in the doorway, a smug smile on her face.

"I'm afraid this was your last night in here," she said sweetly, "I hope you enjoyed your stay but it seems as if your friends are coming to get you any minute now."

The Doctor glared at her. He had known this woman since their childhood and yet he still couldn't tell what her original plan was. Not his capture, that was for sure, because if that was so she wouldn't let him go so easily.

"What are you up to?" he growled, "Why did you kidnap me only to have them free me now?"

Missy chuckled. "Confusing, isn't it? But trust me, you will know very, very soon. Anyway, I should be on my way. Of course, you can keep trying to get the shackles off, or you can just wait another hour. Won't take too long. See ya!"

"Did you kill David Oswald?" the Doctor asked while she was already turning away from him. However Missy stopped in her movement and looked at him once more.

She shrugged. "Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. It doesn't matter. The outcome is the same."

The door closed again and the Doctor was able to hear some shuffling on the other side, even though he didn't know what exactly was happening. Then everything went silent.

They stopped right in front of the building and Clara instantly noticed that there was no other car around except the MI5 vehicles and her own. In fact, no one seemed to be around at all – the building appeared to be deserted.

"What's the status?" Kate demanded to know.

One of the men in charge of watching the building stepped up to her. "Missy and the man in her company have left the warehouse an hour ago. No one else has entered. If the Doctor is still in there, he's in there alone."

"Good, let's go on then," Clara suggested and started to move in the direction of the entrance.

"Surround the building and secure the exits anyway, just to be safe," Clara heard Kate tell her men behind her back before the woman followed her.

Even though Kate asked to lead the way it was Clara who went ahead, impatient to finally see the Doctor again. She hoped he was well, that they hadn't hurt him. If they had she would never be able to forgive herself.

Clara walked through a long corridor with doors to her left and right. At the end she could see a larger hall and there was no one around, no other sound than their own footsteps.

"Doctor?!" she called out, "Doctor, can you hear me?! It's Clara!"

At first there was no reply. And then she finally heard his voice and Clara could feel a weight drop away from her shoulders and her heart fluttered wildly in relief when she finally knew he was okay.

"Clara! I'm in here!"

She ran along the rest of the corridor until she came to a halt in front of the door behind which she had heard his voice – and stopped, waiting until Kate had caught up with her.

"What the hell is that?" Clara asked quietly as she pointed to the door.

Thanks for letting me borrow him. XXX Missy.

There was a small note pinned to the door and below that Clara saw a key firmly taped to the metal. An even smaller note right next to it simply read "shackles".

"A trap," Kate breathed, frowning at the post-its.

Clara hesitated for a moment. Even she could see that something wasn't quite right.

"Doesn't matter," she determined eventually and tore the key off the door before she stepped inside.

The Doctor was sitting on a mattress, his foot chained to the wall but other than that he seemed unharmed and when he saw her his face lit up. Clara couldn't hold back. She darted forward, sank down on the mattress and threw his arms around him in a tight embrace. For the first time the Doctor was actually eager to hug her back. It felt so awfully good to have him back that for a moment she forgot about everything else.

"My Clara," he whispered into her ear while they still hugged, "You shouldn't have come. You should've gone to France like we had planned."

Clara only now realized that they were tears streaming over her cheeks, tears of happiness. She had him back. He was okay. Everything was going to be fine.

She pulled away from the embrace to look at him and right now she couldn't imagine ever wanting to look away from him ever again. "You silly man," she laughed through her tears, "I'm not going anywhere without you."

When he didn't reply Clara bent down to undo his shackles with the key she had found on the door. Again she wondered for a moment why Missy would make it so easy for them but right now it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that she and the Doctor were reunited.

She helped him up into a standing position but once they had both turned around Clara stared straight into the barrel of Kate's gun. She froze instantly.

"I've kept my end of the promise," Kate said coldly, "Now you have to do the same. Hand over the key and I'll let you both go."

"No way," the Doctor replied sharply before Clara even could and he swiftly walked up and positioned herself in front of her protectively.

"That's not your decision to make, Doctor," Kate reminded him, keeping her weapon aimed straight at him, "Clara and I made a deal. The key in exchange for my help in finding you."

"No," he replied calmly, taking another step in Kate's direction. Clara reached for his hand to hold him back but he wouldn't let her get a hold on him, "I won't allow it."

"Doctor, please," Clara begged him but he ignored her.

Clara heard Kate sigh. "Clara and I discussed this. She knows I will not do anything her father wouldn't have done but I need this key. I need to protect my country from people like Missy," she raised her voice, "I cannot let it fall into the wrong hands! I just can't!"

"Doctor!" Clara tried to gain his attention, tried to make him give in to Kate.

"No."

The silence between them seemed to last for an eternity until it was brutally ripped apart by the sound of a shot being fired and Clara's screaming as the Doctor sank to the floor.