CHAPTER 9
I do not own Doctor Who and I am not making any profit off of this.
Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews!
WHO WILL WIN THE WAR FOR CLARA OSWALD?
The Daleks, Cybermen, and Sontarans all stared down Skaldak as he issued his challenge to them. To the Moment, it was almost like one of the westerns that she, no Rose, used to watch on television where two gunslingers were staring each down before they both reached for their guns. Any moment now she knew that a firefight was about to begin, but for a brief second the forces gathered there to capture Clara were all too afraid of Skaldak to take the first shot.
Then finally the Daleks broke the stalemate as they began to fire first. The others soon followed, and Skaldak was joined by his fellow Ice Warriors in battle as a full-scale war finally broke out over who would gain control over Clara.
Now as the four armies tore into each other, their respective leaders all delivered their own version of a pep talk to motivate their forces.
"EXTERMINATE THEM ALL AND TAKE THE ORACLE! WITH HER AS OUR STRATEGIST, WE WILL BE ABLE TO FINALLY SWEEP ACROSS THE UNIVERSE WITH NO OPPOSITION WHATSOEVER. SOON THE ONLY FORM OF LIFE THAT EXISTS IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE WILL BE THE DALEKS," The leader of the Dalek forces ordered.
"We must convert her into one of us and make her into our new Cyber Planner. She will lead us to universal dominance and help us to make everyone like us," the Cyber Leader ordered.
"No, we will claim the Oracle for the glory of the Sontarans and use her to not only crush our enemies, the Rutans, but also to reach new levels of universal warfare. We will make the Sontarans into a force that even the Daleks will be afraid to challenge!" General Styx shouted.
"None of you will have her. She will be free to live the life that she chooses. I swear by my honor as a Grand Marshal that I will gladly die before I allow any of you to use her in any way," Skaldak said.
Enormous explosions now blanketed the entire area as massive chaos ensued. The Moment rushed right into the middle of all of this and quickly picked the still unconscious Doctor up. She teleported away with him as soon as she reached him and reappeared next to her friends who were all watching this with great concern nearby.
"Isn't there something that any of you can do to get Clara out of there?" Dave asked as he continued to hold a visibly shaken Merry.
"Skaldak keeps moving around too much or I already would have tried to teleport her out of there. I can't get a good lock on her," the Moment said.
"Can't any of you get her out by force?" Dave asked.
"I would be the first to try if I thought that I had any kind of chance. Believe me. I can't though. There are just too many of them. Don't you see the level of firepower that they're throwing around? No one could survive in that. Even if I somehow did manage to reach her, I'd never get her out of there alive," the Master said.
"So we're supposed to just stand here then and watch her die?" Tish said in disgust.
"Well, do you have any better ideas?" the Master asked in annoyance.
Tish was silent as the Master said, "I thought not."
"We have to do something though. We can't just leave it all to the Ice Warriors," Martha said.
"How do we know that we can even trust them though? Despite what they say, they might just want her for themselves," Mickey said suspiciously.
"No, the Ice Warriors have a strong sense of honor, Mickey. If they give their word, they have to keep it," the Moment said.
"How do you know that? That's not something Rose would know," Mickey asked.
"Oh, yes it is. Rose met the Ice Warriors once. It was during a group of mysterious attacks on a future Earth colony. The Ice Warriors had a colony of their own on another planet nearby, and they were being blamed for the attacks. It wasn't them though. It was another group of aliens who lived under the ground of that world and who wanted it back. The Ice Warriors actually helped the Doctor and me to save the humans from being wiped out by them. I actually made a friend of one of them as I remember," the Moment said with a fond smile.
Mickey didn't have the heart to tell her that she was speaking of herself as Rose. Neither did Martha who smiled at Mickey for not saying anything.
"I believe you then. I've heard how noble they are from UNIT's files on them anyway. It's not them that I'm worried about. It's the others especially the Daleks," Martha said with a shudder.
"Grandfather, is Clara going to die?" Merry asked Dave in an upset voice.
Dave didn't know what to say to her so he just said, "Of course not. She'll make it. I know that she will."
He wasn't surprised when Merry didn't believe him and started to cry. He didn't even believe what he had just said himself so why should he expect her to believe it?
That was when the sound of Merry's heart breaking woke the Doctor up. He realized instantly from the moment that he recognized Skaldak what must have happened and immediately started to think up a plan to save Clara.
"Doctor, please tell me that you have a plan," Martha said.
"Please. There's no way that he can do anything if I can't. You Earth girls always have way too much faith in him. Even the Doctor can't do the impossible," the Master said arrogantly.
The Doctor looked at the crying Merry in sadness as a look of renewed determination came over his face as he said, "Nothing's impossible. I learned that from Clara."
He raced towards the fighting aliens and shouted, "Hello, everyone. It's me, the Doctor. You finally have me where you want me now. I have no weapons and absolutely no way to escape from your far superior numbers. You're never going to have a better chance than this. Come and get me!"
All of the aliens all paused at once and stared at the Doctor as he said, "That's it. You want me don't you? You've all wanted to kill me for centuries, and here I am at last. I'm finally trapped with no way out. All you have to do is come and get me. Don't tell me that you're not more interested in killing me than you are in kidnapping Clara. We all know that's a lie."
"STICK TO THE OBJECTIVE!" the Dalek leader ordered.
"Well, you could do that. You could. Then I'd escape though. I'd get away in the TARDIS, and you'd miss out on a golden opportunity. Do you really want that to happen?" the Doctor asked.
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?" One of the Daleks asked.
The Doctor decided to speak the truth as he said, "I want you to release Clara. Let her go and I'll give myself to you in exchange for her."
"YOU WOULD DIE IN ORDER FOR HER TO LIVE?" Another Dalek asked in surprise.
"Yes," the Doctor said without hesitation.
"HE LIES. HE HAS A PLAN. THE DOCTOR WOULD NEVER SACRIFICE HIMSELF THIS WAY," The Dalek leader said.
"Of course he would. He is highly emotional especially when it comes to his companions. The Cybermen have always known this," The Cyber Leader said.
"The Doctor has sacrificed his life for his companions before according to our records on him," General Styx said.
"THE DOCTOR ALSO LIES. ESPECIALLY THIS DOCTOR. THIS IS WELL KNOWN TO US," the Dalek leader argued.
"WHAT IF HE ISN'T THOUGH? WE COULD FINALLY BE RID OF THE DOCTOR," One of the Daleks said.
"Yes, that's it. Take me and let Clara go. I'm much more valuable to you than she is. How much easier will it be for all of you to conquer the universe once I' m gone?" the Doctor said.
The Daleks, Cybermen, and Sontarans all looked at one another in silence for one long almost interminable moment. The Doctor found himself holding his breath because he wasn't sure what was going through their minds in that moment. What would their next move be?
Then almost at the same time, they all switched from attacking the Ice Warriors to attacking the Doctor instead!
"Now, Skaldak! Take her and run!" the Doctor shouted as he was surrounded by enemies on all sides.
"He has to have more of a plan than this, right?" Tish asked in horror as the Doctor disappeared under a sea of some of his worst foes.
The Moment only smiled. She knew what was coming next.
Suddenly the Ice Warriors began to attack the others causing them to leave the Doctor alone in order to defend themselves. As the war between the invading armies started up all over again, Martha and Tish quickly ran over to the battered, beaten, and barely conscious Doctor and dragged him to safety.
"Definitely not one of my better plans," the Doctor muttered in a dazed state.
"You can say that again, you stupid man. You're just lucky that the Ice Warriors rescued you when they did," Tish said in an angry voice.
"I wasn't lucky. That was my plan," the Doctor said.
"Huh? How was that your plan? How could you know what the Ice Warriors were going to do?" Tish asked.
"No, they weren't my plan. Clara was the plan. I knew that she wouldn't let them just let me die," the Doctor said.
Suddenly several Daleks started exploding at once as the Ice Warriors moving almost as one ducked the attacks of both the Cybermen and the Sontarans at the exact right moment for their attacks to hit the Daleks who were behind them instead. Now during the surprise of this moment they swiftly hit the Cybermen and Sontarans from behind with their sonic disruptors.
Clara now emerged from the middle of the Ice Warriors, and it became clear to everyone that she was directing their attacks. The Doctor smiled as he realized that she was telling the Ice Warriors exactly what the others were going to do next right before they did it.
"How did you even know that she would be awake in time to save you?" Martha asked.
"I didn't for sure. I just had to hope that she would wake up around the same time that I did," the Doctor admitted with a shrug.
"You really are quite mad aren't you?" the Master said in disbelief.
"You should talk," the Doctor shot back.
With Clara's help, the Ice Warriors dealt several devastating blows to the other three armies. Even then, they still didn't have enough firepower to defeat them all completely. The Sontarans and the Cybermen eventually fell before them after a long, hard fight (except General Styx who escaped to report to his superior), but the Ice Warriors still couldn't overcome the superior strength and weaponry of the Daleks. Even knowing the future wasn't enough to stop them it seemed because they were now slowly picking the Ice Warriors off one at a time.
"Clara, you must leave now while you still can," Skaldak warned as he realized this.
"No, I won't give up on you. You've risked everything for me," Clara protested.
"TAKE HER NOW!" the Dalek leader ordered.
Clara had no idea who he was talking to since there were no Daleks around her. Then to her horror, she saw the thing that was claiming to be her mother suddenly appear out of nowhere and start moving towards her.
"Clara, go!" Skaldak ordered as he stood in-between her and the Dalek puppet.
"I must claim her for the Daleks," Ellie said in an emotionless voice as she shot Skaldak down with her gunstick.
The Doctor and the others immediately started to run towards Clara to help her, but they were soon cut off from her by several Daleks. There were simply too many of them for any of them to break through their lines. Even the Moment didn't have much success because as soon as she teleported behind the Dalek lines she was immediately cut down by their intense assault as it tore right through her force field.
As the others tried and failed to rescue Clara, Ellie was now face to face with her as she said in a hesitant voice, "You will come with me or I will . . . I - I will . . ."
Clara knew that she was fighting it and decided to appeal to whatever was making her hold back as she said, "Don't do this. Please. If there's any humanity left in you whoever you are, let me go. The woman whose face you're wearing would never want you to do this. She was so kind and loving. She would hate all of this. She hated all violence. She wanted me to help people and make a difference with my life. So that's what I did. At least I hope I have. I don't know if she'd be proud of me or not because I never did exactly do what I always told her that I would by traveling the world. I have always tried to help others though like she would have wanted me to do especially children. It was my way of staying close to her because she loved children just as much as I do. That was one very important thing that we had in common. I don't even know why I'm telling you this. I guess it's because I didn't want my last memories as a free person to be of someone with the face of my mother shooting me down. I don't want to remember her this way."
"You s - still refuse to submit to the will of the Daleks then?" Ellie said in a quivering voice.
"Yes. Yes, I do," Clara said as she faced Ellie without fear.
"I'm sorry," Ellie said as her gunstick began to glow while she pointed it at Clara.
Merry saw all of this and knew that it meant that she'd never see Clara again. She broke away from Dave and somehow raced past the Daleks as she screamed Clara's name over and over again.
Without hesitation, Clara turned her back on Ellie as she watched Merry run toward her in horror.
"Merry, get out of here!" Clara screamed.
Merry continued running though until she reached Clara. She stood in front of Clara protectively and stared at Ellie defiantly.
"No! Leave her alone! You leave my mum alone!" Merry screamed.
"Merry, go now!" Clara ordered.
"No, Mum. I won't leave you. We never leave anyone behind. That's what you taught me, isn't it? Well, I'm never leaving you behind. Ever," Merry said stubbornly.
Ellie started to shake with emotion as soon as Merry called Clara her mother. She began to rebel against her Dalek programming as she struggled to regain control over herself.
For the first time since this entire nightmare started, Clara smiled. She knew exactly what Ellie was going to do next.
Ellie screamed in anger and then turned her gunstick toward the Dalek leader and fired it on him. The leader exploded instantly in an enormous ball of flame as he let loose a final agonizing scream. Then Ellie continued to use the advantage of surprise to her benefit as she destroyed several more Daleks as quickly as she could and made a gap big enough to allow the Doctor and the others through to Clara at last.
Clara now watched with pride as Ellie helped the Ice Warriors fight back against the Daleks. She was finally starting to believe at last that maybe this really was her mother.
That thought both made her unbelievably happy and filled her with paralyzing fear at the exact same time. If this was her mother, would she still be the same? What exactly had the Daleks done to her? Would she even be recognizable as the same person anymore?
Now the Doctor, the Master, and the Moment joined Ellie and the Ice Warriors against the Daleks, and the tide finally began to turn at last. Soon without their leader, the Daleks' opposition to them immediately started to crumble.
Suddenly the voice of the Prime Minister of the Daleks called out to the remaining Daleks who were asking for orders as he said, "RETURN TO SKARO IMMEDIATELY. WE WILL TRY AGAIN LATER. THE ADVANTAGES OF SURPRISE AND EMOTIONAL WEAKNESS DUE TO FAMILIAL RELATIONSHIPS HAVE NOW BOTH BEEN LOST."
The Daleks soon retreated, and the battle was finally over with at last. For now.
Ellie now stared at Clara with a look of fear and hope on her face as neither woman spoke. They were both too terrified of the reaction of the other.
Merry finally solved this problem for them as she walked over to Ellie and said, "Are you my grandmother?"
After a moment of hesitation, Ellie said, "Yes, at least I think I am. I'm not sure of anything anymore. I was dying one minute and then woke up to find myself a prisoner of the Daleks the next while they did their best to brainwash me. I'm so glad that it didn't take."
The Doctor scanned Ellie with his sonic screwdriver and then said, "Well, you're definitely not an android. You're human with Dalek tech inside of you. Now that you've learned to override it, you should no longer have a problem with controlling it. I'll try to disable the Daleks' mental programming as much as I can in order to help."
"Am I really who I think I am though? Or am I someone else made to look like her and given false memories?" Ellie asked.
"I don't think that you are. Maybe I can't prove it, but I believe it in my heart," Clara said.
"How can we ever be sure?" Dave asked.
"I could use the TARDIS to check her DNA against Ellie's if I had any of it," the Doctor offered.
Clara opened a locket around her neck and pulled a piece of hair out of it. Before this, it had been all that she had left of her mother. Now she wasn't so sure about that anymore.
The Doctor took the hair and went back to the TARDIS in order to check Ellie the Dalek puppet's DNA against it. He promised to report back on what he found very shortly.
Skaldak, who Ellie hadn't killed, now said good bye to Clara as he said, "I really hope that she is your mother, Clara. I now see why you were able to understand my sense of loss over my daughter so well. It was because you felt it yourself. At least one of us should get someone that we love back."
"Thank you, Skaldak. Consider any debt that you ever thought that you owed me paid for in full now," Clara said.
Skaldak nodded as he said, "Let us part as friends then."
"Gladly," Clara said as she shook his hand.
Soon after the Ice Warriors left, the Doctor returned. His face showed no signs of any emotion whatsoever that would tip Clara off as to what he had found out.
"Well?" Clara asked impatiently.
"Well what?" the Doctor asked.
"What do you mean what, Chin Boy?! Tell me what you found out before I turn you into the universe's first Time Lord soufflé," Clara said in an upset voice.
The Doctor smiled as he said to Ellie, "Ellie, say hello to your granddaughter."
"You mean . . .?" Ellie asked with a huge smile.
"Yes, I do. It was an exact match. The Daleks must have dug you up not long after you were buried because you're still in excellent physical condition. Other than the fact that you're technically dead of course," the Doctor said.
"I guess that's why I don't have a heartbeat then," Ellie said.
"So she's like a zombie?" Dave asked in disbelief.
"Yes, except she's a lot nicer and doesn't want to eat brains. You don't do you?" the Doctor asked in an unsure voice.
"No. I don't want to eat anything which is another thing that's weird," Ellie said.
"Yes, well you wouldn't, would you? Your body doesn't work anything like it did anymore. The only reason it still functions at all is because of the Dalek technology currently animating it. It's going to take some getting used to I know, but it beats the alternative I think. Now you can get to see your granddaughter grow up," the Doctor said happily.
"I still can't quite believe it but I'm not about to question it," Dave said as he embraced his wife.
"Mum, I . . ." Clara said not sure of what to say as she had so much going through her head at that moment.
She finally settled on what she had wanted to say to her again for the longest time now.
"I love you," Clara said.
Ellie smiled as she said, "I love you too. Clara?"
"Yes?" Clara asked.
"I want you to know that I still hate violence despite what just happened," Ellie said.
Clara laughed and eagerly embraced her mother.
As she returned Clara's embrace, Ellie said, "And Clara? I am proud of you. I always have been and I always will be."
Clara started to cry while the Doctor's hearts filled with joy for her. If ever the impossible was going to happen like this for anyone, he was so glad that it was for Clara.
Next: As both Ellie and Dave get used to all of the sweeping changes going on in their lives, Clara decides to spend some time with them and not to go traveling with the Doctor and the Master for a while. She should know that it won't be quite that easy though as she's still the most coveted prize in the universe and the race to get her is far from over. Who will appear next to try to wreck Clara's newfound happiness and what completely unexpected new ally will appear to help her?