CHAPTER 27

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THE DESSERT OF DEATH

As the TARDIS materialized on Kandyworld, Clara was already preparing herself for anything that she might have to face there. The Doctor watched with growing worry as Clara strapped an invisibility watch to her arm, wrapped a miniature force field generator she had jury rigged from some of the TARDIS' components around her waist, and put an extra laser screwdriver she had borrowed from the Master in one of her pockets.

His worry immediately turned to concern as she came back from her room on the TARDIS carrying a large gun that looked more like it belonged to River than to her.

"Where did you get that?" The Doctor demanded in an angry voice.

"Why do you care? I'm not going to use it on Count Grendel if that's what you're worried about. This is for the Kandyman and any other androids or robots that Grendel might have brought along with him. Grendel doesn't get off that easy," Clara said in a dark tone.

"Clara," The Doctor said in a worried voice.

"Don't even tell me that I can't use this, Doctor. I'll bring anything if it will help save Merry. Why are you bothering me about this anyway? You never said anything to River about her guns I bet," Clara said.

"River couldn't help being violent. She was made that way against her will. She slowly learned to overcome it though. You, however, do have a choice, Clara. You can choose to be better than that," The Doctor said.

"I already told you that I wouldn't use it on Grendel. Leave me alone," Clara said in anger as she stormed out of the TARDIS.

"Don't worry. She won't go too far, Professor," Ace said as she saw the worried look on his face.

"How can you be so sure? She loves that little girl with all of her hearts. There's nothing that Clara wouldn't do for her," The Doctor said.

"That's why she won't go too far. She won't want her to see her like that because she loves her," Ace reassured him.

"Sometimes . . . Sometimes I think that I do more damage to the people that I love than any of my enemies possibly could. All I seem to do is turn them into me," The Doctor said in an emotional voice.

"Alura was always dark, Doctor. Maybe you just didn't see it because you always want to see the best in everyone especially her," The Master said as he overheard them.

"She's always had a temper and could be a bit nasty when she was really angry, but she's never picked up a gun before. The only time that I ever saw her use a gun was on the Cybermen," The Doctor said.

"Get over your hang-ups with guns, Doctor. They can be used to save lives too," The Master said.

"Not in my experience," The Doctor said as he briefly looked at Jenny remembering what had happened to her on Messaline.

"Dad, she's hardly General Cobb. She won't do anything that bad. I know she won't. Clara's too good a person to ever go down that road," Jenny reassured him because she realized exactly what he was thinking.

"I used to think that about myself too . . . before the Time War," The Doctor said as he quickly left the TARDIS to go find Clara before she got too far away.

"We'll all have to keep an extra eye on Clara. I don't want her doing something that she'll regret one day either," Jenny said to the Master and Ace with an anxious expression on her face that she had been hiding from her father earlier.

"She won't. She's too much of a goody two-shoes," Ace reassured her.

"Don't be so sure. Just because she prefers not to use violence doesn't mean that she won't," The Master said.

Ace shot him a dirty look when she saw that his words had made Jenny become upset and said, "Well, you're just the life of the party aren't you?"

That was when the Master saw the look on Jenny's face and finally realized what he had done at last. Ace silently motioned for him to say something else as she gave him a glare that he silently thought would have even done the Rani proud.

"Don't listen to me, Jenny. Unlike your father, I always look for the worst in everyone even the people that I'm the closest too. It's a bad habit that I'm trying to break," The Master reassured her.

Jenny began to smile more at his attempt to cheer her up than because she really believed him as she said, "Thanks. I appreciate that especially coming from you."

Then she completely surprised the Master as she suddenly hugged him and kissed his cheek. The Master smiled for a moment before Ace started to laugh.

"Never thought I'd see the day when you'd go soft," Ace said.

"I'm not soft. I'm just as rotten as I ever was and don't you forget it," The Master protested.

"Sure you are except when Clara, Tish, or your little sister here are around. Then you're on your best behavior. Come on, you two. We need to get out there and make sure the bad guys are alright. Hopefully they're all still in one piece and Clara hasn't found them yet," Ace said with a grin as she tried to make Jenny feel better by putting a light-hearted spin on the situation.

Evidently it had at least worked somewhat because Jenny laughed for a brief moment as she put her arm around the Master and led him outside while he continued to give Ace nasty looks. Ace couldn't help but smile at that because that just proved that she was right about the basic nature of their relationship with one another.

As soon as the three of them left the TARDIS however, that light-hearted mood was immediately and brutally shattered.

They saw several broken and extremely charred android limbs, heads, and other assorted pieces of wires and circuitry lying all over the area. The whole place already looked like a hurricane had hit it, and Clara had only been outside for a few minutes. Evidently she had been met by an android reception committee as soon as she had stepped out of the TARDIS and had immediately responded to them in kind.

"It looks like you weren't joking after all," Jenny said to Ace in a quiet voice as she surveyed the damage to the area with a shocked expression on her face.

"I was really hoping that I was for half a second there, Little Sister," Ace said sadly.

Then they heard the sounds of fighting and shouting off in the distance and the Master said, "Hurry! It sounds like she's in trouble."

The three of them ran for several minutes and then finally caught up to the Doctor and Clara to find out that Clara was most definitely not in any trouble whatsoever. They watched in mute fascination now as Clara faced down an entire army of killer androids armed to the teeth with deadly weaponry all by herself.

She destroyed several of the closest ones at once with a few well-placed shots from her gun. Then she used her telekinesis to violently throw some of the other androids into one another or to shove them in the path of the others' guns. She then finished off some more with the laser screwdriver by cutting them neatly into several pieces within a matter of seconds with its deadly beams.

She was basically annihilating an entire army of the deadly machines that the Kandyman and Grendel had obviously left behind as a trap just as easily as if they were made out of Styrofoam. So far they hadn't even made a scratch on her or even stood a chance of laying a hand on her at all for that matter.

The Doctor meanwhile just stood there and watched as the woman that he loved became basically unrecognizable to him. This was a savage, brutal side to Clara that he had never even imagined existed in his wildest nightmares.

The Master actually found himself smiling while he watched this. She reminded him so much of himself at that moment. Perhaps that was why both he and the Doctor had always been so drawn to her ever since they were children.

She could be just as much like him as she was like the Doctor.

"Clara?" Jenny finally said in disbelief as she continued to watch her dearest friend behave so unlike her usual self.

Clara turned and finally noticed Jenny and the others standing there watching her. A look of shame and regret passed over her face for a brief instant. That one moment of hesitation was all that Count Grendel's androids needed to finally score a hit on her.

One of them shot Clara in the arm making her scream out in pain as it immediately went numb.

Clara now turned to look at the android with a furious look on her face as she said, "That was the last mistake that you'll ever make, Metal Boy."

Then she caused the android to explode into a million pieces with a single gesture as she used her telekinetic abilities to completely rip it apart from the inside out. The shrapnel from the obliterated machine then tore several other androids around it to shreds within a matter of moments. Those androids' pieces then were violently thrown into others around them as a result, and this set off a domino effect that eventually toppled and completely destroyed every android in the room in less than two minutes.

"If I had known ahead of time that would have worked out so well, I would have just done that in the first place," Clara said with a small smile.

That smile quickly faded as they all heard the Kandyman's merciless laughter filing the entire area as it was piped through some unseen set of speakers from somewhere nearby. Amazingly enough, the Kandyman didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest by what had just happened.

Then again he was a cold, emotionless machine . . . for the most part anyway.

He could still enjoy the sufferings of others after all and was clearly doing so now as he said, "And here I thought that the Doctor was going to be the one that I had to worry about the most. You love the child very much I take it. Good. I can work with that then. Your concern for her will make you become too distracted in the long run, and that's when you'll make a fatal mistake. A mistake that I hope will not only kill you but will also take both the Doctor and Ace along with you. You see the androids aren't the only thing that I had waiting for you. That was the Count's idea of how to handle you. Would you care to see mine? It's far more inventive I assure you."

"Give me my daughter back or I'll make what I do to you very inventive too when I find you," Clara threatened.

"You won't survive long enough to carry out your threat I'm afraid. Not even a Time Lord can survive what I have cooked up for you and I do mean cooked up. I hope you enjoy chocolate, my dear," The Kandyman said as he ended his transmission with another burst of wicked electronic laughter.

Suddenly a massive torrent of boiling hot chocolate started to pour into the room after a hidden door opened in a wall up ahead. The chocolate was visibly steaming and reminded everyone more of a deadly lava flow than an innocuous beverage.

"I have to admit that this is a new one even for me. I definitely don't want my tombstone to read 'killed by cocoa.' Quickly! Get back to the TARDIS," The Doctor said as he desperately tried to make himself forget just how worried that he was about Clara for a moment in order to calm the others down enough so that they wouldn't rush off in a blind panic and make a costly mistake.

As they all started to run from the oncoming deluge of lethal liquid, Jenny said, "And I didn't think that this whole thing could possibly get any worse."

"When you're traveling with the Doctor, Little Sister, it's always possible for it to get worse not to mention weirder at the same time. There's a perfect example of that in action in fact," Ace said as she pointed to yet another hidden door that was opening up nearby.

This one started to add what looked like powdered cake mix to the chocolate. Clara immediately groaned as she realized the full nature of the sick joke that was being played on her.

As if to make sure that she knew exactly what it was, the Kandyman spoke once again as he said, "The Count tells me that you have a certain fondness for soufflés. I knew right then that death by soufflé would be the only appropriate way to deal with you. Now that I've added the mix to the chocolate I have to put it into an oven, correct? I do hope that I'm getting this right. I so like coming up with new and exciting recipes."

The room started to get noticeably hotter now which caused the Doctor to immediately realize, "He's turned this entire area into one of his ovens. He's going to bake us alive."

"I will not be made into a soufflé!" The Master protested as he continued to run for his life.

"I bet that's the first time in history anyone's ever said that," Ace said with a grin.

"It's coming too fast. We're never going to make it back to the TARDIS in time," Jenny noted.

"Then it's a good thing that I came isn't it? Let's redirect that toxic sludge with a few well-placed charges of Nitro-9," Ace said with an evil grin as she pulled several cans of homemade Nitro-9 from the obviously bigger on the inside pockets of her jacket while she ran.

She then hastily tossed the cans behind her and they instantly went off on contact creating massive holes in the floor behind them. The deadly mix immediately went into the holes and was redirected away from them just in time.

"Told you that I'd come in handy," Ace said with a pleased look on her face.

"You're still carrying Nitro-9 I see despite how dangerous it is," The Doctor said in disapproval.

"Lay off of her, Chin Boy. You actually can use a deadly weapon without becoming one yourself you know?" Clara said with an undisguised hidden level of meaning to her words.

"I certainly hope so," The Doctor said sadly.

"Stop worrying about me. It's not I've suddenly become the Master. No offense, Koschei," Clara said.

"None taken. I'm not sure that even I'd want to risk making you angry at the moment," The Master said.

"See? Even the Prince of Darkness thinks that you've gone too far," The Doctor said.

"I didn't say that. I just said that I didn't want to make her angry at me while she's in this state of mind," The Master said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Clara asked with a frown.

"It means that you're too angry to see what you're doing. You're really scary right now, Clara," Jenny said.

Clara's face softened as she said, "I don't mean to be. Not to you anyway. The only ones that should be scared of me are the ones who took Merry. Now they should really be worried right about now. Or at least they're about to be anyway."

"Why? What do you have planned to do next?" The Doctor asked even as he felt as if he wasn't really sure that he wanted to know.

Clara used the laser screwdriver to scan the immediate area and smiled as she said, "You'll see. I thought that I was right. There's a network of tunnels through this whole building that isn't just for piping in deadly liquids. They also lead straight to Grendel and Merry if you know how to follow them. I can detect both of them somewhere in the building. I sensed Grendel's thoughts running a mile a minute earlier, Chinny, so I knew that he was somewhere nearby. He's positively terrified right now and you know what? He should be."

She had said that last part with such malice that it made the Doctor visibly shudder. If Clara noticed this at all, she didn't show it as she turned to one of the walls and began firing on it with her gun. It quickly became apparent to everyone that she was trying to burn a hole in it so that she could access the tunnels.

The Master now joined in to help her with his own laser screwdriver while Ace threw her Nitro towards the wall and Jenny used her armor's gauntlets to fire a blast of energy at it. Working together the four of them soon blew an enormous chunk out of the thick wall just big enough for them to see the maze of tunnels that lay beyond it.

"It used to be that I did all of the cool explodey wodey stuff," The Doctor said as he pouted in a half-hearted manner in order to cover up the growing sense of unease that he felt.

"Must you constantly spout nonsense in this incarnation?" The Master said in an irritated voice.

"Yeah, he really must, Blondie. It's in his contract," Clara joked as she briefly smiled back at the Doctor.

The Doctor smiled back as he desperately tried to find some hidden hope in that smile of hers. Did this mean that she wasn't too far gone after all?

Clara immediately rushed ahead through the tunnels and turned invisible while she ran as she finally made use of the invisibility watch. The Doctor's sense of dread now started to slowly return once more.

Exactly what did she have planned that needed invisibility anyway?

The Doctor, the Master, and Jenny since they were all Time Lords were unaffected by the watch so they continued to follow Clara while Ace dutifully followed them even though she couldn't see Clara in the slightest. Clara had soon led them all through the labyrinth of tunnels in less than five minutes by using her screwdriver to find the quickest path to Merry.

As soon as they arrived at their destination the tunnel opened up into what was obviously a huge central command center filled with cameras and monitoring equipment. They saw now that the Kandyman had run the entire attack from there.

Where was he now though? The room seemed to be empty at the moment despite Clara detecting Merry's life signs emanating from it along with those of several other people.

"It's another trap. It must be," The Doctor said as they quickly looked around the area and found nothing and no one there.

I know that she's here somewhere, Doctor. Not only can the screwdriver detect her but I can feel her presence somewhere nearby. I'm not about to leave this room without her. You can count on that. More importantly so can she. Clara replied telepathically while she stayed silent and invisible.

Suddenly she yelled out in triumph as she said, "Got you!"

She began pounding on an unseen opponent as she unleashed a devastating series of kicks and punches against them. The others all looked at one another in confusion for a moment while privately wondering if Clara had gone mad until they suddenly started to hear a series of agonizing screams.

"No! Stop!" Count Grendel pleaded as he became visible now along with a tied up and gagged Merry who was lying on the floor nearby looking up at Clara with silent relief in her eyes.

They could also see several tied up hostages beside her. They were obviously the ones who the Kandyman had threatened earlier. They too had been invisible apparently.

"I knew I detected a series of weird light bending rays in the area on the TARDIS' sensors. I figured that meant that you were trying to keep yourself and Merry invisible so I modified this watch so that it would not only make myself invisible to you but would also allow me to see you too. Give up now and I'll let you walk away on your own two feet, Noble Boy," Clara threatened even as she checked Merry over to see if she was alright while she untied her.

Grendel fell to his knees in pain as he said, "Yes, yes! I surrender."

Instead of looking relieved or happy though, Clara still looked furious as she said, "Sniveling coward. Stealing little kids and other innocent people and hiding behind them. You're despicable."

She gestured toward the Count and he began to scream as she said in an emotionless voice, "You won't get away with it though."

"No, don't!" Grendel screamed as he suddenly drew a gun on himself and pointed it at his own head.

"Stop it, Clara!" The Doctor shouted as he realized that Clara was mind controlling the Count.

"Mum, please. I'm okay. Please don't do this," Merry pleaded as she watched this in shock.

Grendel slowly started to squeeze the trigger now even as the others shouted at Clara to stop. Just before he pulled the trigger back all the way though his hand suddenly let go of the gun, and it dropped harmlessly to the floor.

Grendel shivered in terror as Clara said, "That sense of terror that you feel right now is exactly what I've felt ever since your playmate stole my little girl, Noble Boy. Remember that the next time that you even think of trying to touch her or anyone else that I love again. Got it?"

Grendel nodded slowly as he said, "I – I won't even c – come near you again."

"You'd better not. Now where's the Kandyman?" Clara demanded.

"Right here," The evil robot said as he suddenly turned visible right behind her and wrapped a powerful arm around her throat while using his other hand to punch her in the bread basket instantly knocking the wind out of her.

He then effortlessly tossed the stunned Time Lady aside as he said, "You were so busy looking for your precious daughter that you never even noticed me slowly sneaking up behind you. That is what happens when you let anger take control of your mind. You become reckless and sloppy."

The Kandyman began to reach for a lever in the wall that would do who knows what when Ace suddenly tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Tell me about it, Sweet Cheeks."

Then before he could react she stuffed a huge can of Nitro-9 straight down the robot's throat. She ran away from him just seconds before the can violently exploded and turned him into a pile of melted circuitry and candy slush on the floor.

"Ace!" Ace cried out in triumph.

"Clara, are you alright?" The Doctor asked as he helped his fiancé off the floor.

Clara could see the look of panic and concern on his face as he did so and knew that she had put it there. It was more than she could bear that she had put him through so much pain in such a short amount of time.

"I'm sorry. I was just so worried about her. I just wanted him to know how I felt. I would never have actually done it," Clara said as she burst into tears.

The Doctor smiled with relief now as he said, "I'm glad to hear it. For a while there, I wasn't so sure about that."

"Neither was I," Clara finally admitted as she gave the Doctor a tender kiss while he held her close to him.

"Well, I hope that you learned something here today, scumbag. Don't mess with Mama Bear especially when she can turn your own brain against you," Ace said to Grendel as she gave him a stern look.

"I never want to see any of you again. You're all completely mad. The Doctor's actually the sanest one in the bunch," Grendel said in an emotional voice.

"I am? I really need to work on that then. Can't have that," The Doctor said sounding almost offended.

"Oh, shut up and kiss me again, Fez Boy," Clara said with a smile that covered up just a trace of lingering emotion that clearly told the Doctor that she was still quite upset.

"Gladly," The Doctor said as he kissed her again and softly stroked her hair to let her know that everything was alright now.

Merry meanwhile held onto Jenny's hand tightly as she said, "She's going to be alright isn't she?"

Jenny nodded without any hesitation as she said, "Yeah, she'll be just fine. Whenever they kiss like that, they're always okay."

"I think I preferred it better when she was all dark. There were less disgusting displays of affection that way," The Master said with a frown.

"Pipe down, Dark Boy, or I'll do to you what I did to the Kandyman," Ace threatened.

"You wouldn't dare," The Master said.

Ace smiled at him evilly and the Time Lord nodded as he said, "You would."

"Oh, yeah. Now shut up and let them have this moment together. They deserve it after what they've gone through today," Ace said with a smug grin on her face.

Next: Tish returns as her work with the government draws the Doctor, Clara, and the others straight into trouble in the form of . . . time traveling Nazis?! What's going on here and why does their leader seem to know the Doctor? It seems like ever since Marion left that it's been nothing but trouble for our little group, huh? Will Clara and Merry ever have a quiet moment together?