Osgood was met with a series of frowns as she stepped back out into the main room, from everyone but her other self who understood how she had been really starting to struggle to resist the creature's attempts at freedom.
"She shouldn't be in there on her own," Clara stated, "maybe I should go in."
Kate shook her head, "No, she wouldn't have suggested to be left alone if she didn't have a reason. She may be a Time Lord, but she's not an idiot," she turned to the Osgood who had been in the cell with her, "she sounded like she had things under control, would you agree?"
Osgood nodded, "I've never seen anyone handle being in there for a prolonged period that well. She seems to be rotating the creature through the Doctors bodies."
Clara frowned, "Can you do that? I thought it latched onto whatever you wanted the most."
"And she has a collection of husbands to want," Kate replied, "that's quite ingenious, actually."
"Kate, unlock its legs." Danni called over the intercom. Kate frowned, looking at the Osgoods, who seemed just as surprised as everyone else. That meant that there had been no indication that this was something she was going to ask.
She leant over to the microphone, "Danni, are you sure? I don't think that's wise."
They all watched her, but she didn't seem distressed, or give them any indication that she didn't want them to do as she said, "Do it, Kate."
Kate wasn't happy with it, and very nearly didn't follow the orders from the Time Lord inside. However, without her help, they had no idea what to do with the creature. Not one of their soldiers could actually take a shot at the creature, none of them could, so they had no way of stopping it. And that was assuming their guns would work against it.
With a great reluctance, she let the creature free, but it didn't stand. They all relaxed slightly because if Danni hadn't been making progress with it, then they would have been watching a bloodbath instead of her calmly sat at the table.
Then she screamed, pushing out of the chair and falling to the floor as the blurred creature jumped up, knocking the table out of the way to get close to her. Kate slammed her hand down on a big red button and an alarm began sounding out, red lights flashing to alert the building that help was needed, and it was needed now.
Clara had seen all she needed, she rushed to the door of the cell, "Open it up!" She ordered. Her heart raced as Danni's screams and panicked words came through over the intercom, and the moment the door unlocked she was through. She didn't really have much of a plan, all she knew was that she needed to get her friend out of there and fast.
Again, the moment the inner door unlocked, she threw it open, hoping beyond anything not to find Danni being eaten alive by the creature. They should never have let her in, and they definitely should never have left her alone once they had. UNIT was going to be getting a strongly worded letter at the very least, depending on the outcome. She managed to get a whole branch of McDonalds to change its seating arrangements based off one letter, she knew she'd do just fine with one simple government organisation.
If the worst had happened, though, she wouldn't need to bother. One phone call and their whole organisation would be brought down by one man in a blue box.
Fortunately, it didn't need to come to that. She spotted Danni the moment the doors opened, pressed against the far wall, her eyes wide in fear. Clara quickly turned her attention to the alien, her intention to keep an eye on it so Danni could get to her. What she found, though, was Danni stood at the other side of the room, eyes wide in fear, just like her duplicate across the room.
"Clara!" They both shouted in the same, scared voice and Clara didn't know what to do about it. That wasn't right at all. The creature should be showing her exactly what she wanted. Not only did the fact that it had taken Danni's form just make her rescue attempt infinitely harder, but that wasn't who she wanted most of all at all. Surely, if it was going to be any Danni, it would have been Danny Pink who she saw across the room.
"Er…" She was completely at a loss of what to do, "that's not right."
"Clara, get out of here!" They both shouted at her simultaneously, before turning and glaring at the other one.
"I can't," she replied, looking at the first Danni she had spotted, "I'm here to save you…" She looked back at the other Danni, "Well, I was…" How was she supposed to know who to save when she had no way of telling the difference between them both? She wanted to get them both out equally. In fact, she was surprised with just how desperately she wanted to save them. It was the same intensity as when she ever saw her friends in danger, but there was something else, something foreign in her head telling her to save Danni.
She shook her head, "This isn't going to work," she told them all, closing her eyes for a moment and focusing on what she wanted the most. It wasn't Danni, of course it wasn't Danni, it was Danny. Mr Danny Pink, who had no idea where she was right now.
She opened her eyes again what was only a moment later, and felt a giant sense of relief at the very confused Danny Pink who had replaced the fake Danni. She held her hand out to the real Danni, "Come on!" She cried and Danni wasted no time running to her friend. The creature chased Danni, all the while crying out for Clara's help.
It had an almost overwhelming effect on her. She had to stop from running forward into his arms, desperate to drag him out, but she fought it enough to get Danni into the antechamber.
"Shut the bloody door!" Clara shouted to whoever was listening. The door quickly slammed shut and just being out of sight of the creature was enough to cut the link. Now, where she wanted to break him free, she felt just relief that they'd go away.
"That," she panted, "was the strangest thing we've done in a while." Danni just nodded.
~0~0~0~
Danni was surprised at herself when it wasn't the teeth in the Master's unnaturally lowered jaw that scared her down to the core. No, it was the sudden realisation that the Master was sat in front of her. That, in some form, someone could look into her head and see the terror she felt at the mere thought of the man. That it could be found, and used against her, and she had no one to help her fight back.
She jumped out of her chair quickly, pushing back and away, a scream still on her lips as she tried to get as far away from the creature as possible. Her mind was racing, trying to remind herself again and again that it wasn't the Master, and that she didn't need to be scared of anything but the giant teeth that were pointed ready to tear her limb from limb.
The room began to flash red, an alarm sounding through the room as she realised that someone was coming to save her. That was good, that was really good because she really wasn't sure she would be able to save herself.
She backed up towards the wall as the creature advanced on her, it's jaw popping as it reshaped into the Master's mouth once again, "Don't run, Danielle. It's pointless, your fear smells so good." She shook her head.
"My fear isn't real," she replied, "you've forced it on me like you with the need to free you."
It shrugged, "You're right, but it's still causing the same chemical reaction in your body that gives you such a wonderful taste."
She frowned, though, as she thought upon it. Yes, she was scared. There was nothing surprising about that as she was waiting to be eaten alive by something that had taken the shape of the man she feared above all else. But it still wasn't at the level as her need to release Eleven from his restraints. It wasn't forced, or overwhelming, it was just the normal level of terror she should have been feeling.
The door opened and both of the turned to see Clara stood there, looking desperate and eager to save her, "Clara!" She called as the creature chuckled.
"Oh, she's fun," he crooned, "I'm going to have to play with her. You should see what she sees."
"Er… that's not right," Clara replied slowly, looking between them and looking very confused. Danni completely understood. Even understanding that she was going to see the Doctor in the cell, it still was a slightly surreal experience. For Clara, it must have been bizarre.
"Clara, get out of here!" She commanded as the Master licked his lips, turning to the other woman.
"Oh, she's fully human, isn't she?" He asked, "I'm going to enjoy her before I have you, I think."
"I can't," Clara replied, unaware of the threat being thrown her way, "I'm here to save you…" Her eyes flickered between them like she was trying to fight the pull of the creature, "Well, I was…"
Danni had to get her out of there. Before Clara had stepped in, Danni had been focused on surviving another encounter with the Master. Now, though, her fear had shifted to the idea of Clara being eaten.
That wasn't right, though, was it? Her fear shouldn't shift; her want didn't, after all. The more time the creature spent as Eleven, the more she had fallen under its spell, whereas this didn't seem the way at all this time around. There was something off about this second stage compared to the first, and she needed to work it out.
"Come on!" Clara shouted over to her, holding her hand out and Danni decided that she was right. Getting out first would probably help a lot more than trying to work it out from within the cell. She ran over, grabbing her hand and the two ran out of the room.
"Shut the bloody door!" Clara shouted and they did, cutting them off from the creature and Danni immediately felt better.
"That was the strangest thing I've done in a while," Clara told her, but Danni didn't answer. Now she wasn't so scared, her internal anger started to rage. It was a stupid mistake; one she should have been better than. The door to the control room opened and she stormed out, much to Clara's surprise.
She should have known better than to get comfortable in front of that Eleven. She should have been more focused, people had died, but no matter what was going on, she couldn't help but get into sucked into the Doctor telling a story.
"Are you alright?" Osgood asked, the one dressed up as said Time Lord.
"No, I'm not!" Danni snapped, although her anger wasn't directed at the woman who was asking her. She leant against the door to the cell, smacking the wall hard, "Oh, that was such an idiotic thing to do! The Doctor wouldn't have done that!"
"Done what?" Kate asked.
"Lost concentration like that! I can do better than that, but I let myself get sucked in like a bloody idiot!" She raged, "I let myself get pulled into something I had complete control over."
"It's hard to fight," the Danni-Osgood reassured her, "I almost let it free myself."
"You don't understand, all I had to do was think on another incarnation and it wouldn't have been an issue," she explained, "but it did at least let me have a look at the second phase, and I know it's all in that one."
"You mean the fear phase?" Kate asked, "Did it say something to you that you recognised?"
Danni shook her head, "No. Well, yes, but not from then. It's from the planet Chimen, and I do know that name even if I don't know where from."
"What's annoying you, then?" Clara asked.
"The fact that it changed," she replied, "I don't understand it. It kept going on and on about how fear tasted good, but it had me doing what it wanted. Why not just eat me?"
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Clara retorted as the soldiers Kate had called in with the alarm came into the room.
"The creature is out of its restraints, put it back in," she commanded. Danni shook her head
"No, no don't do that," she contradicted, "I want it free, I might need it."
"What could you possibly need it free for?"
"I don't know yet," Danni snapped, "why did it change to eat me?"
"Ma'am?" The head soldier asked Kate, who rolled her eyes.
"Fine, wait," she grumbled, "but we can't let it out."
"I'm not asking you to. I need… Oh, I need to be better at this!" Danni exclaimed, "I need to know where it's from," she pointed to the Osgoods, "I need you to do something for me."
"Of course," one Osgood replied.
"What do you need?" The other added.
"It recited a little poem at me. I need you to look up the Shadow Men."
"The Shadow Men?"
"The Shadow Men will come, my dear, if you should step out of the way. The Shadow Men will eat you, my dear, if you stay too long to play.'" The Time Lord repeated, "It sounds like a nursery rhyme, something used to scare kids into doing what they're told. UNIT had a large database of information, get me anything." Both Osgoods nodded and left.
Danni pointed at Clara, "Right, sassy companion, tell me what I'm missing."
Clara shrugged, "I have no idea," she replied bluntly and Danni shot her an exasperated look.
"Help me work it out," Danni commanded as she started to pace, "the creature transforms into whatever you want the most, luring you towards it of your own free will."
"Then, when it has you, it changes form into whatever you fear the most because, apparently, you taste better," Clara finished.
"But when it changes form, you're no longer under its power, which means you have a chance of escaping. Changing form makes no sense unless it needs to," Danni continued.
"Why would it have to, though?" Clara replied, "Is it because it can't eat you in the first form?"
Danni nodded, "That must be it," she agreed. "It must not be just a change in the outside form. Something must be happening to its own physiology as well. Maybe its digestion opens or something? There was this species we met just before Christmas and they could only eat when their arms were spread out because the muscles tightened around their stomachs."
Clara frowned, "That sounds like an awful way to eat," she commented.
"Everything was eaten through very long straws. It's very messy, I wouldn't recommend it," she replied. "So, it needs to be in the second phase to eat you, which involves breaking the psychic link between itself and the host."
"But then why not keep that form the entire time?" Kate asked, "It would be easier to just stay in the second form and keep the connection going."
"It must not be able to," Danni reasoned, her eyes widening in realisation. "Oh, that's it. It's weaker in its second form."
"Are you sure?" Clara asked, "because you were pretty terrified when I walked in."
"Yes, but that was normal fear. I always feel like that when I even think of the Master. The want I felt for Eleven was forced, it wasn't natural. I wasn't able to fight it off straight away. The fear for the Master shifted the moment you came into the room. It was unable to form the same connection when it was in the second form, which is why it goes for fear instead of want."
"But why? Like you said, you were under its control when you wanted it."
"Yes, but it's harder to fake want," Danni reasoned, "fear can come just from an image of the thing you're most scared of. Want takes effort, you need to be exactly right or the illusion won't work. And, if the fear is strong enough…"
"Fear can immobilise you," Kate finished for her and she nodded, "So, if we want to keep it here, we need to keep it in its second form? Otherwise anyone could release it any moment?"
"No, I don't think that'll work," Danni replied. "I doubt it'd leave itself vulnerable if it didn't think it had a fighting chance. Unless there's a way to force it to change, it won't offer that up."
"So we leave it in isolation, then," Kate decided, "No one goes in there again."
"You can't leave it in there to rot," Clara countered. "Alright, it killed a lot of people, but that doesn't mean that you should treat it so inhumanly."
"If we allow anyone in there, they will let it out," Kate pointed out.
"So we bring the Doctor here, get him to take it home where they can deal with it properly," Clara replied, turning to Danni, who was still looking rather bothered about something. "He would, right?"
Danni nodded, "Of course, but I don't think it'll help," she replied, "they're not supposed to be here, it was just a stop off for some snacks. I don't think it would get punished, I think it would bring more."
"Okay, so that's not an option either," Clara grumbled. "So, we have nothing."
"Not true, we know how they work," Danni replied, "but apart from that, yeah, nothing." She sat down heavily in one of the seats, "I'm missing something, I know I am," she told them, "it's something big, and right in my face, but I can't seem to get it." She sighed sadly, "The Doctor would know. I need more information."
Clara turned her back to her frustrated friend, cutting herself and Kate off from her, "Do you think we should call the Doctor?" She asked lowly, "Not that I don't trust Danni, but she's struggling."
"No, I don't think we should," Kate replied, "I trust Danni's judgement and if she thought the Doctor should be here, then she would have brought him by now."
"But they're… you know… they're only dating now. Maybe she doesn't feel like she can ring him?"
"Clara, she knows what she's doing," Kate replied, "she's older than she looks, and she's older than she acts," Clara turned to look at Danni, who was still sat in the chair. Her head was tilted backwards her hand in her hair and her eyes closed as she obviously tried to figure out what she wasn't seeing. "She spent five hundred years on a battlefield, with alien after alien attacking them. She knows what she's doing, she just not used to doing it on her own. But she'll get there."
Clara knew she was right. Danni was better than they all gave her credit for, even herself. Even Clara, who always tried to get the Doctor to see how capable Danni was found herself occasionally doubting her, and she deserved better. She just needed to see it.
Clara's eyes narrowed and she turned back, looking at Kate suspiciously, "Are you doing this to show her?" She asked.
"No, of course not," Kate retorted, like the notion was absurd, "I wouldn't risk national security to make a point to a Time Lord."
"No, I guess not," Clara replied, not quite convinced.
"Of course, we could always do with a Time Lord on the payroll," Kate continued offhandedly, "our last one went AWOL a few decades ago." Clara's mouth dropped and Kate smirked.
"Ma'am?" Osgood's voice came over one of the radio channels and Danni was up off her chair, pushing past the other two women before they could register anything.
"Sweetie, it's Danni, tell me you've found something," she almost begged into the comms.
"Well, we have an extensive library, but we're still pretty limited to what had fallen to Earth," Osgood explained, "I mean, we do have quite a lot of data, not just from books, but from data banks and…"
"Osgood, sweetie, I'm glad you're taking an interest, but I need an answer. Did you find anything?"
"Oh, sorry, yes," She replied, "not a lot, though. Mainly fairy tales from children's books, it would seem. Just the Shadow Men coming to get you if you don't stay on the path, or do as you're told," Danni groaned, "but they seem to have reached quite far out into space, and that's only what we've come into contact with."
"Okay, thanks anyway sweetie," Danni offered. It didn't help that little niggle that she was missing something, but it did open some doors for them. After all, if their fairy tale was all over the universe, then maybe someone in that refugee camp might be able to help.
"No, wait, there is something," Osgood replied, this time her voice was more faint which implied it was the other version of herself, "they all refer to them as Shadow Men."
"Oh, of course," the other Osgood replied, this time sounding less than optimistic.
"So?" Clara asked, confused as to why that was a big deal, "maybe they just planted the fairy tale themselves."
Danni shook her head, "No, no, that's it!" She exclaimed, "Are you sure?" She asked the Osgoods, "No Shadow Women, or persons, or just Shadows. All of them are Shadow Men?"
"Every one, ma'am." Osgood replied and Danni nodded.
"Get yourself back here now. Stick together."
"Yes ma'am."
"What is it?" Kate asked, seeing the same light on her face that she saw on the Doctor's when he figured out something, "What does it mean?"
"Don't you see?" She asked the two, "Shadow Men. Plural. Always men, always plural. The creature was on a flight with a group of its kind!"
"There's more than one?" Kate asked, even though she knew the answer. Danni nodded, "But forensics only found evidence of one attacker."
"It said it got cocky. Maybe it went out on its own," Danni continued, "it said it couldn't get enough of the taste of human." She stormed back over to the microphone for the intercom in the cell. The creature was still on the monitor, the blur moved leisurely around the small area like it didn't have a care in the world.
She watched the blur move for a moment, then changed her mind. She commanded the soldiers to let her in. She stepped into the antechamber, but didn't go any further into the cell than the doorway.
"There's more than one of you, isn't there?" She asked it, "You said that you wanted to stay behind, you just left out the rest, didn't you?"
The creature smirked, now back to Twelve, "They'll be here in a minute," it told him in the Doctor's Scottish accent, "and you are all going to taste delicious."
It didn't make a dash for it, and it didn't change into the Master to scare her into staying still. They just stared at each other, the creature triumphant, Danni solemn and determined.
In a minute? Now 'they'll save me'. No, 'in a minute' sounded a lot more certain than that.
She turned, slamming the door behind her. She stepped back into the room, where Osgood had re-joined them.
"I need all camera feeds," she commanded, "every camera in the Tower, give me them all."
"Whatever for?" Kate asked.
"Get me it!"
~0~0~0~
Watching Danni command a group of technicians was a strange experience for Clara. She had never really thought about their time on Trenzalore, mainly because five hundred years was a longer period of time than Clara could comprehend, and then the Doctor's extra three hundred years on top of that, it seemed more like a story than anything. But while Danni had told her tales from her time on the planet, she'd never really been able to picture her friend actually in the role of commander.
And yet, there she was, motioning to one of the consoles, telling the people where she wanted the extra screens, what she wanted to be displayed and she was suddenly hit with just how much she actually knew how to do. It made her rather proud to see the steps she'd made.
Still, it meant that she and Kate were left to the side somewhat, letting her do her thing so she could help save the planet again.
So, it meant Clara could ask a question that had been bugging her from the moment Danni had mentioned it, "Who's the Master?"
Kate looked at her, a little surprised by the question, "They never told you?"
"Obviously not," Clara replied. "I've heard them mentioned a couple of times, but I've never had a chance to inquire further, and then I'd forget."
Kate didn't answer straight away, thinking on whether it was her place to answer the question or not, "Do you remember Harold Saxon?" She asked.
"The Prime Minister?" Clara clarified.
"He was the Master," Kate explained. "He was a Time Lord with a vendetta against the universe. He took over the earth the day he was assassinated by his wife."
"I remember that," Clara interrupted, "it happened live on TV, didn't it? After the president was shot? But it didn't last very long, did it?"
"There are accounts of it lasting an entire year," Kate told her, "the Master reigning over Earth building an arsenal to fight the universe for him while Martha Jones walked the Earth, building a resistance."
"That can't be right. I'd remember that, we all would."
"Time was restored, reversed because of the Doctor," Kate continued, "the only people that remember are the people that were in the middle of the reversal. All we have from that time are their accounts, and a collection of books from a group of followers he'd gathered before becoming Prime Minister that are very imaginatively called 'The Secret Books of Saxon'. They told of tales from his past, as well as first-hand accounts of how the Time Child bargained with him. Gave information for the comfort of her friends before falling for him."
Clara took a look at Danni, surprised to hear her working with one of the Doctor's enemies, let alone falling in love with someone else, "Really?" She asked, not quite able to believe it.
"Unfortunately, the truth is a lot darker," Kate said. "The drum noise placed in her head by the Silence," a quick glance at Clara told her that she didn't need to explain that experience any further, "was based on a noise the Master heard. He somehow found out about it and the effects it would have on her, and used that to control her as he saw fit."
Clara, who had looked back at Kate to listen to the explanation, sharply looked back at Danni, horrified, "I'm not sure she is fully aware of what happened to her, but some of the accounts tell of people who had come across them together. None of it paints anything even remotely pleasant, or consensual." Kate continued. Clara couldn't help but watch Danni in a completely different light. She still talked and smiled, nothing outwardly had changed, but now her heart reached out to her friend. She really had no idea.
"No wonder she's scared of him," she whispered.
"I'm not sure that's exactly why," Kate replied, much to Clara's confusion, "there's no denying that it would have devastated her. But, while the Books claim that she fell for him, evidence suggests it was the other way around."
"Really?" Clara scoffed, "because to me he sounds like he wouldn't even know the meaning."
"The Master was a selfish, evil bastard of a man," Kate said bluntly, "but when he had a chance to escape the Valiant, he tried to take her with him."
"And he wouldn't have wasted time on her if he didn't want to?" Clara guessed and Kate nodded.
"For him to put taking her with him over his own escape is a very large statement for a man who would kill the world to save himself. And there's no way that would have escaped her attention. I, personally, think her fear isn't about what he did, but what he would do if he ever came back. Thankfully he is trapped on Gallifrey, where he has a lot of enemies who have a lot of time for him."
Clara nodded slowly, because she could see what Kate was hinting at. With Gallifrey free but lost, there was a chance it would turn up again. Hopefully she was right, and hopefully they would never come across him again.
Although, should he come back, Clara knew it wasn't just the Doctor he would have to deal with. Clara wouldn't let him near Danni again.
"There, right there!" Danni exclaimed, one hand pointing at one of the many monitors she now had, the other waving at the technicians, "Stop, stop on there!"
Both Kate and Clara approached her, interested in what she was so excited about finding. The screens all had images from around the Tower, of all the different offices and labs UNIT had hidden within the old stones walls.
"CCTV?" Clara asked, "What do you need that for?"
"Look!" Danni replied, pointing their attention to one of the monitors. On it was a doorway into the building, a couple of guards standing to attention, and the public visiting the historical sight walking in and out of shot.
"Oh my god," Kate breathed, absolutely horrified.
"How?" One Osgood asked and Clara frowned.
"What? What's wrong?" She asked and Danni nodded her head at the image again.
"Look at the guards, Clara, really look at them," she commanded gently. Clara took another look, not sure what she was supposed to be seeing. One guard was stood there, gun on his shoulder, looking like he worked for the royal guard. The one looked…
She gasped at the sight of the blurred shape on the screen, "It's… It's one of them!" She exclaimed and Danni nodded.
"It said the help would be 'here in a minute'. Not that it was being saved, or that they would save it," she turned to Kate, "you've been infiltrated already. How long have you had it in your custody?"
"Only fifty hours, maybe a couple more," she replied, "we need to check everyone, we need to defend ourselves."
Danni clicked her fingers before pointing at a technician, "Point me a camera at the door," she told them. They quickly did, using the equipment they had brought in, and the doorway appeared on one of the bottom monitors, "Thanks, sweetie!"
She dashed over to the door, coming onto the screen. She waved her hands comically, "Can you see me?"
"Yeah," Clara replied and she rushed back to the console.
"No one comes in and out of there without being checked first," she told them. "You all know it's me, because I wasn't a blur. You all have to leave so we can vet you all."
Kate nodded, "You heard her. Everyone into the hallway!" The staff began to file out. Danni shot Clara a soft smile when she didn't move.
"You too, sweetie," she said apologetically, "better to be safe than sorry." Clara realised that she would have to be checked as well, no one else knew she was herself.
"Of course, sorry," she replied and she dashed out.
"Alright, Clara first!" Danni called. Clara grinned, pleased with herself that she was first. She stepped into the doorway, "All clear, come back here sweetie. Kate next!"
~0~0~0~
"How come we didn't see them, though?" Clara asked once the entire room was checked and deemed safe to enter, "Surely someone should have mentioned that their long-dead mother had turned up at work?"
"They're attempting a rescue mission," Danni replied, spinning slightly in her chair, "they don't want to be caught. They might be wearing shimmers, although I think they may appear on camera, I'm not sure," she shrugged. "There's perception fields, filters and cloaks. They could be able to turn into whatever they want, although I don't think that's likely."
"Okay, I get it," Clara replied.
"That's why we've got the camera," Danni continued, motioning to the doorway where the camera was still pointed, "no one comes in without being checked."
"And, if they do come, what do we do?" Clara asked. Danni spun slightly in her chair until she was facing Kate, looking at her expectantly.
"We lock them up with their friend," she explained, "until we work out what to do with them. We're still not sure if we can hurt them."
"So, what you're saying is that we're defenceless?" Clara asked.
"We've got men getting all of the guns we can find," Kate replied, "and no one can come through that door without being checked on the camera first. If one of them turn up, we'll know about it."
"And if the guns don't work?" Clara pressed. Kate took a glance at Danni, who shrugged.
"We'll work that out when we get there," she dismissed, "we just need to get them all together first. There still might not be a need to fight. We might be able to talk, get them together and convince them to go home and not bring anyone back."
"Do you really think that will work?" Clara asked her and Danni shrugged.
"It has to," she replied, "I don't really want to have to kill them. They're only a small threat right now."
"But you said you thought they might bring more of them back here."
"Maybe they won't," Danni offered. "We have to try; we have to give them a chance." She spun her chair around, taking a look at all the monitors, "What are you thinking, Kate? One room at a time until we've been through them all?"
"We'd have to be pretty quiet about it," Kate replied, "and the room's going to get crowded pretty quickly."
"We could tell them that we're testing the alien, ma'am," Doctor-Osgood suggested. "I'm sure anything trying to get in here to get to its friend will jump at the chance to try and save them."
"It'll have to be one of you," Danni said, agreeing with Osgood's idea, "anyone more military will bring up suspicion. We need it to look like you're just experimenting."
"I'll go," Kate decided, being the most senior member of UNIT in the room."
"Start with your guard mates," Danni told her, "we'll make our way through the rooms we can see them in. Then, maybe, go through the ones we can't just in case."
~0~0~0~
"You're quite good at this, aren't you?" Clara teased Danni as the third creature was quickly thrown in the cell with the others they had captured.
"Well, I like to think of myself as an aging amateur," Danni replied with a grin, motioning over her shoulder to Kate at the doorway. "She's fine! Next!"
Kate let the young lab assistant into the already overcrowded room, "Right, Roger, just step into the doorway."
"What's this for, Ma'am?" The older man asked.
"Just getting your fifteen minutes of fame, Roger," she replied offhandedly, "smile and walk through."
"We're going to need a bigger room," Danni commented, "Roger, you're fine. Come in, enjoy being a star, and give someone else a shot." Roger came in, lodging himself in the remaining space in the room, which happened to be quite close to the cell and, because of this, was quite close to the console where Clara and Danni were sat.
"Why not send us back to where you took us from?" He asked.
"Because we're trying to make sure none of you are human-eating space sirens, Roger," Danni replied, not taking her eyes off the woman on the screen, "you're just going to be a patient little human and not get eaten. Next, Kate!"
Roger, and a couple of the people around her turned to look, "A siren?" Roger asked.
"Oh, shush Roger, you're panicking too much already. Makes for too much energy in the room. She's fine, Kate!"
"In you go," Kate motioned, letting the woman into the room, "he's got a point, Danielle. We need to move out."
"Yes, I know, that's why I sent the technicians out to set up a camera in the next room," Danni replied in an exasperated voice, "Clara's going to go in and help with the checking."
"Sorry, Clara's doing what?" Clara asked, leaning in slightly closer. Danni turned, giving her a giant grin.
"You'll be fine," she promised, "there's another cell in there. You'll have soldiers. Just lock up the blurry ones and keep the non-blurry ones calm," she pointed up to a screen, where there was a group of soldiers and a lab technician waving at the camera, "see? They're ready for you."
Clara opened and closed her mouth to protest, but then realised that it was pointless trying to argue, "You and your husband are made for each other," she muttered before walking out.
"You love it!" Danni shouted after her, "Next, Kate."
Clara appeared on the screen the same time as the third person to be checked in Danni's room. Seeing that she was fine, Danni turned in her chair to give her a thumbs up in the monitor she knew was set up in the other room showing them. Clara shot her a rude gesture and Danni started laughing.
"Alright, next Kate," Danni giggled, motioning for the next person into the scanner. This caused her to pause, because all she could see was a blur. She quickly glanced up at Clara, who also seemed to have frozen. On the stream of her camera was another blur, and she'd only let a couple of people in.
That wasn't a coincidence was it?
"Alright, you're just perfect," Danni called over, "send them into the cell, see how they do against the creature."
Two soldiers walked over, motioning calmly to the cell door, as if they did it to everyone, "This way, Miss," one told the creature in disguise. It was painfully clear some form of perception filter was being used as Danni struggled to focus on them, and the people in the room weren't even paying any attention at all.
"What do I do?" The creature asked in a voice Danni couldn't describe, because once she'd heard it she'd forgotten how it'd sounded.
"Just straight into the cell. There's a list of questions we need you to ask," the soldier explained, "just ask and let us know if it get too much."
At the same time on the screen, the creature with Clara was being lead into its own cell. The front cell doors opened at the same time, and they stepped in. The sound of the second door opening could be heard even over the murmur of the crowd they'd grown.
Then the lights went off. The monitors turned off, the sound off all energy draining from everything filled the room. People started to panic, and then the screams rang out from the cell.
"Get me power!" Kate shouted into her analogue radio, "The generators! Someone power up the generators!"
Danni was already off her chair, stumbling through the darkness to find the door to the cell. As she did, the power was back on, and the lights turned on all at once, blinding them all. She blinked, clearing the spots from her vision.
The cell was empty apart from the gruesome remains of the soldiers who had gone in. A few bones, a lot of blood and tatters of clothing was all that remained of them and the creatures that should have been locked in the room.
"Shit!" Danni screamed, running out to the monitors, "Clara, are you okay?" She asked, even though the brunette couldn't hear her. She watched as the monitors all found their feeds once again.
And Clara's room was completely empty. No soldiers, no UNIT staff, and no Clara.