AN: SO, I had this finished and in my document manager ready to upload a week before Halloween, and then just forgot and thought I updated! So sorry about that! Happy belated Halloween on November 11th!

Trick or Treat

4

Clara Oswald was drenched head to foot in blood. Wearing white, her face, hair, and most of her clothes were stained deep crimson. She was stacking buffet food on a paper plate, quite proud of her haul of party rings and sausage rolls.

"Why don't we have any mini sandwiches?" she asked, Sarah Pickman lingering next to her. Sarah was fighting with Kyle Chapel again and he was hiding on the other side of the school hall with Terrance Baxter, the other teacher vying very unprofessionally for Sarah's affection. "What kind of disco doesn't have mini sandwiches?"

"Can't believe you're eating buffet food," said Sarah, "It's not hygienic."

"It's fine, it's from Asda," said Clara, "It comes in a packet."

"I'm holding out for the chips."

"There are going to be chips!?" she exclaimed, half a party ring in her mouth, "I've got too many sausage rolls… I didn't account for the chips…" Clara turned away from the table to look across the hall, done out in Halloween decorations with obnoxious strobe lighting flashing overhead. I Put a Spell on You was blaring very loudly overhead.

"…Terry's leering at me again," said Sarah.

"You sure? Maybe he's leering at Evelyn," said Clara, nodding at Evelyn Stark the art teacher, who was spinning about in the middle of the room in a floaty dress, imagining she was Stevie Nicks.

"Why would you say that? Do you think men don't want to leer at me?"

"I… sure, I mean, you're very… I'd leer at you," said Clara, not sure how she'd got stuck in this line of conversation.

"…Thanks," said Sarah a little smugly, like that was a compliment. Clara went back to her party rings, displeased.

"Look what I found!" the Doctor shouted, practically bouncing towards Clara she was so excited. For a minute, Clara thought she might have found the Kandyman tied up and deactivated around the back of the school she was so happy. But she'd actually found a few slices of cold pizza, which she then shoved into her mouth as quickly as possible. "This is amazing. I love discos," she said through chewed food. She was dressed in a bright green onesie.

"I'm glad you're happy, sweetheart."

"No pet names at the disco," Sarah snapped at them. Clara rolled her eyes.

"Nobody can hear us, they're listening to Screamin' Jay."

"This is such a banger," said the Doctor, "We played this at our wedding."

"That's it," said Sarah, "I'm going to go give him a piece of my mind." And she took off to walk around the side of the room, avoiding the dance floor full of lairy teenagers. Clara knew they were getting alcohol from somewhere but had yet to find the source; some of them were definitely drunk.

"Are you sure Carrie isn't a bit too on-the-nose?" the Doctor asked Clara, stealing one of her sausage rolls and wrapping it up in her cold pizza slice. She ate it without flinching.

"It's a classic costume," said Clara, defending her choices, "And you're dressed as an alien." The onesie had an attached hood with black alien-shaped eyes in it, but she was also wearing oval sunglasses for good measure. Clara had no idea how much she could see.

"It's ironic," she said, "And it's not as violent. I didn't have to pour a bucket of fake blood on myself."

"I didn't make a mess in the garden just for you to mock my costume."

"You look like you've been in a car accident."

"Maybe I have been in a car accident, what do you know?" Clara quipped. The Doctor dropped the subject. "Sarah told me they're bringing chips out in a bit."

"Chips!?" she exclaimed, "Are you gonna have room for chips with all those party rings?"

"Honestly, I was just thinking the same thing. It is a concern… where do you think they're keeping their booze?"

"Who?"

"The kids."

"The kids!? They're not allowed to drink, they're under eighteen."

"…Yeah, okay," said Clara, unconvinced by her naivety. "Steph might know. Maybe she'll tell me."

"Ask Mattie."

"No, I wouldn't ask her to betray her peers like that. And I trust her not to drink, anyway," said Clara.

"It's Halloween, let them live a little."

"Hang on…" she pointed across the room, "Kyle's got someone." Kyle was reprimanding Sam Howell just outside the boys' toilets, waving a bottle of Schnapps under his nose.

"Would you look at that, our jobs are done," said the Doctor. Kyle dragged Sam out of the room into the corridor by his elbow to tell him off properly. Clara wondered how many detentions he was going to get because of this incident, smuggling alcohol into a school disco. She doubted he was the only one, but at least somebody had been caught.

"Hopefully Sam flushed his weed. He'll have hell to pay if Kyle catches him with that," said Clara, "Can't really flush a bottle of Schnapps though. Because of the glass."

Elsewhere in the hall, Matilda was lurking awkwardly in a corner with a cup of squash, forced to hang around with Steph and Hannah. Steph was dressed as the laziest witch imaginable, wearing only a pointed hat, while Hannah had gone to quite a lot of effort to dress like an astronaut – she even had a helmet. It was never fun being around both of them at the same time, but at the moment all three of them were preoccupied with Sam getting harangued by Mr Chapel for bringing alcohol to the party.

"See, his mistake was bringing such a big bottle," said Steph knowingly, "You want to get the mini bottles that they have on planes. I've got a Smirnoff in my shoe right now."

"In a bottle, or just loose?" Mattie asked dryly.

"Swirling about in my sock, mate," said Steph, "I'll ring it out for you if you want? Sock shots."

"I'm gonna be sick…"

"What happened to Aki? Did she get murdered by the demon?" said Steph, completely ignoring Hannah who was trying to find out if she was serious about sneaking vodka into the disco.

"Shut up. She had to help her dad with the shop tonight." Somewhat predictably, Aki had bailed on another large social event; no pictures of her costume would reach Esther.

"I'm surprised you haven't ditched since you're so scared of the demon," said Steph.

"There's no demon!" she exclaimed again.

"Whatever." Hannah jabbed her in the waist. "What?"

"Do you really have vodka?" she persisted.

"In my boot I do," she said, "Got a bottle of Jägermeister in my bra. Do you want a bit? You'll have to get it for me."

"Unbelievable…" Matilda muttered.

"Uh…" Hannah faltered. "I don't think getting drunk at a school disco is a good idea."

"You can always take my bra off and then decide afterwards if you want to have a drink?" Steph leant on the wall to talk to her. Hannah stared at her. Apparently, that was all Steph needed to say, and only seconds elapsed between Steph's glib delivery and the pair of them making a beeline for the toilets without a thought for what Matilda was going to do. She didn't have Aki or Steph anymore, and not even Hannah Beckett.

She was beginning to think that school was overrated. These were the kinds of experiences she always thought she was missing out on, not being allowed to attend school for her entire life up until that September, but it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. By the buffet table at the back of the hall, she could see the Doctor and Clara talking quietly to each other, observing the room and trying to eat quite a hefty portion of party rings. She wasn't seriously considering bailing on the actual disco and going to talk to them, was she…?

"Buffet's running low on brains, right?" someone addressed her and made her jump. It was Jakub Kaczmarek.

"Sorry?"

"Because you're dressed as a zombie," he pointed out.

"…Oh, right," she said. Jake never talked to her. "I heard a rumour that they're bringing out chips later."

"Is Aki not here?"

"She couldn't make it."

"And where's Steph got off to?"

"Oh, Steph's getting off. In the present tense. She's in the loo with Hannah and some mini bottles of liquor, apparently."

"You know Michael Carpenter in Year 13?" Jake asked.

"Uh, no."

"Well, his dad owns an offy, he's nicked a load of stock and he's been flogging it in the carpark. It's where Sam got that Schnapps and Steph's got her miniatures," he explained.

"What did you get?" she asked.

"I'm an upstanding citizen," he said, "Didn't get anything."

"Really?" she asked incredulously. She didn't quite believe him.

"No, you're right. Getting shitfaced at an under eighteens school disco is just the way I want to spend my Friday night," he joked, "To be honest, I just don't have any money left. Already had to buy some, uh… recreational herb."

"Oh, sure."

"Which I didn't bring with me. For the record."

"You wanted to be sober for this event?"

"I mean, that's the best way to enjoy these things," he said, looking out at a sea of teenagers doing the Macarena. "Who'm I dressed as?" he challenged when she didn't know what to say. She didn't know why he was talking to her; just because Sam was being told off elsewhere? She squinted at him in the darkness; he was wearing a leather jacket, a t-shirt, and a strange cap.

"Marlon Brando," she said. He was surprised.

"Can't believe you knew that."

"I like old films," she said. Of course, it helped that The Wild One was a key symbol of the 1950s zeitgeist.

"More than just Romero?"

"Romero's a classic. The Oswalds watch a lot of old films."

"Really? Which ones?"

"I guess a lot of Hitchcock."

"Kind of basic."

She laughed, "That's a bold opinion."

"I mean, Hitchcock peaked with The Lodger."

"What? That's probably the worst thing anyone's ever said."

"Name a better silent film."

"Nosferatu."

"Pfft," he scoffed, "Stolen."

"So is The Lodger, it's just Jack the Ripper. Plus, it has a happy ending."

"Do you not like happy endings?"

"I think it ruins the tone."

"So what's Mrs Oswald's favourite Hitchcock?" he asked.

"Clara likes Rear Window. The Doctor prefers The Birds."

"What about you?"

"Vertigo."

"That's a cliché."

"But it doesn't have a happy ending," she pointed out, "That's why I like it. When she falls to her death, it's satisfying."

"Wow. I wouldn't have come over to talk to you if I knew you were so depressing, I would've just gone to do the Macarena with them," he nodded at the crowds, "Why aren't you joining in?"

"I don't know it," she confessed. He looked surprised. "Why are you talking to me, exactly?"

"Steph's not here to tell me to fuck off. And you have the best costume of anybody here. Except maybe Hannah, she went all out as… who's she supposed to be?"

"She's Valentina Tereshkova."

"Who?"

"First woman to fly into space."

"And you just knew that?"

"No, she's had to explain it to everyone she's seen tonight, including me."

"Uh-oh," he said.

"What?"

"It's the cops." She was half-expecting it to actually be the police approaching them, after so many horrible crimes over the last two days, but it wasn't. It was just the Oswalds. They'd run out of food.

"Probably best not to tell them about your 'herb'," she advised. He shushed her. "What's up?" she asked them when they were close enough. The song had changed, it was now Thriller, and yet again people were dancing in uniform.

"We just noticed the distinct absence of Stefani and Hannah, and were wondering where they've got to," said Clara.

"Why does it matter where they are?" Jake asked her.

"Reflects badly on us to let students cop off with each other at school events," said Clara, "So? Where've they gone?"

"Toilets," said Mattie. Jake shot her a disapproving look. "What? They ditched me." Clara left to go and deal with them.

"Snitching on your peers to an old fogey like that? C'mon, Matts, where's your integrity?" the Doctor jibed.

"Well, Steph's pissed me off today. She didn't do her bit for the science thing, in the end, so me and Aki got in trouble with Mr McCloud."

"Uh-huh… and what were you two talking about just now?"

"Jake was saying he thinks Hitchcock went downhill after The Lodger."

The Doctor laughed, "Oh really? And what's your opinion on Blackmail, Jakub? First British talkie deserves a look-in, don't you think?"

"It's not as atmospheric as The Lodger."

"I mean, I get that, but on the other hand, could you imagine if they'd made The Lodger around twenty years later? Pure noir. I can't get enough chiaroscuro. Would've been an improvement."

"It doesn't work as noir," he argued, "It would have Welles to compete with if it did."

"A Welles fanboy, huh? What's your poison? A Touch of Evil? Citizen Kane?"

"Citizen Kane is overrated."

"Damn! They should lock you up in a laboratory for testing," said the Doctor, grinning.

"Well – it's empty, isn't it? The whole film. It doesn't have a satisfying end."

"I think that's the point. Charlie didn't have a satisfying life. Sure, he had money, but he didn't have a whole lot else. That's what Rosebud means." Jakub rolled his eyes. "I have the original snow globe from that movie at home somewhere. Got it from an old buddy of mine." Unbeknownst to both Jakub and Matilda, that old buddy had been Orson Welles himself. "I'm digging the Brando vibes, though; can you do the voice?"

"I'm not gonna embarrass myself by trying."

"A shame; if you had that and a motorcycle, you'd be the real deal."

They were interrupted by shouting from the vicinity of the girls' toilets nearby, and very promptly Steph and Hannah burst out as though they'd been attacked. It took all three of them by surprise – what had happened? Clara followed in their wake a few seconds later, but it didn't look like she'd actually been in there to talk to them. Much to Mattie's annoyance, Steph was coming straight toward her.

"Mattie! It was the demon, I swear!"

"There is no… for god's sake…" she groaned.

"Seriously, we were in there, all the lights started flashing on and off, the doors were banging – maybe the toilet is haunted!" Steph exclaimed.

"Something did happen…" said Hannah, looking wholly embarrassed.

"What's all this about a demon?" Clara interrupted loudly, talking over the music. "Would this be anything to do with what you were doing with the washing up bowl the other night, by any chance?"

"You-!?" Steph stammered, "I mean – it was just a stupid game! That's it! I can't even be here! I need to go outside!" She was very flustered and took off for the exit. Hannah followed her. After a moment's hesitation, Jakub left too, to check his sister was okay. That left Mattie alone once again and hanging out with her teachers. But now she had a bone to pick with them.

"It was you, wasn't it?" she asked Clara.

"What do you mean?" Clara pretended to be oblivious.

"You were eavesdropping – you've been doing all the weird stuff. Knocking books off shelves, turning lights on and off," Mattie accused her. She played dumb for a few more moments.

"…Yeah, okay, it was me. I heard Steph's ritual." Mattie shook her head. "Maybe now you'll all think twice about dabbling with things like that. There are plenty of malevolent forces out there who'll take advantage of weird rituals."

"Like you?"

"Y'know, some people do call me the Phantom."

"Hey…" said the Doctor.

"Who calls you that?" Mattie asked in disbelief.

"People do!" Clara protested, "The Shadow does. It's a thing that Ravenwood and I share."

"Clara…" the Doctor interrupted.

"Like our pen name."

"Coo," she reiterated louder.

"Don't call me that while we're working," Clara said, alarmed.

"Look!" she hissed, pointing.

Someone, or rather, something, had just entered the school hall. It came in through one of the back doors carrying a strange piece of equipment, but there was no denying what the creature actually was: the Kandyman. The same Kandyman from the crime scene photos, the Kandyman from the pumpkin fame. The Kandyman from Terra Alpha.

"This is bad," said Mattie, "This is a school. That thing is a serial killer and it's in a school! Why is it just here!?"

"It must have… been hired as an entertainer, or something. Don said it has a DBS check and he hired it as a clown, so… maybe?" said Clara uncertainly, "But how would it know where to find us?"

"Maybe it's a coincidence," said the Doctor as the Kandyman got up on stage, "Halloween disco full of kids is just the sort of thing to get my attention. I wouldn't put it past him."

"Then – shit, what should we do?" Clara hissed.

"Alright, um – Mattie, go pull the fire alarm to get everyone out of the building, then make sure you stay outside, keep an eye on the doors, and let us know if anything happens." Mattie nodded and left to do this, the fire alarm on the other side of the room, "You stay here and keep an eye on him. I'm gonna go get the water guns out of the van."

It was raining heavily once again that night. The windows on Benji's car were steaming up on the inside as he drove towards Turing High as quickly as he could. The ice cream van had been sighted in the vicinity by some patrolling constables when he was already on his way there to see if 'Andy K. Man' really was going to show up at the school twice in a row. It seemed he was, so time was of the essence. Benji didn't know what he was planning but was convinced that whoever was in that costume was responsible for the murders of Dennis Carter, the Jane Doe in the field, and probably Daniel Nelson. Getting him out of a school full of children was Benji's top priority, above discovering what the Oswalds had to do with all this.

He was met with an unexpected sight when he entered the carpark, however; it was full of staff and children, all flooding onto the tarmac. He had to honk his horn to get them to move so he could draw closer to the builder, before the crowd got so thick he eventually gave up and clambered out of the car, hunching his shoulders against the rain again. Over the tops of heads, he spied the ice cream van he'd seen driving away the previous night. Once again he went to find an adult, a member of staff. None of them were the same ones as last night. Closest to the door was a tall red-headed woman with two men by her side, both of them barking borderline incoherent orders at the kids. One telling them to line up, one telling them to get in groups.

"Excuse me, could you tell me what's going on here?" Benji asked the woman because she seemed like the most sensible. She was alarmed.

"Who are you?"

"Detective Sergeant Speyer," he said, taking out his wallet to flash his ID and badge. "I've got a warrant for the arrest of an Andy K. Man. We believe he might be a person of interest in a series of violent crimes, and that he was hired to work here at this disco."

"You mean-? The Candy Man? In the funny suit?"

"Yes, that's him. Could I get your name?"

"It's Sarah, Sarah Pickman. This is Kyle Chapel and Terrance Baxter," she indicted her colleagues. "He's still inside, I think. He just got here when the fire alarm went."

"There's a fire?"

"Probably just a prank," said Chapel.

"Or someone with a spliff in the toilets," added Baxter.

"Right…" said Benji, "Have emergency services been notified?"

"It's an automatic system," said Pickman.

"Who else is still inside the building? Along with this Candy Man?"

"Well…" she looked around, then frowned, "I can't see Clara, or – have either of you seen Clara? Or the Doctor?" Chapel and Baxter shook their heads. "They must still be inside."

"I'll go see what's going on, make sure you keep the kids outside and when the fire brigade show up, tell them to contact the Brighton Police dispatcher for the details on our suspect, alright?" he didn't wait for her answer before hurrying off into the building.

The fire alarm had tripped the sprinklers, and the halls were now soaked. Benji was forced to battle through more wet weather because of this, both indoors and outdoors, trying to find his way to the main hall. It was a challenge trying not to slip in those dark, slicked hallways. He headed towards the music and the strobe lights, both still continuing despite the fire alarm going off, and crashed into the hall. He had barged in on a showdown of sorts. At one end of the room was the Candy Man, that very same costume he had seen yesterday morning in the back room of Carter's Confectionary, and at the other were Clara and the Doctor, dressed in gaudy costumes of their own.

"How nice of you to finally accept my invitations, Doctor," the Candy Man said in a high-pitched, whiny sort of voice, descending the steps at the side of the stage.

"Invitations? That's what you call murdering a string of innocent people?" the Doctor countered.

"I was just having fun," he said.

"Why don't you tell me how you got here, huh? There's a couple hundred lightyears and more than a few centuries between you and I, Kandyman." It was all one word? And what was she talking about?

"Assassinations are a lucrative business for someone of my disposition. It wasn't hard to find a vortex manipulator."

"It never is…" she muttered, "Who rebuilt you? You were melted on Terra Alpha. Nothing more than a metal skeleton."

"An admirer of Helen A opted to rebuild me to Gilbert M's exact specifications, he wanted me to kill his enemies in business. I thought that didn't sound like a lot of fun, so I killed him and went off on my own."

"Seems even the future is overrun with Thatcherites… of course someone rebuilt a thing like you. I guess kitsch was in fashion again." He wasn't happy about that.

"You're very hard to track down, with this habit of changing your face, Doctor. But the arrogance is always the same."

"So they always tell me. I think it's charming."

"Where is your assistant?"

"Ace is safe and sound. You'll never find her. Got a new one now, this is Clara," she introduced, "She might not have Ace's knack for explosives, but she's got one for a whole lot of others."

"Is that a compliment?" Clara asked her unsurely.

"I'll get back to you on that," said the Doctor. "So, then. Here I am. Right where you want me. What're you gonna do? I don't see any big, Fondant Surprise tubes in here."

"I have a mobile fondant dispenser now, Doctor," said the Kandyman, lifting up his arm. Benji was horrified to witness him reaching over and twisting his own hand all the way around, recoiling at the sight. But what had they been talking about earlier? Him being a metal skeleton, melted and rebuilt? Where his hand had been there was now just a hollow tube.

"Uh-oh," said the Doctor, just as a vivid pink liquid came squirting forth towards them. They ducked, as did Benji, to get away from the torrent of whatever-it-was. Even with the sprinklers going on full, the substance bubbled and boiled on the floor of the hall, melting it underfoot.

"Will one of you please tell me what the fuck is going on?" he demanded as Clara pushed over one of the buffet tables, knocking the food to the floor, and they crouched down behind it. He didn't think much of its chances for withstanding whatever the Kandyman was spewing at them.

"What the-!? When did you get here!?" the Doctor gawked at him. Clara, too, hadn't noticed him come in.

"Just now! I've got a warrant for his arrest, in connection with the murders you two just can't stop yourselves getting involved in!"

"Okay, here's the thing – this guy's got a bit of a grudge against me and an old friend of mine, Ace, and he's tracked me down and was killing those people to lure me out and get revenge, that's the headlines," said the Doctor quickly.

"Come out, Doctor!" Kandyman called in his obnoxious trill of a voice, "I know where you are!" He was approaching them slowly.

"Okay, this is bad news if he can spray fondant out of his arm now," said the Doctor.

"Fondant?" asked Speyer.

"It's molten candy, okay? Look, he's robot, a crazy robot," she said.

"That's impossible, robots aren't that advanced," said Benji.

"I really don't care if you believe me, I care about stopping this moron from killing a whole school. Cover me, Coo."

"Cover-? Where are you going!?"

"I've got some gadgets in the van."

"Do you have the keys?"

"Got my screwdriver!" she said, jumping to her feet. Clara peered over the table, the Kandyman almost on them. As the Doctor ran for the doors out, the Kandyman raised his arm and sprayed another torrent of molten candy. To Benji's shock, Clara held up a hand towards the candy and it appeared to be blasted out of the way of the fleeing Doctor as if by an unseen force. The Kandyman was forced to retreat from his own weaponry. The Doctor made it through the doors and left.

"You're seriously telling me that's a robot?" Benji asked Clara.

"Yes, it's a robot, it's an executioner from a human colony in the future," she said.

"It's what?"

"Look, this is a lot to dump on somebody at once at a very intense time, and no offence, but you're in the police so I basically don't trust you whatsoever."

"I take some offence to that," he said.

"Come out now, children!" the Kandyman called. Another wave of fondant came, straight for the plastic table. As predicted, it melted through and their cover was ruined.

"Run, run!" Clara ordered, taking off towards the doors.

"Where to!? We can't go outside where all the kids are!" he argued. More fondant was shot at them, and again Clara held up her hand and it bounded off the very air as if she had a forcefield.

"This way, this way," she said, turning right, the opposite direction to the exterior when they escaped from the hall. The good thing about being a lumbering robot made of sweets was that the Kandyman wasn't the fastest foe, which gave them enough time to duck into the last door in the corridor. It was a science room with tall desks big enough to block what was behind them from view. Clara dragged Benji behind the furthest one to wait for the Doctor to return. "How exactly did you know he would be here?"

"I saw him here yesterday."

"And you make a habit of lurking around schools?"

"No, my daughter goes to school here, she's in Year 7. Katie Fuentes. She says you're her favourite teacher."

"Really? That's nice. She's very bright, for what it's worth. You should be proud."

"I am, thanks…" he said awkwardly.

"So? What's the rest of your story?"

"I happened to be here collecting her from the disco, and I saw this 'Kandyman' driving away in an ice cream van. I recognised it from the crime scene photos, thought it was just a bloke in a costume."

"He's got a lot of people duped that way, I wouldn't worry about it," said Clara quietly.

"Come out and play with me!" the Kandyman called loudly from outside the room. The sprinklers stopped.

"Why were you at all the crime scenes if that thing doesn't know who you are?"

"Coincidence," she whispered, "The Doctor said he's doing sweet-themed murders. Ice cream van, sweet shop owner, pumpkin farm – all themed. I just happened to be in the vicinity because I was driving Aki and Steph home, like I told you. By the way, you can't really tell the police about this, like, at all."

"I have crimes I need to solve," he hissed.

"If we dispatch the murderer, then it won't-" she was cut off by the Kandyman pushing the door to the classroom open.

"I can smell you in here, children," said the Kandyman. Clara rolled her eyes. There was no way he could smell them; he didn't have a nose.

"What's your wife planning on doing, exactly?" Benji lowered his voice as much as he could.

"Nothing substantial, she's got a water gun with some lemonade in it, apparently that'll stick him to the floor. Not that that'll help us when he has that fuck-off candy cannon in his arm."

"…You say I can't tell the police about this?"

"Yes, under no conditions," she snapped. The Kandyman could definitely hear them, and walked through the middle of the desks, checking them all one by one.

"Well, I might have one or two things that I can't tell the police about myself," he said.

"Like what?" she asked. He didn't wait to explain. Instead, he stood up and gave away their hiding place, Clara cursing behind him.

"Are you ready to play with the Kandyman?"

"Are you programmed to sound like a paedo, or what?" Clara quipped.

"I like to have fun with people of all ages, not just children."

"Totally still sounds like something a paedo would say, mate." The Kandyman was so annoyed by that that he lifted his 'candy-cannon' again and pointed it directly at Benji. But like Clara Oswald and the Kandyman himself, Benji Speyer had some tricks up his sleeve. Before the Kandyman even knew what hit him, Benji held up both of his hands and hoped that what he was about to do would work for once.

It did.

Blasts of bright green energy burst out of his palms, straight for the Kandyman's torso. Clara stood up to witness this, the concentrated energy beams pulverising the Kandyman all the way through. It took a lot for Benji to do that, and he dropped his arms after just a few seconds. But it had done the job. A circular hole had been burned through the Kandyman's innards, and sure enough, they were metallic and tubular rather than blood and guts. He really was a robot. Destroyed beyond repair, he let out a high-pitched wail and there was a noise like a small explosion. His head began to smoke, and he went toppling backwards, smashing apart on the floor in the middle of the science classroom.

Clara stared at the Kandyman, then at Benji, then back at the Kandyman. Then she pointed at him.

"Oh my god," she said, "You're a Manifest. You're a Manifest and your eyes didn't turn silver – which means you aren't just a Manifest, you're unregistered."

"…Yeah. Maybe a bit. And I know you are, too. You did something when he was trying to shoot us."

"Telekinesis," she said stiffly.

"Manifests can't be teachers," he said.

"They can't join the police, either."

Someone kicked the door down. It was the Doctor, two water guns bundled in her arms. She stopped to take in the scene when she saw the smouldering wreck of the Kandyman on the floor.

"…What did I miss?" she asked.

"The detective here is an unregistered Manifest who can shoot energy beams out of his hands," Clara said, "Killed the Kandyman dead."

"Mm, I doubt he's dead, probably has a black box in there somewhere… we'd better see what your sister makes of him. She's the AI expert," said the Doctor.

"Sorry, but what's actually happening, hm? Who are you?" Benji implored.

Clara and the Doctor exchanged a look with each other.

"We can't trust him, Coo. He's a cop."

"But he won't be if news that he's a Manifest gets out," said Clara.

"Are you blackmailing me? A police officer?" Benji demanded.

"It's not blackmail," she said, "It's mutually assured destruction. My job's gone too if anyone finds out I'm a Manifest, or that she's…" she nodded at her wife.

"She's what, exactly?"

"Ugh, fine. But this is a bad idea," said the Doctor, then she turned to Benji, "I'm an alien, alright?"

"Isn't the costume a bit on the nose, in that case? An alien and telekinetic Carrie?" he asked.

"It was funny! I'm an alien from a planet billions of lightyears away, and also a time traveller. But I don't think now is the time for this. We've got fire engines waiting outside and this thing in here. Plus, how do we explain the mess of candy in the hall?"

"…I know," Clara put her hands together, "We just call the TARDIS now, dump the Kandyman on there, then use it to drop ourselves outside about five minutes ago, join everyone out there just after you ran back in here, and give ourselves alibis. Helix can wipe all the cameras remotely."

"So we're taking this guy on the TARDIS now? Great, that's just great. A cop, on my TARDIS…"

"No, he should go out the front now to liaise with the fire department. They can just write it off as a strange, unexplained event. God knows we did that with the trees. If it comes down to it, we can get an executive order sent down from UNIT. Osgood won't mind helping us out if we already stopped the murderer," Clara said quickly.

Benji did not entirely understand this plan or anything they'd told him, in fact, but apparently, the first step was that he was going to have to go back outside and tell the fire brigade his suspect was gone so they could go in to investigate the source of the fire. Feeling a little bit shell-shocked from his encounter, he did just this, though he almost returned to the classroom when he heard a bizarre thrumming, or maybe vworping, noise from within. He turned to look back at the door, slowly realising exactly how little they'd explained to him. But for whatever reason, he found himself trusting them.

He left the building and found the fire brigade looking thoroughly pissed off and stuck outside with two engines between them, staff and kids still milling about in the carpark. They were slightly more organised than when he'd entered the school, but not much.

"Detective?" asked the closest fireman, "What's going on?"

"Uh…" he faltered. He didn't know what to say. "…A suspect vehicle has been traced to this school, potentially belonging to a violent criminal. I was conducting a search for this suspect."

"Oh my god," Pickman gasped, "Did you find them?"

"I… can't disclose those sorts of details, sorry. Ongoing case. School's clear for the fire alarm to be investigated, though," he said awkwardly. The fire brigade pushed past him and left him standing like a lemon in front of the teachers. "I think you should cut the disco short. Get the kids home safe tonight."

"You didn't find the criminal!?" Pickman gasped again.

"Everything is under control," he assured her, "I just have to go now. To talk to some people. Police people." He was normally so curt and professional, and now he could barely get a word out. He steeled himself to ignore their questions, which came in droves and pushed back through the crowds to get to his car. He had Clara Oswald's phone number and address from talking to her yesterday as a witness so decided to take his leave and get the details later on. Honking the horn to get the teenagers to move, he drove slowly out of the carpark, barely able to register everything that had happened.

Benji pulled out of the Turing High carpark not knowing where he should go. He took out a packet of cigarettes from his jacket, steering through the rain with one hand, and pulled one out with his teeth. He ran into trouble trying to find his lighter though, unable to remember what pocket he'd put it in.

"Need a light?" Someone drenched in blood sat up from the backseat of his car and he shouted and swerved, almost going careening straight into oncoming traffic. "Bloody hell!" It was Clara.

"What are you doing!?" he demanded, managing to right the car, dropping his cigarette in the process.

"Well I had to hide. I can't be seen getting into a car with a police officer, I'll lose the respect of the kids," she said, "I thought we could go for a coffee."

"A-!? Are you insane? What's going on?"

"I'll tell you over coffee." Over the back of the seat, she held out a silver cigarette lighter towards him. He picked up his cigarette and she lit it for him while he tried to drive.

"Thanks…" he muttered.

"Could I just bum one of them, actually?" she asked.

"Sure…" he handed her the pack, "How did you get into my car?"

"I can walk through walls."

"Course you can walk through walls… why wouldn't you be able to walk through bloody walls… where's your wife gone?"

"Home. It's been about half an hour."

"It's-?"

"Time travel. The Doctor did tell you she's a time traveller," she said, which he didn't think was much of an explanation. She took a drag on the cigarette but coughed and flinched. "What are these?"

"L&B Blues," he said.

"Eurgh, if you're smoking L&Bs you might as well have roll-ups."

"And what do you smoke, exactly?"

"Marlboro Reds. Didn't take any with me to the school disco, though, but I do have some nicotine mints."

"Are you quitting?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"What day of the week it is, I suppose," she said. Despite her dislike of Lambert & Butlers, she kept smoking it. "My wife hates it."

"Your time travelling, alien wife?"

"Yes, in fact. Do you believe me?"

"For some reason… I mean, aliens are always coming here, aren't they? Well, they go to London. They don't really go to Brighton."

"What about the trees?" Clara challenged.

"That was… was that aliens?"

"Of course it was aliens, alien trees."

"And you were involved in it, were you?"

"I stopped it by ripping out the tree heart. It was really far underground, we had to go through the tube tunnels. And you know last month, when it broke that Prometheus was manufacturing new Manifests?"

"Yeah…?"

"I was there too; I saw him die."

"He had a heart attack."

"Yeah, because he injected himself with an untested Manifest serum and his heart exploded. Also, I've met your great-great-grandfather, or whatever. Archie Speyer. We ran into him in 1964, trying to track down a rival mobster," she said. It was almost too much to cope with. He pulled into a fast-food drive-thru, barely registering what chain it was a part of, and tried to put it all out of his mind until he'd ordered a coffee from the window. Clara got the same thing and then, still in her Carrie get-up, clambered into the front seat to sit next to him. "Funny thing about that, it turned out that Prometheus was paying off the police. Covering up some strange murders."

"…Whose murders?" he asked carefully.

"Dexter Ward, in Brighton."

"Didn't cross my desk."

"Do you know a police constable with an acid burn on his face?"

"Yes. PC Trent."

"He got that burn from a Manifest he was trying to unlawfully arrest. I stepped in, and he smacked me over the head with a baton."

"He'd remember that. He says he doesn't know how he got the burn on his face. He's been on leave ever since."

Clara lowered her voice, "He doesn't remember because we have access to a drug. It's called Retcon. Selective amnesia. Makes you forget anything we don't want you to know." Benji clenched his jaw. "As someone who can walk through walls, it would be very easy for me to get into your house and slip some in your coffee. You'd never even notice. You live at 78, Wilcox Road, don't you?" He still didn't say anything. "You're listed as Katie's second emergency contact." Her mother was the first.

"You're threatening a police officer, Mrs Oswald."

"Mm, you could say that." The restaurant attendant handed two coffee cups through the window towards them, complimenting Clara's costume as she did. Clara held out one of the cups to Benji.

"I can't get a read on you. What do you want?"

"I want to keep my family safe," she said seriously. "I'm willing to wipe your memory of all of this if that's what I need to do. But whether I need to or not is down to you. Because I'll quite happily keep your secret. I won't tell anyone you're a Manifest. You won't tell anyone I'm a Manifest or notify any relevant authorities about the Doctor's whereabouts."

"What do you mean? People are looking for her?" Benji parked up at the side of the closest road, putting on the handbrake.

"People are always looking for the Doctor, she's desirable. In more ways than like… her face. The Kandyman came back to life and crossed the galaxy just for the chance of meeting her again. But like I said, it's mutually assured destruction for us. Except, you'd lose your job and get a court date, and we'd just disappear into thin air."

"And what am I supposed to say to the station DCI about chasing a suspect into a school who vanished? What am I meant to do about being unable to arrest your killer robot for these crimes? To get justice for the murder victims?"

"We put in a call with the leader of UNIT."

"You called the leader of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce?"

"Yes, the case is getting reassigned. They'll deal with it, as unexplained phenomena. To be fair, it is technically in their wheelhouse and not yours."

"And yet I managed to track your Kandyman down."

"And blow him up. Thanks for that, by the way; the Doctor didn't have a plan beyond squirting it with pop. We wiped the CCTV so your secret's safe, as is mine."

"So I'm just meant to trust you? To believe you?"

"You don't have much of a choice. Feel free to give us a bell if you get more spooky cases, though. Might be able to help. We're good friends with the Lightning Girl."

"…Right. Yep. Why wouldn't you be friends with the Lightning Girl…" Clara opened the passenger side door. "Where are you going?"

"My lift's here," she said, pointing out of the windshield. The glass rippled with rainwater, and he had to squint to see what was out there.

"Is that a police box? From the 1960s?"

"The TARDIS," Clara said, getting out of the car and into the rain. She held up her hand and the rain diverted around her, saving her from getting wet. "Time machine. How I got into your car. We took the Kandyman onto the TARDIS and came back just before we left."

"You fit that thing in there?"

"It's bigger on the inside," she said. He frowned. She laughed. "We're good, then? We've got a deal?"

"I don't have a choice."

"No, you don't… Anyway. Suppose I'll see you for parents' evening in a few months, to check how Katie's getting on. Thanks for the coffee and the cigarette, even if it is an L&B." She flicked the stub onto the rainy pavement and sipped her coffee.

"Yeah. I suppose so." Clara turned to leave, heading towards the police box.

"And, um," she turned back, "Happy Halloween."

"…Happy Halloween…" he mumbled. She smiled and went off across the street.

When she entered the phone box she waved over her shoulder one last time. Not even his encounter with the Kandyman could prepare Benji for what happened next. He heard that strange thrumming noise again, the blue box began to fade in and out of existence, the light on top of it flashing, until it had completely dematerialised.

It was the weirdest Halloween of Benji Speyer's life.

AN: Again, sorry this is so late! Also: Benji is currently planned to be a small recurring character because I thought them having a police contact would be useful; he won't blackmail them or become and antagonist.