CHAPTER 15
I do not own Doctor Who or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I am not making any profit off of this.
Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews!
Special Note: I know that some people think that Linda from Time of the Doctor is Clara's step-mother. She may be but it never specifically says so in the episode. For the purposes of this story, I'm going to say that she's not married to Dave Oswald but is another relative of Clara's instead just to cover my bases. It's already an alternate universe anyway so why not?
THE MASTER AND TISH'S GREATEST SECRET
Ellie and Dave Oswald watched Merry lying on her bed asleep in the middle of the day for the third day in a row with worried looks on their faces. She had done nothing but constantly sleep or watch television with a dead, soulless look on her face the entire time that Clara had been gone.
"Do you think that she'll ever get back to normal again?" Dave asked Ellie.
"I don't know. I certainly hope so but I'm afraid that she won't. Even if she was only with Clara a short time, she's developed a very deep bond with her. Having to be away from her for a while isn't really the problem I don't think. It's the thought of possibly losing her forever. It's killing her inside," Ellie said in a worried voice.
"Then only one thing will snap her out of it," Dave said.
"That's right. Clara just has to return or I'm not sure what will happen to Merry," Ellie said.
"Clara will make it through this and be back before we know it. I know that she will. She's just like her mother. Nothing will keep her from finding her way back somehow," Dave said as he kissed Ellie.
Ellie smiled and felt so grateful and relieved that Dave had accepted her back into his life again so quickly even with all of the extra baggage that being technically dead and a Dalek puppet brought along with it. She didn't feel any different herself, and she was glad that Dave thought so too. She was so happy to see that he still looked at her with the exact same look of love in his eyes as he always had. In fact, there was even more love there now due to having been without her for so long and finally having gotten her back again.
They both kissed again grateful for this second chance at life together, and then the kiss deepened and became filled with passion. They both became so distracted by this that neither of them noticed the sound of the TARDIS suddenly filling the entire house.
Someone else did however.
Merry woke up out of a sound sleep and screamed with joy as she rushed in the direction that the sound was coming from as fast as she could. She found the TARDIS materializing right in the middle of the kitchen of all places and was right there standing in front of the doors when they finally opened.
"Mum!" Merry screamed as she saw Clara standing there.
She grabbed ahold of Clara and refused to let go as Clara smiled at her and laughed. This one moment all by itself was worth all of the pain and misery that she had just gone through. She was so glad that she was back to normal again so that she could see Merry's smiling face once more.
"I'm happy to see you too, sweetheart," Clara said as she picked her daughter up and hugged her tightly.
The Doctor smiled as he watched this family reunion. Then his smile turned into a huge face wide grin as he saw Ellie and Dave kissing off in the distance. They still hadn't noticed that the TARDIS had even returned yet.
"Clara, look," the Doctor said as he pointed at them.
Clara laughed as she said, "Yeah, they used to do that a lot when I was growing up. They can't hear anything while they're sucking face like that, and I mean absolutely nothing. Whenever I'd get into trouble, I used to tell them about it while they were kissing so that they didn't ground me. I could always, truthfully, say that I told them if they asked me about it later. It never really worked though because sooner or later they'd always find out anyway."
"Aww! I was hoping that I could use that technique myself," Merry said with a mischievous smile.
"Don't even think about it," Clara said with a chuckle as she kissed her forehead.
"I was just kidding. You know me, Mum. I never get into any trouble," Merry said with an innocent face.
"Right. Tell me another one, sweetie," Clara said as she continued to smile at her.
"Please don't ever go away again," Merry suddenly said in a serious voice.
"I won't. I can promise you that. You don't ever have to worry about that anymore. I won't ever leave you again, okay?" Clara said.
Merry nodded and smiled even as she began to cry happy tears. Clara vowed to herself that she would never make Merry cry any other kind ever again.
As Tish watched them together, she suddenly wanted to go back to her own family. She had promised them that she would return after all.
"Wanting to go home?" the Moment asked as she realized this from the expression on her face.
"Yeah, so much," Tish said.
"I think I can arrange that," the Moment said with a grin.
She snapped her fingers and a portal suddenly opened up in the middle of the room. Tish looked at her with gratitude and gave her a quick hug.
"Thank you," Tish said.
"It's no problem. Go back and see them. Don't be a stranger here though, okay? I don't think Koschei could stand it," the Moment said.
Tish looked at her in surprise. Did she know about them?
The Moment said nothing further. She only winked at her and gestured for her to go ahead.
"Go on, Tish, before you explode. I don't even want to have to try to explain that one to Martha," Clara joked.
"I'll see you later, everyone," Tish said as she stepped into the portal.
The Master watched the portal close with a sad look in his eyes and turned away to go back into the TARDIS. The Moment, however, silently stopped him by lightly grabbing his arm.
"She'll come back," the Moment said in a low voice that only he could hear.
"Yes, but never to me. She'll never come back for me. Not that I can blame her," the Master said as he gently pulled himself free from the Moment's grip and went inside the TARDIS to be alone for a while.
"What's wrong with him?" Clara asked the Moment with concern on her face.
The Moment started to tell her but decided against it as she said, "I really shouldn't say. It's his place to tell if he wants to. Maybe he or Tish will let you know later."
"Oh, so it has to do with Tish, huh? Why am I not surprised by that? The way those two fight all the time and make each other miserable I'd almost say that they were in love or something," Clara said.
The Moment said nothing but something in her expression told Clara that she had gotten it exactly right.
"No! You're kidding me! Those two?" Clara asked in disbelief.
"The Master . . . and Romana?!" The Doctor said as he too looked at the Moment in disbelief now.
"I don't believe it," Clara said.
"Me either. She has much more sense than that . . . and better taste," the Doctor said.
"You can't choose who you fall in love with, Doctor," the Moment said with a small smile that recalled memories of Rose to his mind against his will.
"No, you can't. Not that that's always a bad thing. But really?! The Master?! When did this happen and why didn't I notice it?" the Doctor asked.
"That's nothing unusual. You never notice anything, Chinny. You wouldn't notice if the TARDIS suddenly exploded," Clara said.
The Doctor winced as he said, "Yeah, I really think I would actually."
"Don't tell me," Clara said.
"Yep," the Doctor said.
"I honestly can't believe you sometimes, Mr. Chin," Clara said with a giggle.
Meanwhile inside the TARDIS, the Master sat at the console lost in his thoughts. He suddenly jumped as a hand touched his shoulder.
"Go away!" the Master yelled.
"Are you sure that you don't want to talk about it?" Jenny asked.
The Master looked up at her startled. He had forgotten that she had stayed behind in the TARDIS. He had forgotten her period for a moment to be honest. Maybe it was because she slightly unnerved him. She was so young and innocent that he was afraid that he would destroy or corrupt her somehow. Why not? He destroyed everything else he touched whether he meant to or not.
He actually found himself smiling at Jenny apologetically as he said in a much kinder voice, "I'm sorry for yelling like that. I just don't feel in the mood to be around other people right now, and I really don't feel like talking about it."
"Okay. I'm always willing to listen if you are though," Jenny said as she smiled at him.
The Master couldn't help but like her despite himself as he said, "Thank you. I appreciate that. I really don't think that I'll take you up on it though."
"The offer's always open anytime. So should I leave so that you can sit there and sulk in peace then?" Jenny asked with a grin.
The Master shook his head at her and actually found himself laughing as he said, "No, you don't have to go anywhere. I'm just a little upset about something right now. I'll be okay though."
"Alright, well I just wanted to make sure. You're very important to Clara and that makes you important to me too. I'm sure that you and Tish will work it all out sooner or later," Jenny said optimistically.
The Master looked at her in shock as he said, "How did you know that? Did Tish tell you?"
"No, it was obvious to me that you two are deeply in love, but something's split you apart. It shows in the way that you act towards each other. Maybe it's because I'm a soldier and trained to spot people's behavior and body language for signs that they're going to attack. Or maybe I'm just a good observer by nature. I've noticed it for a long time now though," Jenny admitted.
The Master smiled at her as he said in an impressed voice, "You're very intelligent and perceptive. Are you sure the Doctor is your father?"
Jenny laughed as she said, "Yep. I'm afraid so. Does that make us enemies because I don't feel like your enemy?"
"No, you're not my enemy and never will be if I can help it. My bad blood with your father doesn't involve you. Don't worry about it. You know you remind me of him. He used to always be able to cheer me up whenever I was down too once upon a time. Thank you," the Master said.
"I'm happy to help. So is she your wife?" Jenny asked.
The Master choked at that as he now fully realized for the first time just how perceptive and intelligent that Jenny truly was. He knew now that anyone who underestimated her did so at their own peril.
"You and Romana got married?!" the Doctor said in absolute shock behind him.
The Master whirled around to see the Doctor, Clara, and Merry all standing there looking at him with their mouths hanging open in shock.
"You'd better close those mouths or the flies will get in," the Moment said with a grin.
Despite his shock, the Doctor couldn't help but smile at her. She had never sounded more like Rose than she had just then.
"I'm sorry. I didn't see them standing there," Jenny said to the Master with a guilty look on her face.
"It's okay. It's not your fault," the Master said as he gently patted her shoulder.
The Doctor looked at him in surprise as he realized that he was talking to Jenny like a friend. He was actually being nice to her just as he had once been to him a very long time ago. He found himself missing that very much.
Clara it seemed had noticed this too as she said with a warm smile, "You're being nice to Jenny. I'm wearing you down, Koschei. I'll make you into a nice normal bloke yet."
The Doctor snorted as he said, "Yeah, good luck with that!"
"Doctor, you're being rude. That's more like the previous version of you," the Moment said.
"I don't know. This one can be pretty rude too when he wants to be," Clara said.
Then they all suddenly went silent as things became awkward between them once again. The Master wished more than anything at that moment that he had brought a Vortex Manipulator with him or a Time Ring or something.
"So you and Tish?" Clara finally said after what seemed like an eternity of silence.
"Yes," the Master said.
"How? When? Why?" the Doctor asked.
"You forgot what and where," the Moment joked.
The Master sighed before finally saying, "I first met her during the Time War back when she was still the President of Gallifrey. At first, I resented having to work for her after I found out that she used to be one of your companions, Doctor. Then I slowly started to realize just how special that she was the longer that I was around her. Both of us started to fall for one another against our own better judgment. At first, she was just as against our relationship as I was. Neither of us wanted to fall in love because neither of us trusted the other. It didn't matter what we wanted though. Our feelings trumped all of that. We soon found ourselves inventing missions to go on together just so that we could be alone. I came to love and trust her completely, and I'd like to think that she felt the same way about me. We were secretly married on one of those 'missions' and I'd never been happier as Romana accepted me for who I am, drums and all. She even made me start feeling as if I could actually be a good man again just for her."
"And then Rassilon was brought back to life," the Doctor said sadly as he realized where this was going.
The Master nodded as he said in a bitter voice, "It all came crashing down around us because the war started going badly, and those idiots on the High Council decided to bring Rassilon back in order to 'help' Romana direct the war. Rassilon's idea of helping though was to attack Romana and leave her for dead as he took her place as the President while claiming that she had given him her approval as her successor right before she died at the hands of the Daleks. I knew better than that though. I knew that he had killed her or at least I thought that he had. That was when I fled the war. I lied to you when I said that it was because I was afraid. It was because I no longer cared about anything anymore when I thought that Romana had died. So I became Yana and took away all of my memories of her. When Martha Jones accidentally made me remember again, I was furious that she had brought back all of that pain to me and decided to take it all out on her by kidnapping her family. If only I had known that Romana was right there in front of me the entire time that I was mourning her. I don't blame her for hating me, Doctor. I kidnapped her and her parents and treated them all horribly. I never tortured them or her physically like I did to Jack Harkness. I just couldn't bring myself to do it for a reason that I never understood until recently. I certainly tormented them more than enough emotionally and mentally though. I can't blame her for hating me. Right now, I hate myself too."
"Koschei, I don't think that she hates you," Clara said.
"Yes, she does," Koschei said.
"No, I don't think so. I've seen the way that she looks at you. That's not hate. I can see anger, frustration, confusion, misery, and worry whenever she looks at you, but I've never seen outright hate. If anything, I've seen momentary looks of love that were quickly replaced with anger that I couldn't quite understand until now. Now it all makes sense to me, Blondie. She's furious with you, but she doesn't want to be. Even now, part of her wants to forgive you," Clara said.
Koschei shook his head as he said, "No, I don't think so."
"How can you be so sure of that?" Clara asked.
"That's because I can't forgive myself. If I can't even forgive myself, then how could she do it?" the Master asked.
There yet another awkward silence ensued until the Doctor suddenly said, "How about we all go somewhere? A nice little trip will cheer us all up. It should be somewhere phenomenally cool. Somewhere that just makes you say 'Yowza!' the first time that you see it."
Clara quickly seized on that as she said, "You're absolutely right, Doctor. Even though I have absolutely no idea what Yowza means, I actually get the gist of what you're trying to say . . . for once. A nice little trip somewhere will do us all some good. I say that we should let the TARDIS chose a place for us at random and go do some exploring."
The Doctor looked at her eagerly as he said, "Maybe it'll even be someplace where we can do a lot of running for our lives. Oh, I hope so!"
"So do I. I hate to admit it but I still love the running," Jenny said with a wide grin.
"Speak for yourselves. After going all Dark Alura on everybody, I'm more than ready to have a nice peaceful trip where nobody especially me is trying to kill anybody," Clara said.
"You were trying to kill people?" Merry asked her in surprise.
Clara looked at her guiltily as she had forgotten that she was there for a moment before she said, "I thought about but I never actually tried it. I wasn't myself, Merry. The power was messing with my mind but it's gone now. It's never coming back either so don't start worrying."
Merry nodded approvingly as she said, "I knew you would never hurt anyone."
"I'm glad one of us did," Clara said in a low voice.
"So let's go. Come on, Sexy. Take me somewhere amazing," the Doctor said as he dematerialized the TARDIS.
"And awesome. Don't forget awesome," Clara added.
The Doctor twirled around as he said, "Of course someplace awesome too. That's always implied and Sexy knows it."
"I really wish that you'd stop calling the TARDIS Sexy, Doctor," Clara said in an annoyed voice.
"It's just a nickname, Clara. Don't tell me that you're jealous," the Doctor said with a huge smile on his face.
"No, it's just that if you're going to call someone that I really wish that it'd be me," Clara said with a seductive smile.
"Didn't you know, Clara, that's always implied too every time I say your name?" the Doctor said.
"No, I didn't know that. I'd like to hear you say it out loud for once, Mr. Chin," Clara said with a grin.
"Alright, Sexy. Or should I call you Mrs. Chin instead?" the Doctor said before suddenly turning red in embarrassment as he realized what he had just said.
"Not yet but maybe someday," Clara said with a mischievous smile.
The Doctor let out a huge sigh of relief as Clara gently patted his back and smiled at him. She knew that he was nervous and was trying to let him know that everything was okay.
Then she gave him a tender kiss as the Master groaned.
"I thought that this trip was supposed to make me feel better not sicker," the Master said.
"Stop that and behave," Jenny said in a low voice causing the Master to briefly smile at her.
The Moment grinned as two of her friends' love for each other deepened, and the other two started along the path toward a long and meaningful friendship. Now this was the future that she had hoped would happen out of all of the ones that she had seen.
Then a sudden thought occurred to her. In their haste to leave, they had all forgotten something.
Back at the Oswald home, Dave and Ellie finally stopped kissing as they noticed that something was wrong. It was too quiet.
"Where's Merry?" Ellie suddenly realized in alarm.
That was when the Moment suddenly appeared and said, "She's fine. She's with her mum and we're going off on an adventure together on the TARDIS."
"Oh! Thanks. I didn't even know that Clara was here. So she's alright again?" Ellie asked.
"Yeah, she's fine now. She's completely back to normal again. She was going to talk to you but you two were . . ." the Moment said and then trailed off before finishing her sentence.
The Oswalds quickly became embarrassed as Dave said, "Oh, of course. Yeah. Well, just tell her to come by again later so that we can see her."
"I will. I'll just let you two get back to what you were doing then, yeah?" the Moment said.
"Okay. We'll see you later then," Dave said as the Moment quickly vanished.
"We've really got to stop doing that," Ellie said grinning at him.
"Sorry, I just can't help it," Dave said grinning back at her.
"Me either," Ellie admitted before they started kissing yet again.
Meanwhile back at her parents' house, Tish had been warmly welcomed back by everyone, and she knew that her mother had been hugely relieved to see her again. She knew that she had been worried about her just by the way that she had looked at her when she had first come to the door.
Tish tried to put up a brave front and act normal even though the whole situation with the Master was still bothering her. She had thought that she had succeeded in fooling everyone about that until Martha finally confronted her as she was leaving.
"Tish, what is it?" Martha asked as she walked outside with her.
"What do you mean?" Tish asked.
"I mean what's eating at you? Something's been bothering you ever since you came back. Did something happen while you were away? I thought that you said that Clara was alright. She is isn't she?" Martha asked.
"Yes, she's fine. She's completely back to normal now," Tish reassured her.
"Then what is it then? Why are you so upset?" Martha asked.
"What makes you think that?" Tish asked.
"Come on, Tish. I know you. I know when you're hiding something. Tell me," Martha said.
Tish sighed and said, "Martha, I'm married."
"What? When did this happen? When you were away?" Martha asked in surprise.
"No, it was before I was Tish. I got married as Romana," Tish said.
"Oh. Well, that's a good thing isn't it?" Martha said.
"Usually but not for me. You see it's who I married that's bothering me now," Tish said.
"Do I know him?" Martha asked starting to feel a growing sense of dread in her heart.
"Very well actually," Tish said.
Martha's heart now started to beat fast as she said, "Please tell me it's the Doctor."
"I wish. I'd rather face an angry Clara than Mum and Dad when they find out the truth," Tish said.
"Oh, God!" Martha said as she realized that her worst fear about who Tish was married to was true.
"Yeah, tell me about it. That's not even the worst part though. The worst part is that . . . I still love him," Tish said in tears.
Martha wrapped her arms around her sister as she finally broke down in front of her. She had no idea what to say so she just did the only thing that she could and comforted her instead.
She was furious with the Master for what he was doing to Tish. Even now despite the fact that Clara was trying to reform him he was still managing to bring nothing but pain to her family.
Back on the TARDIS, the Doctor leapt for joy as soon as he checked the console to see where they were after the ship had landed. His face lit up with joy as he started to do a little dance around the room.
"This could either be a good thing or a very, very bad thing considering that the Doctor loves trouble so much," Clara said to the Moment and Jenny who both laughed.
"Oh, it's a wonderful thing, Clara. We're back in Leonardo's time. In fact, this is his house. I haven't been here since I was all teeth and curls back when Captain Tancredi's servant tried to torture me by putting a thumbscrew on my thumbs with cold hands. I don't know about you, Clara, but I really hate being tortured by someone with cold hands. It's definitely not cool!" the Doctor said as he babbled.
"Leonardo? Leonardo who?" Clara asked.
The Doctor gave her an incredulous look as he said, "Who do you think? Who's the coolest Leonardo ever?"
"We're going to meet one of the Ninja Turtles?" Merry asked in an excited voice.
Everyone except for the Master looked at her with huge smiles of amusement on their faces as Merry said, "What? They could be real somewhere couldn't they?"
The Doctor smiled at her and said, "Possibly and maybe one day we'll find out. Right now though, we're at the home of Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest inventor that humanity ever produced and one of the coolest blokes of all time! You're going to love meeting him, Merry. Like me, he was an expert at practically everything. He did it all including painting, inventing, writing, sculpting, music, and just about every other skill that you could name from this time period. He may even be almost as clever as I am. Almost."
"Well now. There's a compliment," Clara said with a grin.
"I'm just trying to be honest, Clara," the Doctor said.
"Not to mention humble," the Moment said.
The Doctor smiled at her as it felt just like traveling with Rose once again only this time he wasn't in love with this particular version of her. This time he could honestly say that they were just good friends. He was so glad that the Moment had decided to come along because it had made the constant feeling of loss that he felt over Rose somewhat more bearable now that he had a living reminder that she was okay back on Pete's World.
Or was that more Clara's doing than the Moment's?
"Well, open the doors, Dad. I want to meet him if he's that brilliant," Jenny said eagerly.
"Knowing your father I'm sure that we won't have time to say two words to him before we're suddenly plunged neck deep into trouble," the Master said with a frown.
"Oi! I'm not that bad!" the Doctor protested.
"Oh, come on, Koschei. Aren't you being just a tad bit pessimistic?" Clara said.
"Really? Have you forgotten how much trouble that he and I got into back on Gallifrey, Alura?" the Master said.
Clara frowned as she said, "Yeah, I have to admit that he's got a point, Doctor."
"Was Dad that bad?" Jenny asked the Master.
"You have no idea. I'll have to tell you all about it," the Master said.
"Hey! No filling my daughter's head full of lies!" the Doctor protested.
"I won't have to. The truth is bad enough all by itself," the Master said as he cracked a smile for the first time that day.
Jenny grinned at him finding herself liking him already. Anyone that could get under her father's skin that much couldn't be all bad.
The Doctor huffed and said, "Come along, everyone. I don't want to spend one more minute listening to the Master slander my exemplary record at the Academy. I was a perfect student, Jenny, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
Clara burst out laughing at that as the Doctor said in exasperation, "Just . . . shut up!"
"I didn't say anything," Clara said.
"You were thinking it," the Doctor said with a frown that quickly turned into a grin.
He could never stay angry at her for very long. His record had been about five seconds if even that long.
The Doctor finally opened the TARDIS doors to find that Leonardo's home was filled with . . . robots. They weren't simple machines like the robot knight that Leonardo had created that the Doctor was already familiar with either. These robots were quite different and far too advanced for even Leonardo, as brilliant as he was, to have ever made.
He watched the humanoid robots with some trepidation as they wandered around Leonardo's workshop looking intently at his inventions, paintings, and other works just like a modern day historian might do. They didn't even seem to notice the Doctor and his crew which just made him even more worried.
Was it because they didn't consider them a threat or was it something far more sinister?
"What is it?" Clara whispered to him.
"Something about those robots is tugging at my memory. I don't know why though. It's really bothering me," the Doctor whispered back as he continued to give them a troubled look.
"Ah, Doctor. How good to see you again! I was wondering when you were going to come out of the TARDIS. What kept you in there for so long?" Leonardo asked as he greeted the Doctor with a warm smile.
Then he saw Clara and how closely that she was standing next to the Doctor and said, "Oh, I see. Well, in that case I forgive you."
"It wasn't anything like that. We were just talking," Clara said blushing.
"Yes, but I can definitely see why he'd rather talk to you than me," Leonardo said as he kissed her hand.
The Doctor decided to stop all of this embarrassing talk in its tracks by getting to the point as he said, "Leonardo, where did these robots come from? I know that you didn't make them."
"Oh, yes. I was wondering when you'd get to that. No, I didn't create them. They're robots from beyond the stars just as you are. They came here to visit me," Leonardo said with a smile.
"Visit you? Why?" the Doctor said in alarm.
"It's nothing like one of your usual adventures I assure you. These robots have come here in peace in order to study humanity's history. They're just observing my inventions and paintings and recording them for their own planet's database on us. They're learning about me just as I'm learning about them," Leonardo said.
"Really? What have you learned then?" the Doctor asked as he watched the robots suspiciously.
"They're here to learn all that they can from me for their creator. Someone called Count Grendel from the planet Tara," Leonardo said.
"That's it! Count Grendel! He created robots and androids of all kinds, and once tried to use one to make himself the King of Tara. Romana and I stopped him though," the Doctor said.
"Yes, you did, Doctor, but you made a huge mistake. You didn't kill me. Now it's finally time for my revenge. I did a great deal of research on you, Doctor, and I learned a lot about you and your habits. I knew that if I continuously visited a number of important people in Earth's history on a mission of 'peace' that sooner or later I'd run into you," A sinister looking man with a mustache wearing medieval looking armor who the Doctor instantly recognized as Count Grendel said from the doorway of the workshop.
"Destroy everything here," Count Grendel ordered the robots.
"No!" the Doctor shouted as he rushed forward to stop a robot that was about to destroy the Mona Lisa (one of them anyway) before it was too late.
"Stop," Count Grendel ordered with an evil smile.
"What is this all about, Grendel?" the Doctor said in a furious voice.
"It's quite simple. Either you come with me and let me kill you in a way of my choosing later on or I have my robots here destroy Leonardo's Workshop and completely rewrite Earth's history. It's your decision," Count Grendel said.
"How about I make another decision for him instead?" the Master said as he pulled out his laser screwdriver and fired it at the robot nearest to the Mona Lisa.
To his surprise, the robot held up its hand and deflected the beam right back at him! The Master ducked just in time to keep from being hit by his own attack just as several other robots grabbed him and then went after the others in the Doctor's crew.
The Moment desperately wanted to disintegrate the robots right then and there, but she knew instinctively as part of the Bad Wolf that this was something that she wasn't supposed to mess around with personally. This was one of those moments in time where she had to sit back and watch no matter how much she wanted to intervene instead.
Jenny meanwhile had no such problems. She managed to stay one step ahead of the robots while she attacked them with electromagnetic pulses from her armor's gauntlets that completely disabled them. As Jenny somersaulted across the room shutting down one robot after another, Clara meanwhile began using Venusian Aikido to take the robots apart with a few well-placed blows to all of their joints which caused them to fall to pieces. The Doctor wasn't doing too badly himself as he used his sonic screwdriver to cause the robots to short circuit and explode. The Master wasn't about to be left out of the action either as he quickly freed himself from the robots who were holding him and used his Tissue Compression Eliminator to destroy them instead by shrinking them to such a tiny size that they instantly ceased functioning.
Soon the entire team apart from the Moment were tearing through the robots like tin foil while Count Grendel continued to stand there smiling as if he didn't have a care in the world. Clara noticed this right away and immediately began to wonder why. She knew that it couldn't mean anything good.
Then she knew exactly what was behind that smile as Cobb suddenly appeared next to Clara and grabbed her from behind. Then he teleported away with her before anyone could even see what was happening.
"Now, Doctor, I finally have my revenge. You took away from me a planet, but I took away from you something even more important. I helped to take from you the woman that you love. Revenge complete," Count Grendel said as he too teleported away now.
Minutes later the last of the robots was defeated, and it was only then that the Doctor noticed that Clara was missing and so was Count Grendel. He immediately searched for them both everywhere but couldn't find them.
"Did anyone see what happened?" the Doctor asked in despair.
"No, I'm afraid not, Doctor. I'm so sorry," Leonardo said while the others shook their heads.
"Clara," the Doctor said in despair.
"Don't worry, Doctor. We'll find her together. This Grendel won't have a chance against the two of us working together. I'm definitely willing to temporarily put aside the past for Alura's sake," the Master said.
The Doctor nodded numbly as Jenny said, "That's right, Dad. We'll get her back and she'll be just fine. You'll see."
The Doctor continued to nod but he didn't really hear her. Without Clara there, he felt as if his whole world was crashing down all around him. He was simply too shocked to process anything at the moment.
"Is Mum going to be okay?" Merry asked the Moment in an upset voice.
The Moment picked her up and gave her a kiss on the forehead as she said, "Your Mum is tough, Merry. You know that."
Even Merry, as young as she was, noticed that she wasn't saying either yes or no though. Was she not telling her in order to preserve the future or because she already knew how she would react to the truth? Now she was really worried and the Moment felt like a heel for doing that to her especially after she had only just gotten her back. She had no other choice though. She couldn't chance unintentionally changing the future.
As he stood there in absolute despair, the Doctor truly didn't know what to do for one of the first times in his life. He had no idea where Clara was or what Grendel had done with her. He was going to find out though.
Even if he had to tear the entire universe apart to do it!
Next: The Doctor, the Master, and Jenny go on an all-out search for Clara as they visit the planet Tara looking for her. Will they find any clues there that will lead them in the right direction? Where did Cobb take Clara anyway and why did he take her at all since he's no longer supposed to remember her powers? Plus there will be more with Tish as Count Grendel pays her a little visit too. It seems that the Doctor isn't the only one that he wants revenge on.