Aaaaand it's chapter nine :D I should be studying for my exams but instead I'm here writing fanfiction =)) On the bright side, it'll probably improve my English :) Hope you enjoy this chapter, please review to let me know what you think!
Clara untangled her arm from the Doctor's and skipped across the console energetically, a beam lighting up her face. Her head began to spin in quite a pleasant way as it suddenly dawned on her fully what had just happened moments before. The Doctor had kissed her. The Doctor. Her Doctor. The Doctor that she had, though she had tried so hard not to admit it to herself as she was almost certain he wouldn't feel the same, strong feelings for. She hadn't said it out loud yet, quite frankly the thought of her happiness depending soley on one person frightened the hell out of her more than any Dalek could, but she was in love with him.
"So I guess this really is a snogbox then," She winked at the Doctor, throwing him a cheeky grin, tongue poking out between her teeth slightly.
The Doctor did a rather adorable double take, eyes wide in shock as he stumbled a bit in surprise. After nearly falling over his own feet and blushing slightly, he cleared his throat with a slight scowl.
"Snogbox?!" He squeaked, looking quite flustered. "The- The Tardis is not a snogbox!"
He cleared his throat again and straightened his bowtie, raising a finger to further establish his point, then lowering it again, at a loss for words as Clara grinned, struggling to restrain her laughter.
"Snogbox indeed," The Doctor scoffed, straightening up again with a haughty expression. "She is so much more than just a snogbox."
The control room of the snogbox was filled with Clara's tinkling laughter as the Doctor flashed her a grin and bounded over to the console, an expression of grim determination on his face.
"Well, Clara," The Doctor's face became more serious, though his eyes remained bright. "Do you know what happens next?"
"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Clara sighed, giving a small smile as she moved closer to the Doctor. He gave a faint, apologetic smile.
"Once we're in flight, the Sontarans will be able to trrack us," The Doctor elaborated gravely. "Let's just say current life in the... Snogbox, won't be a stroll in the park from here on out."
He yanked back a lever, setting the Tardis in motion abruptly. Clara grabbed onto the structure of the console for support as the sudden departure, the ship slowly into a smooth flight again almost instantly after take off. Compared to other journeys in the Tardis, this one seemed quite uneventful so far. She frowned slightly in confusion.
"Doesn't seem to be too much happening right now," She observed at their calm flight.
The Doctor raised a challanging eyebrow at her just as the ship seemed to hit turbulence and began to spin wildly out of control.
Clara let out a yelp of surprise, grasping the side of the console and clinging on for dear life as the Doctor stumbled around it, pulling out a screen from the side and tapping a sequence of buttons. His expression darkened considerably, his whole visage drooping.
"Oh dear," He raised his eyebrows and wrung his hands together with a nervous chuckle. "We are in trouble."
Before Clara could ask what was wrong he was bounding around the console, working the controls at a dizzying pace, one that Clara could never in her wildest dreams have hoped to compete with, even with the Doctor's flying lessons.
"Doctor, what can I do to help?" Clara asked, tightening her grip on the edge of the conole as she stared at the Time Lord with wide eyes.
He looked up briefly and jabbed a finger at the screen beside her.
"Keep an eye on that, Clara, and tell me if you spot anything out of the ordinary!" He ordered, giving a small yelp as a spark emitted from the Tardis engines. He scowled and thumped the console with his fist as Clara rushed over to the screen, grabbing it to bring it closer to her eye level. One of the things she loved about this Doctor was that he always made her feel important, and that if she wanted to assist him in something, he would allow her to. She stared at the small screen intently.
"This is what's outside the Tardis?" She breathed, her tone a mixture of awe and concern.
"Well I should hope so!" The Doctor yelled, giving the console another whack as it creaked loudly. "How close are the Sontarans?"
Clara squinted at the screen. Dozens of large, metal-clad ships were buzzing around them in the distance, the image shifting ever so slightly as they contintued their not-so-smooth flight. Clara winced as they narrowly avoided what looked like either a small planet, or a very large rock. The Sonataran ships didn't appear to be extremely close, in fact they weren't even following them as such, merely hovering around in their general direction.
"They're close, but not too close," Clara informed him quickly, hoping she was making sense. "They're moving, they're coming closer but... It doesn't look like they're following us."
Clara frowned at the odd scene, unsure of how the Sontarans hunted. Though they were a distance away, they still seemed much larger than the Tardis, and Clara felt almost worried for the ship's safety not to mention their own.
"Oh, give them time," The Doctor huffed, scowling at the console which seemed to be putting up a fight against him. "Come on..." He muttered at the hissing Tardis. "Stop being stupid!"
The ship gave a loud annoyed moan at the Time Lord's words and seemed to begin to cooperate more.
"Oh, um, Doctor," Clara felt dread begin to form in the pit of her stomach as the Sonataran fleet began moving directly towards them at a sickeningly fast rate. She hadn't realised how many of their ship there were until now. "Now they're following us!"
She let out a low whistle. "That's a lot of Sontarans," She murmured, unsure if the Doctor was fully listening. She straightened up with a jolt as the Tardis shook.
"Now they're firing at us!"
"Yes, thank you for the commentary, Clara, it's not at all distracting!"
The Doctor winced as the Tardis suffered yet another blow from the impending Sontaran fleet. Clara gave a shout of defiance as the screen went blank, their conection being lost.
"Hold on, Clara!"
The Doctor reached for her hand and pulled her to him, crouching down on the floor of the Tardis.
"This bit isn't going to be very pleasant, I'm afraid," He muttered as he held Clara close to him, shielding her from the impact. Clara buried her face into his chest and squeezed her eyes shut, holding onto him tightly. If there was one thing she hated, it was a bumpy landing, especially if the Doctor agreed that it was bad.
They hit the ground with a colossal bang, sending the two sprawling across the floor and causing the entire ship to shake. The engines died out almost instantly, the Tardis becoming quiet.
Clara looked up, still holding onto the Time Lord, grateful that he had held her as they fell, making the impact less severe. This crash was definitely the worst yet, she decided, gazing around at the charred console and smoke emitting from the controls.
"S'gunna take a bit more than a sonic screwdriver to fix this," She murmured, causing the Doctor to chuckle, though his eyes remained serious.
"We'll worry about that later," The Doctor stood abruptly, holding out a hand and pulling Clara up with him. "Right now we have bigger problems. Such as the fact that we're on board an enemy ship."
Clara grimaced as they looked to the doors with equally grave expressions. She swallowed nervously.
"Plan?"
"Possibly. Well, part one of the plan," The Doctor scratched the back of his head thoughtfully.
"Which is?"
"To find and rescue my future self without being killed," He smiled brightly, stating it as if it would be the easiest feat in the universe, though Clara was well aware that it was far from that. "And I'm sure we'll stop the Sontarans along the way," He paused, fingers to his lips as he frowned in thought. "Somehow."
"Plan part one is ago then," Clara grinned, trying not to feel too fearful about the daunting fate that waited outside the Tardis doors. The Doctor smiled at her encouragingly as they neared the wooden exit of the ship.
"Wait," Clara grabbed the Doctor's arm, causing him to stop in his tracks to look at her, a slightly confused expression on his face. Clara looked up into his eyes, realising that with the danger they were in, the Tardis wouldn't be much of a snogbox for a while.
He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off by capturing his lips with her own, causing him to make a slightly startled sound. He soon came to his senses and returned the kiss, an understanding between them that they were going into an extremely dangerous situation.
The Doctor wrapped his arms around Clara, pulling her closer to him as Clara wrapped her arms around his neck. She realised she was fighting tears, as she didn't know when they would get to be this close again. She had never been afraid of dying, but she didn't want to die, not now that she had found something worth living for.
The kiss was filled with desperation and fear of what was to come, and neither wanted to part.
They pulled away when they needed air, the Doctor resting his forehead against Clara's for one blissful moment. He took Clara's hands in his own and held them tightly but gently.
"Promise me something," Clara whispered, opening her eyes and looking into the Doctor's, chocolate brown on dazzling blue.
The Doctor merely nodded, a somewhat regretful expression on his face. Clara squeezed his hands in hers tightly to further establish her request.
"Promise me that we'll be okay, you and me," She whispered earnestly. Her biggest fear was not the Sontarans waiting for them outside, but losing him. "That we'll both get out of this safely, and everything will be okay."
The Doctor swallowed and Clara's heart began to hammer in her chest at his hesitation before answering.
"I promise," He whispered, touching his lips to hers briefly and releasing her hands, keeping hold of one as he went to open the doors. Clara held onto his hand tightly, unwilling to break contact with him, her lips still tingling with the intensity of the kiss.
The moment they took their first step outside the door, approximately forty guns were pointed at them by helmet clad Sontarans. The Doctor smiled and put his hands up in the air as if in surrender, Clara following suite.
"Now, now, it only takes one gun to kill a person," The Doctor raised his eybrows at the armoured aliens and their deadly weapons. "No need to become so excited."
The Sontaran closest to them lowered his weapon, pressing a button on the side of his helmet. The helmet slid smoothly into his amour with a soft hiss and the alien's face was revealed. Clara felt her own face scrunch up slightly in disgust, remembering the last time she had laid eyes on a Sontaran.
"How do they tell each other apart?" She hissed in a low atone to the Doctor.
"I expect they say the same about us," The Doctor gave the best impression of a shrug he could with his hands still raised in the air.
"General Stal, Commander of the Sonataran fleet," The Sonataran introduced itself haughtily as the Doctor sighed. Clara fought back a grin at the Time Lord's impatient behaviour. He had obviously seen enough of this before.
"You will come with us," Stal commanded as four Sontarans grabbed the two companions by each arm and began to lead them away from the squad of remaining alien soldiers.
"See, Clara, we even have an escort!" The Doctor smiled brightly at his companion. "I told you the Sontarans had wonderful hospitality."
"You were right there, Doc," Clara grinned up at the Time Lord. "Of course I was hoping for cocktails aswell but..."
"Cease talking!" General Stal ordered, a scowl on his dark visage. "You will be brought before Commander Stor, and will speak when spoken to."
"Yeah, well neither of us our very good at that," Clara shrugged lightly, expressing her gobby side, enlightened by the Doctor's casual way he handled the aliens. Having the Time Lord close by made her feel less intimidated.
Her words were steadily ignored by the Sontaran but earned a soft chuckle from the Doctor which warmed her heart despite their current situation.
They were led into a large, brightly lit room which was filled with more machinery than people. A large, humming machine that looked to be the same as the one the Sonatarans had aquired the last time they had met stood in the centre of the room, taking up much of the space. Beside the machinery with his face upturned towards a high screen on the wall was a lone Sontaran.
"Commaner Stor, Sir!"
General Stal gave a firm salute to the unmasked Sonataran who turned to face the two prisoners. Clara squirmed in the graps of the two Sontarans who held her captive, feeling suddenly uncomfortable as she scowled at the alien leader.
"Release them," Stor gave a smug smirk. "They are no threat to me."
Clara let out an audible sigh of relief as the Sontarans's released her. They gave a brisk salute and marched from the room.
"I would prefer to speak with the prisoners alone, Stal," Commander Stor stated flatly, still wearing the same smug expression that made Clara's stomach turn and her hands clench into fists as she positioned herself closer to the Doctor out of comfort. The Sonataran smirked and continued. "I do not require assistance with these two."
"As you wish, Commaner Stor," Stal gave a stern nod. "I will prepare for battle."
"You will prepare for glory," Commaner Stor corrected as Stal saluted and left the room.
The Doctor spread his arms wide and positively beamed at the Sontaran.
"Stor old chap, how wonderful it is to see you again! I'd love to say you're looking well, but you look exactly the same as every other Sontaran what with that whole cloning businness..."
The Doctor bounded forward as if to grab Stor by the hand. The Sontaran held his head high with a wide eyed expression and scowled at the Doctor, though didn't budge from where he was standing.
"Cease in your tracks, Time Lord!"
"Oh, you don't do hand shakes then?" The Doctor feigned disappointment. "Oh well, no matter. I'm sure the lovely chat we're about to have will more than compensate!"
Clara held back a giggle at the Sontaran's wearing patience.
"You know why you are here, Time Lord," Stor stated gruffly, standing as obstute as a statue in front of them. "You may have tried to foil our plans, but we still have our Time Lord technology."
Stor gestured to the machine beside them proudly and walked over to it.
"Yes, well it's very lovely and I'm glad you managed to repair it but I don't see how it will come to much use."
"Oh, but it will," The Sontaran smirked coldly. "You are not the only Time Lord here. We have your Eleventh self kept hostage here in our holding cells. He's wearing a bit thin, but no matter! Two of you is still better than one."
Clara looked to the Doctor, eyes wide but he was staring determindly at the Sontaran. The Doctor's future self was here too? She hoped he was alright, she didn't trust the Sontarans for a second.
"We still plan to harness your Time Lord regeneration energy and use it to conquer the universe!" Stor boomed. "Sontar-Ha!"
"And how do you expect to harness that energy?" The Doctor scowled, taking a step forward. "It would tear you apart!"
Stor smiled smugly and clenched a three finger fist, thumping it to his chest where a shining golden chain with a small capsule suspended on it hung, swinging slightly at the sudden movement. Clara instantly recognised it from their last run in with the smug aliens. Stor wore a proud expression on his face as he continued to explain.
"I wear the Gallifreyan capsule!"
"And very fetching it is too!"
"Enough!" Stor ordered, holding up a hand in annoyance. "You will obey me! Both of you! Your human friend is only needed temporarily, she will later be disposed of. We will harness this energy using the power of the cybermen's talisman. We are aware, Doctor, that you and your companion stole each half of the talisman, foiling our plans for a rise of the cybermen in our name, where we would control them, we would use them for our own purposes."
Stor let out a loud booming laugh. "The Ice Warriors as they call themselves trusted us, they thought they were going to be in charge of their own army. Warriors indeed, they disobeyed the first rule of war! Never trust a Sontaran." Stor forced what resembled a grin onto his face. "We only needed to kinetic cyber energy to transport the regeneration energy to the capsule, then the remaining uprisen cybermen would become ours until they all perished in battle."
"But you can't!" Clara piped up, taking a shaky but determined step forward while still maintaining a slight distance from the Sontaran leader. "You don't have the talisman!"
"But you do," Stor smirk turned sinister as he held out a hand expectantly. "Both fragments, I know they are in your possession, Time Lord. Give them to me."
The Doctor paused. "And if I refuse?"
Clara squeaked in surprise as Commander Stor lurched forward and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her into an uncomfortable headlock, his gun aimed towards her skull. Clara's breathing quickened as she struggled against his iron grip. The Doctor's eyes widened in fear as he took a step forward.
"Give them to me or she dies!" Commander Stor snarled threateningly, his grip on Clara tightening.
"Now, let's not be hasty," The Doctor began hurriedly, concern lacing his tone. "Let her go."
"Not until you give me both halves of the talisman," Was the stern reply, imminent victory lacing Stor's tone.
The Doctor sighed and reached into his pockets. Clara met his eyes and shook her head at him adamantly. She would rather die than let the Sontarans win, but the Doctor seemed to be at a loss.
The Time Lord took out the two halves of the talisman and stared down at them in his hands hopelessly.
"Doctor, don't give them to him!" Clara yelled, letting out an indignant cry as Stor pressed the gun up against the side of her head. Her struggling was futile. Clara looked to the Doctor again.
She noticed a change in his expression, a slight lightening of his eyes, almost the faint ghost of a smirk beginning to form on his face. Clara realised with a spark of hope that he had never been truly worried, the eccentric Time Lord had had a plan all along.
"You know," He looked up, speaking in a lighthearted tone as he balanced the two metal fragments in one hand and pulled out a small, seemingly harmless plastic ball from his other pocket. "Sontarans are just splendid, they have no fear, they're brilliant in battle. They just have one weakness."
"Sontarans have no weakness," Stor growled proudly. "Hand over what is rightfully ours!"
"You see, Clara," The Doctor ignored Stor's words and turned his attention to his companion who had lessened her struggling against the Sontaran somewhat, hope filling her. "They absorb energy through a probic vent located at the back of their necks. Any sudden blow to the vent will stun them, even kill them. That's why they always face their enemy in battle." He grinned cheerfully. "Isn't that just wonderful?"
Clara nodded slowly, a smile beginning to grow on her face as she wondered where the Doctor was going with this.
"Another weakness of the Sontaran's would be making an enemy of me."
The Doctor's tone remained light but held a hint of harshness at the threat.
"And considering you're being so rude as to threaten the life of my companion, I'm afraid you've just earned yourself a second weakness," The Doctor flung the small plastic ball at the far wall behind Commander Stor, the impact as it hit the wall causing it to rebound and hit the Sontaran in the vent on the back of it's neck. Clara jumped away as Stor let out a cry of rage mingled with pain and released his hold on her, sinking to the ground, a hissing noise emitting from the vent.
"Back of the neck!" Clara whooped in victory, rushing over to the Doctor who now had the two metal fragments safely back inside his pockets. Clara grabbed his hand and pulled him from the room, away from the stirring Sontaran. She wanted to get as far away from the creature as possible, unwilling to hang around.
"Oswald! You're not suppose to grab my hand and run, that's my job," The Doctor grumbled, causing Clara to laugh. They stopped just outside the door, Clara glanced around the hall for more Sontarans with bated breath.
"Come along," The Doctor whispered, giving Clara's hand a light squeeze. "Let's find my other self."
Hoped you liked that one! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing this story, I'm so glad you guys like it, especially you Zarius and wibblywobbywhogirl :) Hope you keep enjoying the story!