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Chapter 25

To Clara's surprise Missy handed the gun back to her driver as soon as she was inside the car but somehow that gesture didn't make her feel much safer. What had she been thinking, getting in a car with Missy?

"I don't think we've been properly introduced," the woman sneered at her, "I'm-"

"I know who you are," Clara spat at her, "You kidnapped the Doctor."

"Or you could say I just wanted to spend some quality time with my childhood friend," she said, a pretend look of shock on her face, "We were friends once, you know."

"I know. He told me," she replied and turned around to face the windscreen, or rather the back of the head rest but it didn't matter what exactly her eyes were set on as long as Clara had something other to stare at than Missy. She didn't want to talk, she just wanted a moment to gather her thoughts.

What would happen now? Of course, Missy would demand the key at some point and Clara would have little choice but to give it to her. Even if Missy had fallen for the trick of the spare key, Clara had given that away. She could lie and tell her she had lost it but Missy would never believe it. What had Clara done agreeing to get into her car? Maybe she should call the Doctor and ask for his help as long as she still had her phone?

"Where are you taking me?" she asked Missy even though she had wanted silence just a moment ago.

"Oh, you're gonna love it there," Missy said excitedly, smiling at Clara, "It's a sweet, little place just thirty minutes from here. Mansion by the lake. I might make you an offer if you want it."

Clara turned her head away and rolled her eyes. There was something about Missy's cheerful demeanour that annoyed her and she thought she could guess the sort of insanity that lay beneath it. Then suddenly her phone started ringing inside her pocket.

She retrieved it to see that the Doctor was calling her. While she still considered her options Missy spoke again.

"You can answer it, you know," she prompted her, "He's probably worried about you."

And rightly so, Clara thought and let the phone slide back into her pocket. She wouldn't know what to say to him and she didn't want the Doctor to stop her from finding out who killed her parents.

Missy hadn't lied about the mansion by the lake. A half hour later the car stopped in front of a large property and Missy gestured towards Clara to follow her inside, which she did. Immediately Clara noticed that there wasn't any security around, an observation that struck her as odd. If she made a run for it Missy would have very few means of stopping her. But then she'd never hear who killed her parents. As soon as Clara looked back up at Missy she realized that these were the exact same thoughts going through her head. Missy knew Clara wouldn't run and all of a sudden Clara realized that she wasn't in any danger at all because Missy wanted something from her in return that went beyond the key in her possession.

"What do you want?" Clara demanded to know.

"Ugh," Missy let out a groan, "Why do people have to be so direct these days? Why can't we just sit down in front of a nice cup of tea and have a little chat?"

Clara shrugged and plopped down in one of the elegant living room chairs. "Fine then. Let's have tea," she replied nonchalantly.

After Missy had clapped her hands her driver, who turned out to be more of a butler to Missy, appeared in the doorway and a short while later they were brought tea and biscuits for which Missy reached immediately. She had also taken a seat and Clara was waiting impatiently for her to start talking. When Missy still took her time pouring the tea and sipping from her cup Clara was beginning to grow nervous.

"Tell me what you want," she demanded again.

Finally Missy looked up at her and it seemed as if she had momentarily forgotten about her presence. She set her teacup down. "I want the Doctor to take over the organisation," she said plainly.

Clara frowned at her. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, you heard me. I want the Doctor to make use of the key that I'm sure you carry somewhere on your body at this moment and lead the organisation."

Clara didn't understand. Of course the Doctor had already mentioned that Missy would find leading the organisation to be too much of a responsibility but there was no sane reason for her to want the Doctor to become the new head, especially after she had already kidnapped him for God knows what reason.

"Why?" Clara asked simply, "Why would you want that?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong," Missy smiled, "You are most welcome to help him. You could lead it together, wouldn't that be fun? But seriously, who better? Name one person."

She had no answer to that question and it was a good one. Who would end up leading the organisation? If she and the Doctor didn't claim whatever was in that deposit box someone else would always want to, hunting them down to get the key and get to the information inside the box before someone else did. Someone simply had to do it and Clara couldn't think of one person she trusted enough except for herself and the Doctor.

"Ah, I'm starting to make sense, am I not?" Missy giggled, looking at her curiously.

"But why not take it for yourself?" she asked bluntly, "You're right, I have the key here. You could just take it. Why not do that?"

Missy blew the air out between her lips and she appeared bored. "I like the action that comes with my job. I don't want to sit in an office and gather dust, no, that's boring. I want the Doctor to do it. He's the perfect playmate for me."

"Playmate?"

Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of Clara's phone and when she checked it was the Doctor again.

"Go on," Missy urged her, "Tell him the news about his promotion."

Clara hesitated for a moment and then accepted the phone call.

The Doctor hadn't been able to stand the waiting, so after having a cup of tea with Amy he headed out to look for Clara but she was nowhere to be seen. He didn't even know which direction she had taken so the Doctor searched blindly for a while, ignoring the pain in his leg as best as he could, until he decided to call her. When her phone just kept ringing without an answer he was beginning to grow worried. What if something had happened to her? What if they had been found and someone had taken her? He called Amy to ask whether Clara had returned home yet but quickly learned that she hadn't, so the Doctor continued the search to no avail whatsoever. It was as if Clara had dropped off the face of the earth, so he decided to give her another call. He took a couple of deep breaths as he listened to the sound of the beeping until finally he heard her voice.

"Hey," Clara said simply.

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief but something still made him feel uneasy, he just couldn't quite say what it was. "Clara," he said, "Where are you? I've been looking everywhere."

"I, erm," she paused, "I'm with Missy. Don't worry, I'm fine. She won't harm me."

His heart seemed to sink into his boots and he didn't care that Clara thought she was safe – she was with Missy and that put her in more danger than she could ever realize.

"Tell me where you are!" he bellowed into the phone, "I'm coming to get you."

There was a pause at the other end of the line. "Yes," she said simply, "But there's something else."

"What?" the Doctor asked warily.

Another pause. "I've spoken with Missy. I want us to use the key, Doctor. You and me both. We're gonna lead the organisation and in exchange she will tell me who murdered my parents."

The Doctor was sure Clara was saying something else but he never heard her as the reality of what she had just told him was beginning to sink in. Missy had gotten to her and he had to get her back and undo the damage that she had done, erase the ideas that Missy had put into Clara's head. If Clara used that key to open the deposit box and read what was inside they would never find peace again in their lives.