Jay didn't think there were too many things that could make her skin crawl in disgust anymore. She'd been in so many situations she'd been covered in filth that grime and mud and sweat didn't bother her. There had been so many times in which she'd come face to face with an alien, such as the one she'd just managed to help with Jack, Martha, and Mickey, that was rather icky in appearance that she didn't think twice most of the time. She'd even held one, for crying out loud!
But there was just something - something - about the horned worm she found a little too close to her face for comfort that made her scream and fling it as far as she could, having had her hand gently curled around it. She wiped her hands anxiously on her pants, swearing as there were echoed shouts, yelps, and shrieks as others did the same, and she blinked when she realized she wasn't alone. She was seated at a large round table, with four others sitting there with her, looking as confused as she felt.
She was seated at a large round table, Jay realized, confused. The last thing she remembered was losing track of Jack at the weihnachtsmarkt - no, of turning to look at someone who'd been walking beside her. Her head ached when she tried too hard to remember. Feeling nervous, she moved to wrap her coat around her. Only...there was no coat. She went white as she realized her coat was gone, the coat she'd grown so attached to in the absence of its true owner, and she would have broken into tears then and there had the older man on her left suddenly spoke sharply to the petite woman on his left, a women who looked incredibly familiar with her dark hair and eyes.
"Don't touch it."
"Where are we?" she demanded in turn. Effectively distracted and knowing that she probably had better things to worry about at the moment than her lost coat, Jay continued to stare at her, confused. Where had she seen this woman before? "How did we get here?"
"Who are you?" demanded a man to Jay's right. He looked as confused as the rest of them as he blinked blearily, throwing his own worm. Jay stared; the entire right side of his head had been shaved and it looked as if there were some kind of mechanical pieces that had been plugged into his head - as if his brain had become, quite literally, a computer. Jay had no idea who he was, nor the dark-skinned woman who shrieked and threw her worm, too.
"What is that thing?" she cried.
"It's a memory worm," the man to Jay's left said with confused sincerity. "Deletes your memories."
"How did I get here?"
"The same we all did, but we've all forgotten." The older man looked sharp now, and clever enough to make Jay instinctively try and shift a little ways away from him. Something about him made her chest ache with pain she didn't want to think about. There was a look on his face that seemed rather familiar, too, and she didn't like it.
Jay took a deep breath and then let it out in a gust, saying firmly, "Well then we need to remember. I shouldn't be here." She shouldn't have. She was supposed to be on Earth, waiting. What if he came back while she was stuck here?
"None of us should be," agreed the man to her right, his eyes flashing irritably. "Who are you all anyways?"
As if in answer, a silver briefcase, which had been sitting so innocently in the center of the round table, seemed to come to life. Jay jumped a foot in the air when her own voice filled the air, recorded. Her tone was icy cold and seething as the recording declared, "I'm Jay O'Connors, human with a little bit of extra something. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will."
The older man to her left and the woman beside him snapped their heads around to look at her in shock, and Jay frowned back at him, wary. Who was he? He seemed vaguely familiar, though Jay couldn't state why. And he looked at her as if he knew her. Jay didn't like it one bit, and she glared at him as she leaned back in the chair she was seated in, suspicious.
"I am Psi," continued the recording - the voice of the man with the computer chips in his head. "Augmented human. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will." Startled, Psi yanked something from his head and looked at it in confusion. He reluctantly replaced it a few moments later, as if uncertain of why he would agree to such a thing.
Next was the woman, who for just a moment Jay could have sworn resembled the worm she'd been holding. "I am Saibra, mutant human. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will."
The petite dark-haired woman was the fourth: "I am Clara Oswald, human. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will. Do I really have to touch that worm thing?"
Jay would have laughed had she not heard the next portion. "Yes, you do. And change your shoes. I am the Doctor, a Time Lord from Gallifrey. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will."
She couldn't breathe. It was as if every inch of her lungs were being crushed beneath a heavy weight as Jay snapped her attention back to the older man beside her - the Doctor. It was the first time in a year that she'd allowed that title in her head, and it hurt just as much as she'd expected. It was only made worse by the fact that she could see every fear being brought to life before her eyes. He'd abandoned her. He'd truly abandoned her and found a new person to take around with him. He'd not even come back to let her know he was alive, and -
And he wasn't her Doctor. This was a new Doctor. A Doctor with a new face, new personality, new everything, and he'd chosen to leave her behind, just as she'd always feared would happen.
Clara was peering at Jay with as much surprise as the Doctor was, and that did catch Jay's attention, too. What worried Jay a little more was the pure horrified grief in her gaze. Clara appeared to know who she was, too, which only made her feel worse. Had he talked to his new friend about her, but had never bothered to come back? Had he lied to her? Jay wouldn't put it past him. Not anymore.
But before she could start spouting questions, the briefcase popped open and a screen appeared. A figure was there, cloaked in a shadowed hood, and when they spoke, their voice was distorted and abnormal. "This is a recorded message. I am the Architect. Your last memory of receiving contact from an unknown agency. Me. Everything since has been erased from your minds. Now, pay close attention to this debriefing." The image changed, becoming that of a massive building that stood alone on a planet's surface. It was beautiful - and lonely looking. "This is the Bank of Karabraxos, the most secure bank in the galaxy. A fortress for the super-rich. If you can afford your own star system, this is where you keep it. No one sets foot on the planet without protocols. All movement is monitored, all air consumption regulated DNA authenticated at every stage. Intruders will be incinerated."
A new image appeared and Jay recoiled at the sight of a woman that blew into a tube before promptly being burned alive. Jay felt sick. She couldn't take her eyes off of the screen, however, as the Architect continued to speak. "Each vault, buried deep in the earth, is accessed by a drop-slot at the planet's surface. It's automatically sealed, an unbreakable lock. The atoms have all been scrambled. Your presence on this planet is unauthorized. A team will have been dispatched to terminate you."
As if on cue, there was a loud banging on a set of doors that Jay hadn't even realized were there. She jumped, eyes wide as she stared over her shoulder at it, already clambering to her feet. No one else moved, but Jay certainly did, her body tensed and ready to run. "This is bank security!" shouted the person at the door. "Open up! Open up and you shall be humanely disposed of!"
"Your survival depends on following my instructions," continued the Architect. "All the information you need is in this case."
Without hesitation, Psi was yanking the chip from his head and plugging it into the case, face serious as he downloaded information to the chip. Jay glanced over when Saibra announced, "There's another exit."
"The Bank of Karabraxos is impregnable. The Bank of Karabraxos has never been breached. You will rob the Bank of Karabraxos."
The Doctor snagged a case of something no bigger than a large hand from the briefcase and then bolted to the exit that Saibra had found. "Go!" he shouted, and Jay only faltered a heartbeat. It was a heartbeat longer than everyone else, so she was the last one out the door. She closed it behind her, and then tore off down a corridor, catching up with the others only when they stopped, all of them panting for breath.
"Augmented human," the Doctor was saying, breathing hard himself, and Jay clenched her jaw, gazing at him with mistrust as he ran through the information they had and needed. "Computer augmented, yes? Mainframe in your head?" This was all directed at Psi.
"I'm a gamer," retorted Psi. "Sorry, who put you in charge?"
"You're a liar," the Doctor fired back. "That's a prison code on your neck."
Psi slapped a hand over his neck as they all rounded on him, surprised. "I'm a hacker slash bank robber," he grumbled, admitting it reluctantly, and the Doctor seemed smug with this information. Jay's gaze darted between them.
"Good," the Doctor said. "This is a good day to be a bank robber." He turned to Saibra, who lifted her chin. "Mutant human. What kind of mutant?"
"Like he says, why are you in charge now?" she challenged.
"It's my special power. What's yours?"
Saibra stared at him for a moment and then sighed heavily. She reached out and took hold of Clara's hand. Clara stared with shock when a moment later, Saibra had quite literally become her. It was as if a clone of Clara had appeared before them. She let go of her hand and a moment later, Saibra looked like herself again. "I touch living cells," she admitted. "I can replicate the owner."
"You can replicate their clothes, too?" asked Clara.
"I wear a hologram shell."
The Doctor smiled and held something out. Jay realized he'd taken it from the case he'd grabbed, and Jay peered curiously at the case, wondering what else was there. "Human cells. DNA from a customer, maybe? A disguise to get us in?" Saibra took it, peering at the object with interest.
"We're actually going to do it?" Jay rasped, clearing her throat uncertainly. "You're telling me we're going to rob a bank like this?" What the hell was she even doing here? What use was she? She'd literally just learned how to properly use a stove. She was useless in this high-tech bank.
The Doctor whirled on her and then paused, a brief frown creasing his face as he studied her. "I don't think we have a choice," he told her. "We've already agreed to. Jay," he continued as if he hadn't left her stranded for a year without a proper farewell, and that only served to upset her further. She forced herself to hide that pain and anger, for there was a tide of downright fury that was gathering in her chest. This wasn't the time for things like that to come out. "You hear things. What can you hear?"
"Your voice?" she muttered, confused. "Nothing else." She did attempt to listen. There truly was nothing else. At least, not at the moment. She'd have to keep an ear out though, and hope that if something did come up, the work she'd done with her friends would be enough to keep her from being too influenced. She'd done her best, but even Jack hadn't been able to teach her much on blocking out the commotion that more often than not flooded her head.
"Good. Nothing is good." He turned away - and then turned back, completely puzzled. "Why are you here?"
"You tell me," she challenged a little irritably. She'd like to know that, too.
"Look, this is all great," Psi interrupted. "But we should keep going if we don't want to be killed."
The others all agreed. So, they took off at a brisk walk, and as they did, the Doctor's suspicions about the DNA was confirmed. Saibra became a man in a suit with graying hair and a stern, intimidating face. Jay kept close to Clara, finding she quite liked the clever girl as they stepped into a large space filled with people. Saibra informed them that they'd be able to keep the image around for as long as they needed.
"Question one," said the Doctor, eyes alert as he scanned the group, "robbing banks is easy if you've got a TARDIS, so why am I not using it?"
Jay beamed when Clara added, "Question two, where is the TARDIS?" Jay wouldn't have minded finding the beautiful time machine she missed so dearly. Even if she was angry with the Time Lord...she still adored the TARDIS and wouldn't have minded seeing her.
Alarms suddenly fired around them and they all tensed, nervous as an automated, friendly voice announced, "Banking floor locking down."
"They know we're here," whispered Saibra, and the deepness of her voice took Jay off guard, if she was being honest. They all looked around nervously and settled on watching from a shadowed section of the space. Before their eyes, a woman entered the space with two heavily armed guards, and Jay half-expected them to approach the admittedly suspicious group. She even held her breath. Instead, however, they approached another customer - a short, stocky man, who immediately looked a little nervous. Behind them came what was clearly an alien, and the second Jay's gaze touched it…
Her hand shot out and gripped Clara's wrist tightly. "Oh, God," she breathed, choking on her own breath. She could hear its mournful song. It nearly resembled the Ood's. She could hear its loneliness, tears building in the backs of her eyes, and Clara glanced at her with confused concern. Still, she squeezed Jay's hand familiarly, and Jay couldn't even be bothered to be confused by this. She didn't know Clara; so how did Clara know her?
The creature was clad in a straightjacket of sorts, arms strapped down. It wore an orange suit that reminded Jay of the spacesuits she and the Doctor had worn on Mars. Eyes extended from its head and seemed capable of moving individually. Behind the alien were more guards, holding onto a series of chains that were connected to it.
"What is that?" whispered Saibra.
"I don't know," commented the Doctor irritably. "Hate not knowing."
"It's a sad, lonely thing," whispered Jay, heartbroken. "A very sad and lonely thing." Clara squeezed her hand again, and Jay found herself squeezing back.
The woman, a clearly wealthy one, adjusted the thick glasses perched on her nose with a cold look on her face. She stared down the man before her and said curtly, "Excuse me, sir, but I regret to say that your guilt has been detected."
"What?" the man gasped, immediately terrified. "That's...that's totally ridiculous!"
"Is it, sir?" she replied in a near purr. "Well then, we will certainly double-check. The Teller will now scan your thoughts for any criminal intent. Good luck sir." The woman stepped aside, a hand touched to her auburn hair as if to ensure it was in place, and the Doctor spoke curiously.
"Interesting. The latest thing in sniffer dogs. Telepathic. It hunts guilt," he told them, and Jay immediately knew that they'd have to be cautious of the Teller. As sad and lonely as it was, it would likely target them instantly should it find out about their own situation.
"And what about our guilt?" Clara prompted. The Doctor didn't answer, but Jay had a good guess: the Teller was simply focused on this guilt-ridden man, drowning out their own guilt. Jay wondered how that was possible; all the damage the Doctor had done - all the damage she'd done to the people of Pompeii and other such situations. How the hell could it not sense their guilt over the man before it? But as the man clutched his head, screwing his eyes shut, Jay realized what he was doing.
"He's trying not to think of it, isn't he?" she guessed.
Psi pressed his mouth into a hard line. "Ever tried not thinking about something?"
Clara shook her head, dark hair flying around her face, and Saibra warned, "You may have to."
The Teller uttered a loud, rumbling sound, and the woman clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Ah, criminal intent detected. How naughty. What was your plan? Counterfeit currency in your briefcase, perhaps?" The man tried to protest, but she waved those attempts off and said, "It doesn't really matter. We'll establish the details later. The Teller is never wrong when it comes to guilt. Your account will now be deleted, and obviously your mind." She smiled at the Teller. "Suppertime."
The Teller stepped closer to the man, its eyestalks shifting until it seemed to create a triangle. Jay watched in horror as the man clutched his head, fighting the urge to slap her hands over her ears like a child. Her breath quickened when Psi flinched, too, as if he felt it like she did. She could hear it, the signal the creature produced, and it made her head ache so badly she felt tears rising to her eyes. She wavered a fraction as the man began screaming loudly and violently.
"Jay?" whispered Clara, making sure she didn't fall.
"I'm fine," Jay rasped, insisting. She'd survived this long with such things. She'd be fine. At least she wasn't concerned about an attack striking her down anytime soon. She forced a faint, nervous smile to her face, pretending that the man didn't collapse with a section of his head caved in, as if the creature's efforts had sucked the brain right out.
"Account closed. Apologies for the disturbance," the woman declared to thos all around them. She smiled coolly, a clearly smug glint in her gaze. "Everyone have a lovely day."
As they left, Jay let out a soft sigh of relief, rubbing her temples. The Doctor was already ushering them on, and she sent him a dirty look, angry. He'd not even said a word to her, not really. Couldn't he at least pretend to be sorry for what he'd done? It only upset her further. But she pushed on, deciding that she could yell at him for it later. They had bigger things to worry about.
They entered a room - a safety-deposit box, Psi informed them. A beautiful set of doors opened before them and allowed them into the small area, which consisted of large red walls and beautiful marble columns. Jay was impressed; the bank certainly hadn't gone cheap in its decorations. A computer stood at one side of the room, and when they approached it, the computer announced, "Deposit booth locking. Please exhale. Your valuables will be transported up from the vault."
Saibra glanced at them, and then reluctantly leaned forward and breathed into a tube that extended from the computer. Mere moments later, it flashed a light that was green. Confident, Saibra returned to her original appearance, smiling briefly in pride. She looked smug when the bank vault activated and sent up a briefcase. Psi looked puzzled as the Doctor dragged the case out, even mildly annoyed. "I don't get it. If he can break in here and plant this thing, then why does he need our help?"
"Good question," agreed Jay. Clara nodded, too.
The Doctor ignored them all and propped the case open. "Okay, well," the Doctor began and a pang flared in Jay's chest. She could imagine her Doctor saying such a thing, the old Doctor who'd laughed and smiled with her, who'd taken her along on a crazy adventure before promptly abandoning her helpless with Wilfred. "I'm no expert, but fuses...timer...I'm going to stick my neck out and say bomb." His sharp gaze turned on Psi. "Bank schematic. Now."
Psi frowned, but went to work, approaching a wall. He found what he was looking for, seemed to plug in himself, and within a moment, there was a series of schematics up on the wall for them to look at. Jay studied it closely as the Doctor spoke. "The floor below is all service corridors. The veins and arteries of the bank." Psi disconnected himself, and the Doctor grinned excitedly, seeming exceptionally pleased with this plan. "He wants us to blow through the floor."
"We'll die if we do that," Saibra pointed out.
"Not necessarily. There must be a plan."
"What if," suggested Clara, "the plan is we're blowing up the floor for someone else?" Once again, Jay found herself eyeing Clara. She was so, so familiar. She wished she could recall where she'd seen this woman from. "What if we're not supposed to make it out alive?"
The Doctor made a dismissive sound and gesture. "Don't be so pessimistic, it'll affect team morale."
"And getting blown up won't?" challenged Jay irritably. At this point, she just wanted her coat - and answers. She wanted so many answers from the man who wouldn't look twice at her right now. Yet, she got the feeling they needed to get moving again, and getting answers could wait until they were out of danger. She was impatient, but not so impatient that she couldn't wait.
"No," Psi suddenly decided, furious. "No way. You can do what you like. I'm going to take my chances out there." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. When Clara murmured his name in protest, he laughed irritably. "No, no, no, this guy? Your mate? He's a lunatic."
"What do you want?" the Doctor suddenly asked quietly, almost challenging Psi. "More than anything else? Whatever it is, it's in this bank. You agreed to rob the most impregnable bank in history. You must have had a very good reason. We all must have. Picture the thing you want most in the universe, and decide how badly you want it." Psi fell quiet, not answering, and Jay got the feeling she knew why she, herself, was here, because her answer would have been very easy to figure out: the Doctor, who stood right in front of her, still refusing to so much as look at her more than briefly.
Jayden O'Connors wanted the Doctor more than anything, and here he was.
So, she took a deep breath and forced all those thoughts to the back of her head. She would figure out everything else later. She'd stop dwelling on them, stop going back to them. They had to focus, or risk getting caught by security, who was already knocking on the door again, and the Teller. "Well," she said sharply, eyes flashing, "let's get moving then."
"I still don't understand why you're in charge," Psi complained to the Doctor, even as he stepped back to make room.
"Basically, it's the eyebrows," the Doctor said a little smugly as he went to work on fixing the bomb to ensure that it would work. When he was finished, he set the timer and rushed away from it, ushering them all back. Jay slid behind a marble column with Clara, pressing her back to the marble and waiting.
Clara surprised her with a brief, sincere smile. "Good to see you again."
Jay had no idea what she was talking about, but decided her best bet to get information was to play along. "Likewise," she said with a grin, eyes lighting up. She didn't understand, but she found she did like Clara. She seemed clever and fun to be around. No wonder she traveled with the Doctor now.
The sound wasn't a blast like Jay thought it would be; rather, it was a soft crack, and when they peeked over, they found a large hole in the floor. The Doctor was the first to approach, peering down. "Nice," he declared as they all joined him, Saibra looking warily down the hole herself. "Dimensional shift bomb. Sends the particles to a different plane. Come on then, Team Not Dead." He hopped down, and then stood there, making sure everyone followed. He helped Clara when she hesitated, and Jay, determined, was the last one down. She faltered when the Doctor offered a hand, finding she wasn't sure if she was prepared to take it. Still, she sucked it up, slid her hand into his, and let him help her down. She glanced up as he used the remnants of the bomb to replace the floor, and wasn't surprised when he said quietly as he did so, "You shouldn't be here."
"I guessed that much," Jay said wryly, not pleased at all with the statement. "I mean, as far as reunions go, I expected something a little less dramatic than a bank heist."
"Where's the fun in that?"
Jay's lips twitched despite her best efforts. She could hear it. Bits and pieces of the Doctor who'd left her hidden within this version of him. She understood what he'd meant when he'd mentioned becoming a new person, yet at the same time...Jay could so very easily see the Doctor. He was one and the same, but she'd always miss the man in the pinstriped suit. "Some warning would have been nice. So I could let Jack know you were kidnapping me off the streets."
He made a small sound of disgust at the mention of Jack Harkness, which only made Jay smirk. Even now, he wasn't Jack's biggest fan. "Honestly though," she said over her shoulder, watching him closely, as she went to join the others, who were waiting a short distance away, "I expected better. An apology would be a nice way to start. An apology and my coat back."
She would have missed it, had she turned around entirely. She would have missed the way he fumbled the bomb's pieces, nearly dropping it as he snapped his head around to stare critically at her, alarmed. It unnerved her, that look, but Jay was quick to move on. Now wasn't the time. As she rejoined the others, Saibra asked warily, "So what are we supposed to do now? What's the plan?"
"I don't know," admitted the Doctor as he rejoined them, too. "The Architect set all this up. It should make sense. My personal plan is that a thing will probably happen quite soon."
Saibra hummed, amused, but glanced at Clara when she suddenly said, "Hey, Psi." She pointed. There was another silver case on the ground, waiting for them to notice it. Jay grinned in realization. There was the thing. The Doctor looked smug - until Clara asked, "How does he get the cases here?"
"By breaking into the bank in advance of breaking into the bank," was the Doctor's answer.
Jay snorted loudly. "And how do you explain how he did that? If he can do that, why does he need us?"
The Doctor clearly didn't have an answer, so he just ignored her instead. "Not our problem. Guilt is our problem. Guilt, in this bank, is fatal. The Teller can hear it. Ever since that first case was opened, we've been targets. The more we know about why we're here, the louder our guilt screams. That's why we wiped our memories - for our own safety. Now, once I open this," he gestured to the silver case, "I can't close it again."
"Would it be safer if only one of us learned it?" Psi suggested.
"I'm waiting for you to volunteer." When Psi frowned, confusion evident in his dark eyes, the Doctor clarified, "You didn't need that memory worm. You're half-computer. You can perform a manual delete. You can clear your thoughts."
Jay blinked. She'd not thought of that. Psi hadn't either, but he knelt and carefully opened the case. He was determined. A moment later, when the case opened, he frowned. "I don't know what it is," said Psi. "You may as well have a look. What are they?" He held up a series of metal tubes. There were pins at the end of each, capable of being freed from the tube, and Jay realized there were seven of them. That was quite a number.
"Not a clue," the Doctor said.
"Liar," Jay accused immediately.
Psi snapped his head up, glancing between them as the Doctor stared at Jay in familiar exasperation. "Why would he be ly-" He stammered, repeating the first syllable a few more times before finishing, "-lying. Sorry. Drive glitch. Stress drains the batteries."
The Doctor ignored him, instead locking his gaze onto a computer that seemed to be implanted in a wall. "Interface with that." When Saibra questioned if they had time for all this, the Doctor shrugged. "Why not? There's no immediate threat."
"Warning. Intruders detected."
A siren started blaring, and Jay swore loudly, glaring irritably at the Doctor, who winced. "I should stop saying things like that," he admitted. "Right. Clara, Jay, you stay with Psi. Saibra, let's go and investigate." Without giving them a chance to protest, the Doctor took off with Saibra, and Jay glared after him in frustration. It was like he was avoiding being alone with her as much as possible. Again, perhaps this wasn't the time to worry about such things, but still. She'd missed him, and he didn't seem to care one bit.
She glanced over her shoulder when Psi cursed. He was plugging himself into a jack - to recharge, he commented. He had to remove one of the chips in his head and blow on it, cursing "storm dust." As Clara watched, she asked, "You can delete your memories?"
"Yeah, it's not as fun as it sounds."
"I've got a few I wish I could lose." Clara made a face, as if thinking of something either embarrassing or painful. Jay guessed both, agreeing that she also had a few she could get rid of - like those of the Master, who still scared her even now that he was gone again.
"And I lost a few I wish I hadn't." He took a deep breath, saddened. "I was...I was interrogated in prison. I guess I panicked. I didn't want to be a risk to the people close to me, so…I deleted them. My friends. Anyone who ever helped me. My family." Jay's heart ached. How could he delete the memories of his family? She'd never have been able to erase Lucas from her head. She loved her little brother more than she could say. Seeing the look on Jay's face, he smiled ruefully and said, "I suppose I must have loved them."
They were quiet for a few moments, and then Clara turned to Jay, determined to change the subject. "I'm glad you're here. I didn't think I'd see you again."
Jay realized she had a split second to make the decision of how she was going to present herself to Clara. Did she lie or admit she had no idea who Clara was? Did she tell her what the Doctor had done oh, so recently? Or did she continue to play along, pretending she knew exactly who Clara was and get answers she might be able to provide?
No.
The Doctor had done many things and taught her so much. And lying under these kind of circumstances to get information she'd likely get later anyways wasn't something he'd have agreed with. They could have played along with River in the Library; instead, he'd allowed her to see the fact that he had no idea who she was. "Spoilers," River had said.
So Jay smiled faintly at Clara and said, "It's nice to meet you, too, Clara." When Clara frowned, even more confused, Jay admitted, "I can tell that we've met. At least, you've met some other version of me. But I've never met you. At least," she muttered, "I don't think I have." Clara still looked really, really familiar, and that name sounded familiar, too. "But I have no idea who you are. This is the first time I've really truly met you like this. I'm sorry."
Clara looked so bewildered that Jay almost laughed as she said gently, "Time moves in many directions, remember? My question," she continued, "is why me? Why not some version of me that knows the two of you?"
Clara was quiet for a moment, debating. And then, her eyes filled with sadness and understanding appeared on her face. Quietly, she said, "Because the Doctor promised he'd not ask this kind of thing. This Architect, whoever he is...the Doctor must have asked him to let you come and help. He would have made sure it wasn't the one he made that promise to. He told me that he'd never break a promise to you again."
Jay faltered, unprepared to hear that. "Then he really did...he came back for me?" Jay said uncertainly, very aware that Psi was listening in beside them. He kept quiet, trying to not be intrusive. "He didn't just not come back?"
Clara studied her for a long moment and then shook her head. "He'd never leave you," she said confidently. "Never. Only if you wanted him to, and even then, he'd find every excuse to stop by again if he could." There was a sadness in her eyes again, however, and Jay opened her mouth to question it, but Psi rocked to his feet.
"We should catch up," he said firmly.
"Right," agreed Jay and Clara simultaneously, drawing amused looks to both of their faces.
The trio took off at a jog, eager to catch up with the Doctor and Saibra. When they did, their amusement was replaced with horror, for the pair stood in front of the equivalent of a prison cell, with iron bars trapping someone. It was the man from earlier, and he was clearly still alive. He'd been chained to the wall, and every now and then he moaned softly. Jay's heart ached as she looked at him, even as she stumbled back in terror. These cells resembled the one she'd spent far too much time in, and she hated it immediately.
"Someone is watching," commented the Doctor mildly, glancing over to his right. Jay followed his glance, her breath quick and shallow and heart thundering away in her chest. Sure enough, there was a blinking red light on the wall.
"Intruders on the service level," reported a computer almost immediately, another alarm beginning to blare. "Intruders on the service level."
"Time to go," said Psi, tearing down the hall at a sprint. They followed suit and the Doctor shoved past when they found themselves at a dead end marked only with a vent of sorts that read "No Entry." Jay pressed herself back to give him room as he yanked what she thought was a sonic screwdriver out of his jacket. It looked nothing like her Doctor's; rather than blue, it glowed green and even gave off a different sound that made her grimace in disapproval. She'd liked the old sonic. This one seemed abnormally extravagant.
They squeezed through the vent, and the Doctor ensured it was properly in place as they started forward once more. He rejoined them just as they came to what appeared to be a glass case. Steam rose within, and the windows were fogged. Jay barely noticed the others as a familiar song filled her head. Silently, she crouched beside the case and fought the urge to press her fingers to the glass. Tears pricked her eyes as she stared at the sleeping Teller within. It was still wearing the straightjacket, and it had been chained up, too. "Poor thing," she whispered.
"It's cocooned," reported the Doctor after studying it for a few moments. "Forced hibernation. Its power is probably dormant." No sooner than he'd spoken did the creature stir, woken by the sound of running feet and voices from the other side of the vent they'd come through. Jay stiffened when the Teller moaned softly.
Clara suddenly froze, and Jay slowly looked at her. Clara couldn't move - she physically couldn't move. She was so still her body would have shook from the strain on her muscles had she been able to. Clara looked absolutely terrified, and Jay said softly, "Clara, make your mind blank." It caught the others' attention and the Doctor looked immediately worried, agreeing with what Jay said.
"Block everything," he continued for Jay. "Once it locks onto your thoughts, it won't let go." The Teller rumbled a soft sound, and Clara's eyes fluttered shut. The Doctor looked even more concerned. "It's waking up. Keep blocking your thoughts, Clara. Don't think."
But the Teller snarled, and that seemed to work. Clara broke free and bolted. Jay was a step behind her, the Doctor ushering the pair along. Psi followed, with Saibra hot on his heels as they hastily flew to a new vent, which the Doctor pried open with his sonic screwdriver. "In," he ordered, "in, in, in!"
Jay scrambled through behind Clara, who helped her out on the other side. The Doctor and Psi were next, and then Saibra. Saibra, however, seemed to get stuck as she was climbing after them, gasping, and Psi cried, "Saibra!"
"How do we get her out?" Clara fretted, but the Doctor was more concerned about what was happening in her head.
"It's scanning her brain," he reported after scanning Saibra with her sonic screwdriver. He seemed to falter, not wanting to leave Saibra after everything that had happened thus far, but knowing if they lingered it would be problematic.
So, Jay made the decision for him. She reached out, latching onto his sleeve like a lost child, and gave it a gentle tug. "Doctor," she breathed. "Help her. Please, help her."
He glanced at her, and then back at Saibra when Saibra sobbed softly in pain. "What should I do?" she wept. "How do I get away?"
The Doctor crouched at the entrance to the vent so he could meet Saibra's eyes. His voice was rushed and shockingly gentle. Jay didn't know this version of the Doctor could be gentle. He was filled with sorrow, too, as he said, "It's rooting through your brain. It's tasting all the secrets stashed inside. Any moment now, it will finish its sweep and start feasting on what's left."
"And then I become one of those things we saw sitting in a cage?" she rasped, flinching in pain, and the Doctor nodded. "Can you not get me out?"
"I'm sorry. I don't know how once it's locked onto your thoughts."
Saibra gave a choked laugh. "Exit strategy. That means what I think it means, right?"
Tears were threatening to fall down Jay's cheeks when the Doctor offered one of the seven tubes they'd found to Saibra. Jay knew immediately that it wasn't as good as they'd hoped those tubes to be. Jay wrapped her arms around herself, nervously bouncing on the balls of her feet. She felt the need to run, as if something was going to catch up with them and soon. Perhaps to escape the despair gathering in her chest, or perhaps simply to run. Jay wasn't sure as the Doctor said quietly, "Atomic shredder."
"Painless?" breathed Saibra.
"And instant."
Saibra took a shaken breath. "When you meet the Architect, promise me something. Kill him."
"I hate him, but I can't make that promise," said the Doctor, and Jay's heart skipped a beat. The Doctor had never really discussed it with her, but just as she'd feared him leaving, she'd known he feared what she'd think when he regenerated, and now… She was still angry and upset with him, but how could he have thought she'd not see the Doctor in him, regardless of how he spoke or looked? He was the Doctor, pure and simple.
A moment later, there was a bright blue light. A roar of frustration echoed down the vent and they bolted. The Doctor raced behind them at the back, ushering them along. Jay was rasping for air by the time they broke into a corridor and found themselves confronted with a massive vault door. Jay peered up at it with interest as the Doctor declared, "Right. Vault. That's clear. What's not clear is what we do now."
Clara, breathless, gently touched his arm. "Hey," she said quietly. "You okay?"
"No," he retorted, shrugging her off. "I'm an amnesiac robbing a bank. Why would I be okay?"
She faltered, exchanging a look with Jay. Jay shrugged; she wasn't entirely sure of what to do for him. This might have been the Doctor, but Clara had clearly been with this face of his longer than she had, and if personalities did change, she didn't want to upset him further. Clara began, "Saibra-"
"Saibra is dead, we are alive. Prioritize if you want to stay that way."
Psi gave a shocked laugh. "Is that why you call yourself the Doctor? The professional detachment?"
Jay opened her mouth to protest, but the Doctor snapped, "Listen. When we're done here, by all means, you go and find yourself a shoulder to cry on. You'll probably need that. 'Til then, what you need is me." He broke away, eyes locking onto another silver briefcase that had been left for them to investigate. Jay watched after him with a bit of shock.
Okay, maybe he wasn't exactly the same Doctor. The Doctor, but with enough pain and loss added in… A thought occurred to her, and Jay whirled on Clara. "Clara," she said sharply when Psi began to plug himself into the new silver case, "when did we meet?"
Clara looked startled by the question. "I don't know. A handful of years back?"
"No, no, what exactly happened?"
"There were some...some robots," Clara said, still confused. "A group of people were taking people through the wi-fi. I called this help number, and the Doctor showed up, I guess." She paused, and then added carefully, "I mean, he didn't...he didn't really look like this though. He changed. Regenerated." Jay's eyes flickered with surprise. So this wasn't even the Doctor that had come after her Doctor. Rather, this was yet another face that she'd apparently meet when the day came.
Jay decided against pushing for more. She didn't want to risk hearing more than necessary to understand her situation. Though… "Clara, why did I leave? I mean, you said he promised he'd never ask me to do this kind of thing. So why did I leave?"
Clara was well-versed in the ways of time by now, Jay knew, because she faltered. She didn't know if she was allowed to answer that question or not. "You didn't have a choice," she decided to tell Jay, and Jay appreciated her effort to answer the question without actually answering it. "And you knew it would hurt more if he continuously asked you for help on things like this, so he promised you he wouldn't when you made him. I don't think it stops him from visiting when he can though."
Jay smiled widely. For just a moment, the pain and anger she'd felt was gone. It came back quickly though. None of this excused the Doctor's actions. He owed her an apology, and she was going to make sure he gave her one, whether it was this face or the other she had yet to meet. "Right," she said under her breath, eyes flashing. "Thank you, Clara. Now, let's figure this out."
As if on cue, Psi flinched, looking pained by whatever information he was downloading. He missed another card within the case when he went to the computer that locked the vault, but Clara didn't. She opened her mouth to say something, but Psi spoke first, "The system looks like it's time-delayed. There are twenty-four lock codes I need to break."
Except they didn't have the time for that. A thunderous growl echoed down the corridor. The Teller. It was coming. Swearing, Jay snapped her gaze to the Doctor for instructions. He looked alarmed, too. "How long?" he asked.
"As long as it takes," Psi said grimly.
The Doctor heaved a massive sigh, taking that time to think, and then admitted, "It's locked onto one of our thought trails. We have to split up. Minimize the brain signals."
Psi glanced back at him briefly. "What happened to your professional detachment, Doctor?" He held his hand out and the Doctor planted an atom shredder in his hand. Jay looked sadly at Psi, hoping that he'd survive - that they all did, even as Clara began to protest, horrified. "In case it finds me," he told Clara. "It's my choice."
"You don't use that, okay?" Clara begged, even as Jay grabbed her hand and started tugging her away. "Promise me."
But Psi only settled down with a reassuring smile over his shoulder before focusing on his work, and the three took off at a dead run to try and get the Teller away from him. "Separate," the Doctor said as they ran, his voice a sharp command, and he bolted in another direction before Jay even had the chance to protest. Rather than going by herself, Jay chose to stick with Clara. She didn't dare leave Clara on her own. If the Doctor would come back for anyone, it would be her, and Jay wouldn't let him leave her behind. Not again. Despite everything Clara had told her...she still feared that he would.
Jay heard the creature first, and she swore under her breath. She grabbed Clara's wrist, yanking to her a stop, and listened intently. There! As quickly as possible, she dragged Clara back until they were near another hall. They hid there, holding their breath as the creature and its lonely song crept closer and closer.
She wasn't quick enough, however, and the Teller must have heard them, because within moments, Jay felt it. She heard that creature's signal, echoing in her very bones, and she clenched her teeth in surprise when it seemed to latch onto her fears and guilt. She did her very best to not think about it all, but after spending so long focused on such thoughts...how could she not think about them when she'd finally found her way back to the Doctor?
"Jay!" cried Clara against her better judgement when Jay staggered, her knees buckling so that she was forced to awkwardly lean against the wall. Jay could feel the creature in her mind then, threatening to feast on what it found.
"Clara! Jay!" The Doctor's shout echoed from somewhere in the nearby vicinity, but Jay was confident he'd not find them anytime soon. She gritted her teeth at the agonizing pain that began to splinter through her head - until another voice started shouting.
Psi's voice flooded the area then, bellowing and loud. "Come on! Come and find me! Every thief and villain in one big cocktail. Every famous burglar in history is hiding in this bank right now - all in one body! Come and feast!" Clara looked over her shoulder in horror, her eyes brimming with tears as she recognized what Psi was doing. She gripped Jay's arm when Jay took hold of hers, using her for balance as the Teller let go. Jay wheezed for breath for a few moments, her face streaked with pained and guilty tears. It was as if the Teller had dragged every guilty thought she'd ever had, from childhood lies upwards of Pompeii.
"For what it's worth," Psi called, and Jay's heart sank in realization that Psi was sacrificing himself for them. "It might not be worth much, mind you. But when your whole life flashes in front of you, you see people you love. People missing you. Well, I see no one."
His scream was heart wrenching, and Jay ground her teeth in fury towards the Architect. This was his doing. She hated them for it. "Come on," she muttered to Clara, tearing off at a run. They needed to get moving and finish this. Maybe the Doctor couldn't promise violence, but she sure as hell planned on at least punching the Architect.
Clara was only a step behind her, and they nearly ran right into the Doctor when they collided in the hall leading up to the great big door Psi had been trying to open. The computer was blinking red, signaling failure. Clara scowled. "It's not opening. Psi...he died for nothing."
The Doctor looked rather grim as he scanned the mechanisms with his sonic screwdriver and reported, "Multiple locks. Last one is still in place." He whirled around and tore into the computer's panels, peering at what he found. "Atomic seal. Unbreakable, even for me." Jay's eyebrows lifted. She'd thought the sonic only failed when it came to wood or even dead locks. "But the Architect would know that. He wouldn't bring us all this way for nothing."
"And get two people killed," Clara said bitterly.
"Exactly. There must be some logic."
"Logic? People are dead," seethed Jay, but he ignored her statement and looked up, thinking. A sound rumbled through the air, and she jumped. "Thunder?"
"A storm." The Doctor was still peering at the ceiling, this time with growing excitement. "The storm's tripping the system. That's what the Architect's got, a storm."
Clara furrowed her brow, dark eyes puzzled. She clearly didn't understand what the Doctor was getting at. She looked between them as she demanded somewhat crossly, "How would he know when a storm hit?"
The Doctor only laughed, and Jay could have hit him for that. She had her fists clenched to begin with. It would have been oh, so easy to do so. "Of course," he nearly cackled, backing away after closing up the panel. He stared excitedly at the door. "Stupid, stupid Doctor. Whoever planned all this...they're in the future."
Understanding flickered to life, and Jay rasped, "It's not just a bank heist, is it?"
He flashed her a grin. She saw bits and pieces of her Doctor in there, in the mischievous tip of his brow, in the wide smile. Different face, of course, but the same man somewhere underneath. "It's a time heist," he said. "We've been sent back in time to the exact moment of the storm, to be in exactly the right place when it hits, because that's the only time the bank is vulnerable."
"Vault unlocked," reported the computer as the door swung open, and the Doctor entered without hesitation.
"It explains why we're not here in the TARDIS," he commented as he looked around, studying the various safety deposit boxes that surrounded them with significant interest. When Jay glanced at him questioningly, not bothering to voice her confusion, he explained, "The solar disruption would have made navigation impossible. The one time the bank is vulnerable is the one time we can't just land."
They began hunting through various lockboxes, their eyes darting from one to one until the Doctor came across one marked with a code that Clara noted had been on the previous silver case. The moment they realized there was something inside - a case containing what the Doctor told them was a neophyte circuit, which was a circuit that could reboot any system and replace any lost date - they realized what they were finding.
"Psi," said Clara softly, heartbroken, and Jay slipped her hand into Clara's, giving it a tight squeeze. Clara had been quite fond of poor Psi, and Jay knew it.
"Doctor," Jay said quietly, urgently as she looked over her shoulder. She could hear the sad, mournful song of the Teller, slowly making its way in their direction. "We need to get going. We need to find the other code and go. The Teller's coming."
The Doctor agreed and they quickly tracked down another box: gene suppressant, meant for Saibra. "She wanted to be normal," Jay murmured, pocketing the bottle when the Doctor passed it to her. He kept Psi's circuit in his own pocket, determined to keep them safe. "So if they came for these, what did you come for?" she questioned with a curious look at the Doctor, and then Clara. And what had she come from? She would have guessed the Doctor initially, but Clara had said that another face tracked her down, not this one. So what was she there for?"
"'PV,'" recalled Clara.
"Private vault," the Doctor realized. He whirled around, excited to find out what might be in the private vault - only to run smack into the Teller. He rebounded off of the creature, eyes wide, and Jay sucked in a sharp breath. She'd been so focused on the puzzle at their feet that she'd bypassed something a little more important.
Oops.
Jay found herself sandwiched between the Doctor and Clara, deafened by the Teller's song so loud in her ears. Jay hunched her shoulders, wishing she could drown it out as the woman from the bank's main lobby studied them, clicking her tongue. She'd introduced herself as Delphox, though she'd not bothered to ask them their names. "Intruders are most welcome," she was telling them, and Jay fought the urge to look over her shoulder at the two armed guards on either side of her. One wore a helmet; the other was a bearded man with an emotionless face. She felt sick, her stomach twisting with fear. This was too much like the situation with the Master for her to be comfortable. "They remind us that the bank is impregnable. It's good for morale to have a few of you scattered about the place, preferably on view."
Jay glanced at the security footage displayed on the wall behind Delphox. Every camera was focused on a potential intruder, trapped in a cell. Her heart ached for them. And she hoped they didn't end up like that, too.
Delphox smiled, showing them perfect white teeth. "Are you ready for your close-up?" she purred. "If you're thinking of ways to escape, the Teller will know before you've even made a move. You'll never be bothered by all that thinking again."
"Useful species," commented the Doctor with a glance at the Teller.
"Last of its kind and we've signed an exclusive deal."
Jay's heart broke. No wonder it was so lonely. She looked back at it, too, wanting nothing more than to hug the poor thing. It was quiet at the moment. When Jay looked at the Doctor for his reaction, he looked as if he was calm, but she could tell there was a layer of fury hidden behind his stern expression. He hated when people used such creatures in these ways.
"Must be noisy in its head," he said, voice low. "Painful to listen to so much chatter. So many secrets. Must drive it wild. How can you force it to obey?"
Delphox smiled secretively, her dark eyes lighting with cruelty that made Jay want to scream at her. "Everything has a price tag, I think you'll find." She glanced up when a massive crash of thunder filled their ears. "The storm's getting worse, and the customers ar4e leaving. Director Karabraxos will be concerned. Our jobs will be on the line."
"You're scared," Jay breathed, recognizing that fear that flickered so briefly over Delphox's face.
She hid it well. "Oh, I'm terrified. I have the disadvantage of knowing Karabraxos personally." When the Doctor challenged her, wondering why she didn't just leave, Delphox smiled coldly and said, "My face fits. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must take the Teller to its hibernation. You two," she addressed the armed guards, and Jay's face paled, "dispose of our guests."
As she and the Teller left, the guards shifted, turning to face them, and Doctor immediately pushed Clara and Jay back, urging them away from the guards as best as he could. Jay clutched his arm, her heart racing in her chest as he began rambling to the guards, "Don't do this. I'm having a very bad day, and I do not want to be-"
"You're wrong," the bearded man cut in, a smile breaking out over his face, and she stared in wide-eyed alarm. It was rare that someone looked so pleased to see them in a situation like this. Usually, they were trying to kill them. "It's not a bad day, and you're being very slow."
"Um," said Clara, staring at the other guard as he began to undo her handcuffs.
The bearded man laughed softly and Jay found herself smiling in return when his face melted into a familiar one. "Saibra," she breathed, and Saibra gave her a wicked smile as the other guard removed his helmet, revealing himself to be Psi. They both looked rather pleased.
"It looked like death, but it was actually a teleporter," he told them, and Clara tackled him in a hug, laughing in relief. "Good, eh? You think we're dead, so the Teller thinks we're dead, and we play the creature at his own mind games. There's this escape ship in orbit, takes you right there. And there's this big blue box. That yours?"
Jay couldn't help but laugh and clap her hands together excitedly. The TARDIS! She wanted nothing more than to step inside and greet the old girl again, just as she had so many times before. "Saibra!" she said excitedly. "Here." She pressed the gene suppressant the Doctor had told her to hold onto, and Saibra stared at it in shock. "It's what you wanted, right?"
"Yes," breathed Saibra, her eyes filling with tears. "Yes. Thank you."
"Memory giver," added the Doctor, passing the circuit he'd carried to Psi in a similar fashion. He looked excited, barely able to breathe as he pocketed it for later. "Job done, paid in full. Clever old Architect. I still hate him."
"How were you paid?" asked Psi, looking between the three of them, and the Doctor shrugged, looking over his shoulder. The private vault. That was probably where they'd find their reason for being there.
But Jay only looked at the four that she was with and smiled widely. She'd already been paid in full, too. Simply being there had been her payment, she was sure, and Jay found she wouldn't have had it any other way.
When they entered the private vault at the center of the Bank of Karabraxos, Jay was nearly blinded by the sheer amount of gold. Jay blinked a few times to clear her vision, in some awe of the items there. There was even what looked to be a mummy's gold-crested sarcophagus, which she peered at it with distinct interest. Perhaps she'd eventually ask if the Doctor could take her to visit ancient Egypt. It seemed like a fun enough adventure.
"Director Karabraxos?" the Doctor said, eyes locked on a high-backed velvet chair. He stopped dead in his tracks when it spun around to reveal a woman that was identical to Delphox, and even Saibra looked stunned by the similarity. "We've come to rob you."
She gave a cold, cutting laugh. "With what? You didn't bring any weapons. Bit of an oversight, don't you think? Security," she said, leaning forward and pressing a button as she spoke into an intercom. "Karabraxos here. Intruders in the private vault. Send me the Teller. I want to find out how they got in, and then I want their memories wiped."
"Yes, ma'am," said Karabrxos's voice over the intercom in turn. "Of course."
"A clone," explained Karabraxos hastily as soon as she spotted their startled, confused expressions. "It's the only way to control my own security. I have a clone in every facility. Get on it," she barked into the intercom then. "Right away. And then hand in your credentials. You're fired, effective immediately."
The clone - Delphox, Jay guessed - protested. "But please, I've been in your service-"
"Ever since the last one let me down and I was forced to kill it," she retorted. "I can't believe that you're putting me through this again." She snorted as she sat back, ending the contact. She scowled lightly at them. "My clone. And yet she doesn't even protest. Pale imitation." Karabraxos scoffed. "I should sue."
"You're killing her?" Clara breathed, looking horrified. "But you just said-"
"Fired? I put all of the used clones into the incinerator. Can't have too many of moi scattered around." She batted her eyelashes with a cold, unfeeling smile, and Jay found that she wasn't impressed by the woman at all. Karabraxos was no different than the other wealthy members of society that she'd met. She lifted her chin, staring Karabraxos down when she suddenly glanced at her. Surprise flickered over the director's face. "Those eyes," she said, smiling widely, "and that chin. An O'Connors, in my vault? What a treat."
"Not really," said Jay, unimpressed by the sight before her. "I much prefer people without a dime in their names than people like you."
Karabraoxs looked so terribly insulted that the Doctor hastily cut in, dragging her attention away from Jay. "She hates her own clones," he told Psi, Jay, Saibra, and Clara, who looked downright confused by what he was getting at. "She burns her own clones...frankly, you're a career break for the right therapist," he told Karabraxos, who scowled. But then he stilled, and he breathed, "Shut up. Everybody, just shut up."
"And what is this display now?" crooned Karabraxos, rolling her eyes.
The Doctor rounded on her, barking, "Shut up. Just shut up, shut up, shut up, shut uppity up. You," he rounded on Saibra, who reeled back in surprise at being so rudely addressed by the rushed Time Lord. "What did you say about your own eyes. De-shut up. Say it again."
She glanced at Clara, confused, who shrugged, and then said slowly, "How can you trust someone if they look back at you out of your own eyes?"
The Doctor laughed, and it wasn't a very joyful one. Jay furrowed her brow, curious, as he declared, "I know one thing about the Architect. What is it that I know about the Architect? I know one thing. Something that I've known from the very start. I hate him. I hate the Architect. He's overbearing, manipulative, likes to think he's very clever. I hate him!"
"What in the name of sanity is going on in this room now?" muttered Karabraxos, smoothing a curled lock of red hair from her face, and the Doctor scowled at her.
"We're getting sanity judgement from the self-burner," mused the Doctor, and Jay couldn't help the choked laugh that escaped her then. The Doctor bolted to her desk, snatching a quill that had been sitting in a little glass jar of ink. He grabbed a piece of paper, too. When Karabraxos scowled, annoyed he'd come to her desk in such a way, he said, "I'm giving you my telephone number."
"Why?" she demanded.
The Doctor scribbled something down and said, "Well, I thought you might like to call me one day. Sorry, I thought we were getting along famously. Am I misreading the signals or something?" A loud crash of thunder deafened them and Jay slapped her hands over her ears, flinching violently. "Oh, that was a big one, wasn't it. I think your bank is about to close for good Karabraxos. If I was you, I'd get going. Don't mind us, we'll stay here and burn." He withdrew until he stood with his companions again, and Clara spoke up, looking somewhat worried about the solar storm happening outside.
"Doctor," she said urgently, "what's the plan? Is there a plan?"
"We can use the shredders and get back to the ship," suggested Saibra, holding up her own. Jay realized it would likely still work, which meant there were still five left with the Doctor. But-
"Oh," she breathed, eyes widening. "But they're teleports, and there's five. Not three left, but five."
The Doctor flashed her a wide smile, and for the first time since Jay had opened her eyes and found herself holding that memory worm, she thought he was actually looking at her and not feeling some kind of unnamed emotion. He was actually pleased to see her. But he rounded on Karabraxos when a computer announced that the vault doors had opened. "Give me a call!"
She paused to glare over her shoulder at him. "You'll be dead."
He only said, "And you'll be old. We'll get on famously. You'll be old and full of regret for the things that you can't change." She snorted and disappeared, the doors sliding shut behind her. When she was gone, the Doctor whipped back around. "Right!" he said. "I need my memory back. And I think there's only one way to do that. Soup."
"Soup?" muttered Clara, confused, but Jay had already snapped around, realizing what was coming. The Teller. She could hear it coming, its song echoing in her head. She latched onto the Doctor's arm.
"Are you sure about this?" hissed Jay, eyes locked on the vault doors as they opened and revealed the Teller, still trapped in a straightjacket. It moaned as it spotted them, and the Doctor shrugged her off without a response, approaching the Teller until it latched onto the Doctor's thoughts. He dropped to his knees when it did so, expression pained, but when Clara shouted in protest, trying to figure out how to stop it, the Doctor stopped her.
"Don't! Let it take me. Let it read me."
"Doctor…" Jay protested, and Clara bit her lip, just as worried.
"Trust me," the Doctor insisted, and Jay was startled by those two words. How long had it been since she'd heard them? Actually believed in what he was asking of her? The last time she'd heard them, those words had come from her own mouth, just before she'd been kidnapped for an afternoon by the Master. She would never forget the look on the Doctor's face, the hug that had followed. This was not that Doctor; this was a new Doctor. But that look of determination...the confidence, the flash in his eyes…
"Always," breathed Jay, and the Doctor laughed, pained but delighted.
As the Teller began its feast, the Doctor rambled. "There are so many memories in here. Feast on them. Tuck in. Big scarf, bow tie, bit embarrassing. What do you think of the new look? I was hoping for minimalism, but I think I came up with magician. In the last few days, there's been a black. Tell me why I'm here. Show me!"
Clara uttered a nervous sound, scared for the Doctor, but Jay wound her arm through Clara's and urged, "Trust him. It'll work out. He knows something he has yet to share with the class, Clara, and I'm sure it'll turn out alright."
Clara nodded, dark hair brushing over her cheeks. Jay puzzled over her again for just a moment. Where the hell had she seen Clara before? But before she could really try and push through her own memories, the Doctor nearly fell forward onto his face. He scrambled up onto his feet as the Teller released him, excited. "We had to delete our own memories, otherwise you'd have known," he said, and Jay realized he was addressing the Teller.
"And then she'd have known," he continued. "Because you were mentally linked. But she's gone now - they've all gone. They have no power over you now. You can do exactly what you want to do now, exactly what you've always wanted to do."
The Teller turned away from them, lumbering towards a wall. On that wall, there was a lock, and it began to turn as the Teller approached. Jay was the first to follow on swift feet, her heart racing in her chest as the safe's door slowly began to crack open.
Clara was less eager to follow. "That thing killed people," she said uncertainly.
"And so would a lot of people," Jay said, eyes locked on the creature that was curled up in the safe, wailing. "To protect the one you loved, Clara." She fell to her knees, prying at the straight jacket and the chains. Psi raced over upon realizing what was happening to help, and together, they freed it. "There were two. Not the last of its species, the last two."
No wonder the Doctor had agreed to rob the bank. He knew exactly what it would have been like for the Teller. Jay hoped that, at the very least, Clara helped to lessen some of the pain since she wasn't apparently there anymore.
Saibra was grinning from where she stood. "Exit strategy. Seven shredders."
"This wasn't a bank heist," the Doctor agreed. "It was a rescue mission for a whole species. Flesh and blood, the last currency." He rounded on the Teller, who roared in triumph as its fellow alien finally rose to its feet. "What do you think, big man? Time to go home?" The alien roared again, and Jay found that though she was smiling, there were tears pouring down her face again.
The ship was safe in its place in orbit, the Doctor told them when Clara expressed some concern about lingering there. Saibra and Psi seemed comfortable, as if they'd explored a little when they'd both ended up there initially. The Doctor barely cared about the ship they stood in, too focused on the Teller and its companion, who stuck close and seemed content to follow the Doctor's requests.
Jay barely cared, too. Not as she spotted the beautiful blue box. Clara and the Doctor were muttering to one another about something or another, but Jay found that she couldn't stop herself from pressing her hands against the familiar blue wood. "Hi, lovely," she whispered, tears pricking her eyes, and the TARDIS seemed to cry a greeting, too. Her song rose and fell loudly enough that even the Doctor paused to look over.
She'd changed a bit, the TARDIS. The wood was just a little bit of a different blue, and the doors and windows had changed. Just like the Doctor. Jay stroked the wood, her heart skipping a beat. She had no doubt in her mind that the inside of the TARDIS had changed, too.
And she wasn't quite ready to see it yet.
She gave the TARDIS a final pat, promising to see her soon, and then turned her head to look when the Doctor quietly called her name. He was approaching, Clara hovering near Psi and Saibra. She was pretending to talk with them, but Jay knew she was watching anxiously. The Doctor stopped a short distance from Jay, his gaze hesitant. That was a first. This Doctor seemed to exude at least false confidence most of the time. "Come with us," he said, and Jay couldn't help but smile.
"No," she said firmly, a word she'd never thought she'd use in this situation. "Thank you, Doctor, truly, but...no. I was waiting, and I think I'd wait forever, honestly. But we both know that you're a few steps ahead of me right now. Ask me again, the next time I see you. I'll have a different answer."
He seemed pained by that, and she saw his response in his expression. No, you won't. She took his hand, squeezing it. "I don't know why I chose to leave," she said quietly, "but I will always be up for a visit. This me, a future me. I don't care which. Never be afraid to stop in, okay?"
"You could have asked," he mused.
"I could have," she admitted, because she knew just looking at him that something had happened. He knew something she didn't, likely about her. It was why she wasn't there anymore. It had to be. "But we also could have fooled River Song into giving us answers in the Library, right? I'll find out in time." She flashed him a hesitant smile that he returned. "I get the feeling I won't like the answers, but I'll get them in time." She searched his gaze. "Why?" she finally asked, her voice soft. "Why didn't you just...tell me? You didn't have to trick me out of the TARDIS like you did."
"You would have tried to find a way around it, and it was too dangerous," he said simply, albeit guiltily, and Jay snorted loudly.
"You don't know that," she protested, but the look on his face made her smile sheepishly. Maybe she would have. She would have argued at least. "You still broke your promise."
"I know." He was quiet, still guilty. "And I'm sorry."
Jay studied him for a few more moments before glancing over at the others. They were all watching them now. "You ought to get going. I need to call Jack and see if he can come get me. He'll be worried anyways, seeing as you kidnapped me." She gave him an accusing look, wishing she could recall what had led up to her leaving the weihnachtsmarkt. Without hesitation, Jay reached up and gently seized his head between her hands. She drew him down, forcing him to bend to her level so she could press a fond kiss to his forehead, just as he'd done so often to her. "Be safe, and take care of Clara, okay? She seems like she's good for you."
"She is," he agreed, and she smiled sadly as she stepped back. The Doctor looked saddened, too. As if he truly wished she'd come with them.
"I'll see you again," she promised, but he didn't seem convinced. Still, she winked, and went to bid the others farewell. She wrapped Psi and Saibra in tight hugs before she finally finished with Clara, hugging Clara and whispering in her ear, "Take care of the Doctor, okay? He needs you. More than you probably think."
"You're not coming?" Clara said, startled. "How are you-"
"I'm going to take another way back." Jay stepped back with a wink.
She caught glimpses of the TARDIS's inside as the Doctor ushered the others in. The Teller lumbered in with its fellow alien, and the Doctor hesitated as he turned to step inside, too. He gave Jay one more look, and she waved, finding it quiet already. He'd take care to rehome the pair, and she hoped desperately that Clara would stick with him when he needed her. And that he'd truly find another version of Jay if he needed her.
The TARDIS door shut behind him, and Jay closed her eyes, letting the sound of the TARDIS dematerializing sink in, soothing her tired soul.
The Doctor would come back, of that she was sure. It didn't ease the pain of never getting to say goodbye to the Doctor who'd saved her from the darkness, but at least she could look forward to the hello she'd give the one who came to find her again. In the meantime, she needed to get back. She patted her pockets with a grimace, realizing she should have double-checked before the TARDIS had gone, but paused when she spotted something where the TARDIS had been.
It was her coat, she realized. Her lips split into a relieved grin as she hurried over to gather it. She paused when she spotted her phone, already prepped for a call to Jack, and the psychic paper left atop the coat. She curiously picked up the psychic paper, peering at it. A startled laugh escaped her.
The Doctor had left a message for her, a final gift before he'd left.
Leadworth.
Time heist! The 12th Doctor! Why not. I love this episode, it's one of my favorites, and we get some confusion and future things to come for Jay, too. Next up...we get our official return to the TARDIS, with some fun to come. ;) I'm particularly excited for a few episodes in the 11th Doctor's era, where we'll finally get some information regarding Jay's condition. :D
Happy Halloween to those who enjoy the holiday! :)
Thanks to reviewers (EchoMoment, savethemadscientist, Spiffygirl90, and LPWomer!) as well as those who favorited and followed!