By unanimous vote, I'm going until series 9 XD Thanks everyone for Voting. xx
Clara:
"The Satanic Nebula." The Doctor was telling me, as the twins, now 13 as they'd gone for a weekend with their dad and, in his words, got distracted, waited for their ma to come back. Scottish Time Lords, gotta love them. In my house, eating all my food. "Or the lagoon of lost stars. Or we could go to Brighton. I've got a whole day worked out."
Sorry, but he just watched me get ready. "Sorry, but as you can see, I've got plans. Plans that don't involve babysitting your twinks."
I was in an open-necked white blouse with a thin black tie knotted halfway down my chest, black trousers with stiletto heels and was putting on a black jacket as the Doctor stared at me. I was wearing Phi's jacket for crying out loud! "Have you?"
"Look at me."
You could see that he was trying to see something different. "Yeah, okay."
"No, no, no. No. Look at me."
Still not understanding. "Yep, looking."
He was so ridiculous. He had a wife who dressed to kill as I put it, and he couldn't tell that I was trying to do the same? "Seriously?"
"Why is your face all coloured in?" Finally, he noticed something, in completely the wrong way. But I had a second Danny Date. Phi knew, obviously, but Arcadia and Sarah Jane weren't around to tell their da that I had things to do today.
"Are you taller? You're taller than Phi." Wasn't exactly hard.
I stuck my foot out behind me to show him. "Heels."
And he still didn't understand. "What, do you have to reach a high shelf?"
"Right, got to go. Going to be late." I didn't have time to babysit them until Phi got home from whatever she was doing. She'd started working with some detective, and was rarely home. Apparently he wanted to meet the twins at some point, but she wanted to wait until they were older.
"For a shelf?"
"Bye." Then a proper, old fashioned telephone started to ring, the emergency TARDIS one. "There you go, you've got another playmate."
Arcadia then got to his feet, a good head smaller than his sister. "Hardly anyone in the universe has that number, da."
It was on my phone, had been since I was a nanny. "Well, I've got it."
The Doctor frowned a little, putting his hand on his sons shoulder. "Yes, from some woman in a shop. We still don't know who what was."
"Is that her now?"
"There are very few people that it could be."
Oh, this couldn't end well. "Don't."
He blinked at me as SJ stood beside me, her hair soooo long by now. "Why not?"
"Because, if you answer it, something will happen, da."
"What?"
Was it brain dead Doctor day? "A thing."
"Huh. It's just a phone, Clara, Sarah Jane. Nothing happens when you answer the phone." And then he picked up the receiver.
SJ:
The next thing I remembered after da picking up the phone, was him screaming and throwing away a memory worm, my brother and Clara either side of me. "Da? Cadia, Auntie Clara?"
"Don't touch it."
"Where are we?" Auntie Clara asked, leaning forwards to check me and my twin. "How did we get here?"
I looked around the table, seeing that next to Clara was a man with computer chips in his head, his hand on a worm. "Who are you? Sorry, what's going on? I don't understand."
Then on dads side, next to him too, was a mutant girl, dark skinned and her cheeks briefly bulged in imitation of the worms horns. Cool. "Argh! What is that thing?"
"It's a memory worm." I shrugged, levitating mine into the middle of the table. It was effortless now, I didn't need much concentration. "What happened to your face?"
Da sighed, explaining more. Come on, you never did that. "Deletes your memories."
Come on, I wanted to know about the mutant girl. "Did you see her face, Cadia?"
"How did I get here?"
My brother just shrugged, phasing his hand through the worm next to him. "The same way we all did, but we've all forgotten. Da, ma is going to kill you, more than you thought she would."
There was a metal case in the middle of the table. "And who are you?" The mutant girl added.
"I am the Doctor, a Time Lord from Gallifrey, one of the last 4 in existence. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will."
"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?"
Then it was my voice. "Yes, you do, Auntie Clara. And change your shoes, ma will kill you for wrecking them. You're next, Psi."
"I am Psi- augmented human. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will." He looked at the chip in his head, and it showed Memory Compromised. That wasn't the only memories he had missing, his head was near empty. Better than being full of pudding.
(Psi takes a chip from his head and looks at it. It is marked Memory Compromised.)
"I am Saibra, mutant human. I have agreed to this memory wipe of my own free will."
"Da, stop pointing at me, I know it's my turn." Ha, Cadia! "I am Arcadia Tate, Time Lord from Earth, da, shut up, and I'm able to alter my molecular density. I have agreed to this memory wipe because my da said that I'm grounded otherwise." Definitely my brother, he questioned everything.
"My name is Sarah Jane Tate, youngest of the 4 Time Lords of Gallifrey, and Earth, and I have telepathy and telekinesis. I have agreed to this memory wipe because I want to find out if it will actually work." Obviously it did.
The case unlocked and opened with a golden light, two screens so that everyone can watch. An electronically manipulated voice spoke while a golden K in a circle is displayed, then a shadow in a hooded top, presumably the speaker. The voice has a slightly American style accent, but I felt like I knew it. "This is a recorded message. I am the Architect." No, my brother Danny died on Gallifrey, a long time ago. "Your last memory is of receiving a contact from an unknown agency. Me. Everything since has been erased from your minds. Now, pay close attention to this briefing."
The image now zoomed into a huge building alone on a planet. It looks like an advertisement for the subject described. "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 is authenticated at every stage. Intruders will be incinerated." We saw a woman breath into a tube, but it stays red. Nozzles came out of the walls and burnt her and her companion alive. Next shot is of an oriental couple placing a painting into a drawer.
"Each vault, buried deep in the earth, is accessed by a drop-slot at the planet's surface. It's atomically sealed, an unbreakable lock. The atoms have all been scrambled. Your presence on this planet is unauthorised. A team will have been despatched to terminate you." Cue someone banging on the door, telling us to get out. "Your survival depends on following my instructions."
Saibra looked at us. "There's another exit."
"All the information you need is in this case."
Psi took a chip from his head and plugged it into the case. "What are you doing?"
"Downloading."
OK, that was awesome. "Ah. Augmented. Nice."
"The Bank of Karabraxos is impregnable." Cadia reached forward to grab a mobile phone sized item from the case. "The Bank of Karabraxos has never been breached. You will rob the Bank of Karabraxos."
We started running, my brother and I holding hands as we lead the way, but da was at the back, getting out of breath, I started asking questions to give him a break. Because he was an old man to be fair. "Okay, okay, okay. Stop, stop, stop. Far enough, da's having a hearts attack. Augmented human. Computer augmented, yes? Mainframe in your head?"
"I'm a gamer. Sorry, who put you in charge? How old are you, 10?"
"You're a liar." I smiled, pulling my hair up. "That's a prison code on your neck, plus, telepath. Your thoughts are giving you away."
He hesitated for a moment. "I'm a hacker slash bank robber."
"Good." Cadia nodded, folding his arms. He was the quiet, shy rebel. Da said in his day he would have been called a Renegade like him. "This is a good day to be a bank robber. Mutant human. What kind of mutant?"
But Saibra wasn't happy. "Like he says, why are you in charge now? You're just kids."
"It's their special power. What's yours?" Da asked her,putting hands on both our soldiers.
Saibra sighed and took Auntie Clara's hand. For a few moments there were two Claras, then she let go and changed back to her original self. WI touch living cells, I can replicate the owner."
Well, that made sense. "Your face, when we first saw you-"
"I touched the worm."
Clara frowned a little. "You can replicate their clothes too?"
"I wear a hologram shell."
Arcadia held out the object he took from the case. "Human cells. DNA from a customer, maybe? A disguise to get us in?"
OK, this kinda sounded awesome. "We're actually going to do it? Rob the bank?"
Da smiled at me, as I was the most like him. "I don't think we have a choice, SJ. We've already agreed to."
Arcadia:
Why were we robbing a bank without the use of a TARDIS? And why were we not using ma, and where was she? But we didn't have much of a choice if we wanted to actually find out, and we moved on to getting into the bank, Saibra wearing a man we were calling Mr Porrima. Well, that was the label. "How long can you maintain the image for?"
"For as long as I like."
We entered the hall, and she lead the way as we walked through the massive open space. I was glad that I picked just a plain black shirt and jeans today, it was better than SJ's red leggings and Pantheon of Discord shirt. She had a thing for rock music. "Question one. Robbing banks is easy if you've got a TARDIS. So why are we not using it?"
"Question two," Clara pointed out, "where are the TARDIS and your wife? I mean, doesn't she have an account here?"
From her Demon days, yeah. Probably a lot of valuable things stashed here. "Okay, that probably should be question one. Ma would be great at this."
An alarm sounded and security grills blocked all the exits. The Bank computer has a friendly, slightly cheerful male voice. So annoyingness. "Banking floor locking down."
"They know we're here." Saibra muttered.
A woman entered with two suited heavies and goes to a male customer. Then something with two-toed feet entered, wearing an orange prisoner jump-suit and its arms in a straight jacket. This being has its eyes on the end of flexible stalks. It walked slowly with its armoured escort behind, holding onto the ends of its chains, and my twin held my hand so tight I could feel my fingers turning blue. She was in pain, and when her eyes opened again they were both bright green. "What is that?"
"I don't know." Da muttered. "Hate not knowing."
"Excuse me, sir. I regret to say that your guilt has been detected."
The man stared at her. "What? That, that's totally ridiculous."
She smiled sweetly, but I recognised the bitterness. "Is it, sir? Well then, we will certainly double-check. The Teller will now scan your thoughts for any criminal intent. Good luck, sir."
The woman moved away, and the customer put down his briefcase. "Interesting."
"What is?"
"The latest thing in sniffer dogs. Telepathic. It hunts guilt. It's why it hurt SJ, because she automatically linked to it."
Brother, shut up.
I'm only trying to help, Sarah Jane.
Well don't remind da that my gift can be as much a curse as ma's can.
"What about our guilt?" Clara asked softly, moving to take my sisters other hand.
Da shrugged. "Currently being drowned out."
"What's he doing?"
The man was clutching at his head. "If he has a plan, he's trying not to think of it."
Saibra looked a little nervous. "Ever tried not thinking about something?" We all shook our heads besides da. "You may have to."
Then the creature roared. "Ah, criminal intent detected. How naughty. What was your plan? Counterfeit currency in your briefcase, perhaps?"
"No, not at all. For God's sake."
She smiled a little. "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. Suppertime." The armoured guards held onto the creatures chains as it stepped closer to the customer, putting together their eyestalks and a pulsating ray was aimed at the customer's head. SJ was holding her breath, her eyes wide.
"It's wiping his mind." She breathed eventually. "Turning his brain into soup."
The woman smiled at him. "Your next of kin will be informed, and incarcerated, as further inducement to honest financial transactions."
I looked at Da, who pulled SJ away from me and held her close. "We've got to help him. Look at her!"
"He's gone already, Arcadia. It's over."
Clara stared at him. "He's in agony, look at him."
"Those aren't tears, Clara. That's soup."
The creature separated its eyestalks, before a heavy caught him, and the front of his brain pan was caved in. "Apologies for the disturbance. Everyone have a lovely day."
We had to then move forward, going into our deposit booth where we were surrounded by marble columns. "Deposit booth locking. Please exhale. Your valuables will be transported up from the vault."
Saibra breathed into the tube and it turned green before she became herself again, and a case arrived. "If he can break in here and plant this thing, then why does he need our help?" Psi asked.
"Depends what the thing is." Da shrugged, opening the case. "Okay, well, I'm no expert, but fuses, timer. I'm going to stick my neck out and say bomb." He looked back at Psi. "Bank schematic. Now."
He went to one of the marble columns and plugged in. A screen appeared with the layout. "The floor below is all service corridors, the veins and arteries of the bank." I pointed, tapping lightly on the floor as the augment then disconnected himself. "He wants us to blow through the floor."
Saibra didn't look amused. "Well, we'll die if we do that." Nah, I'd just phase right through, taking SJ with me. Da would probably just regenerate after saving Clara.
"Well, not necessarily." He shrugged. "There must be a plan."
"What if the plan is, we're blowing up the floor for someone else?" Clara asked him, looking worriedly at us. "What if we're not supposed to make it out alive? They're 13, Doctor."
Now Da just rolled his eyes. "Oh, don't be so pessimistic. It'll affect team morale. Arcadia would have already thought of a plan to get his sister out." Well, yeah.
The mutant was really not very happy. "What, and getting us blown up won't?"
"Well, only very, very briefly." We so needed ma to slap him for that.
Psi shook his head. "Er, no. No way. You can do you what you like. I'm going to take my chances out there." Clara tried to stop him. "No, no, no. This guy, your mate, is a lunatic. What kind of a father brings his kids to do this?"
SJ then stepped forward, her eye lighting back up gold. "What do you want, 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. Well?"
He stared her down for a moment, but my sister is not scared of anything. "Still don't understand why you're in charge. You're just kids."
"Basically, it's the heterochromic eyes and the naturally violet hair."
While we were talking, da had primed the device from the case. He put it in the middle of the floor and it started to build up power. Everyone grabbed a piece of wall and waited. The power peaked, making a brief flash, then the sound of distant machinery. We turned around and look down a hole in the floor. "Nice. Dimensional shift bomb. Sends the particles to a different plane. Come on then, Team Not Dead." Da smiled, picking it back up.
We climbed, and SJ levitated, down the hole, and da put the floor particles back before the guards made it it. This was actually really cool, ma would be annoyed she missed it. "Well, so, what are we supposed to do now? What's the plan?"
"I don't know. The Architect set all this up." Da shrugged. "It should make sense. My personal plan is that a thing will probably happen quite soon."
"Ah, so that's it. That's your plan?" Saibra asked him as i rolled my eyes. My da was ridiculous. "A thing will happen?"
He nodded. "A thing. Probably. SJ, you able to put a scramble around us, make it less likely we'll be heard by that thing upstairs?"
My little twin sister hesitated. "I don't know. I can try, but at the same time that could make it easier to find us. A dead zone."
"Doctor, Twins." Clara called, and we saw her with another case.
"There you go. Thing time."
I frowned a little, putting my hand through the case before he opened it. "How does he get the cases here?"
Da looked at me like I was an idiot. He did that to everyone. "By breaking into the bank in advance of breaking into the bank."
Clara didn't look amused. "Well, how did he do that? And if he can do that, why does he need us?" At least she was asking the right questions.
"Not our problem."
Then Psi started speaking, sounding like a broken record. "Well, what is our prob-prob-prob-prob-pr?"
SJ frowned a little, her eye swirling."You okay? Wow, thats a lot of numbers."
He shook his head. "Drive glitch. It's fine."
"Guilt is our problem. Guilt, in this bank, is fatal." I told them, while Da looked at me. We were too like him, we all liked to be the one to say the plan. "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, I can't close it again."
"Would it be safer if only one of us learned it?"
Da looked at the augmented human. "I'm waiting for you to volunteer."
"Er, why me?"
"Because you didn't need that memory worm, did you? You're half-computer. You can perform a manual delete. You can clear your thoughts, like Sarah Jane said, a lot of numbers."
"Okay." Then he carefully opened the case, and my sister sighed. Hey,, there was a reason only one of us was going to look. "I don't know what it is. You may as well have a look. Well, what are they?"
Eight short tubes with metal ends, and pins that can be pulled out on top. "Not a clue."
"Hmm, interesting." Saibra and SJ said together, both staring at him.
Da didn't look phased. "What is?"
"You're lying."
Psi was still jumping like Clara's Spice Girls CD. "Er, why would he be lyi-lyi-lyi-lying? Ugh. Sorry. Stress. Drains the batteries."
"Interface with this." He told him, pointing to a wall console.
The mutant looked a little hesitant."Do we have time for this?"
"Well, why not? There's no immediate threat." And an alarm sounded. "I should stop saying things like that. Twins, you say anything to your mother, and I won't take you for ice cream. Say we went to mini golf or something." Da, we were 13, not 6. "Clara, you stay with Psi and Arcadia. Saibra, Sarah Jane, let's go and investigate. Arcadia, be careful, Son."
I was the careful on, Da. "You too." Then then went off, and Psi jacked himself into recharge.
"Oh. Storm dust."
This was turning into a rather strange day. "You can delete your memories?"
"Yeah, it's not as fun as it sounds."
"My ma got a few I wish she could lose. We might actually get a family outing that doesn't end in her crying for once." I muttered, and Clara put her hand on my shoulder comfortingly. Well, she probably hoped it was comforting, but SJ and I just wanted ma to move back in with da, or vice versa.
Psi didn't realise anything had happened though and kept talking. "And I lost a few I wish I hadn't. No, I was, I was interrogated in prison. And I guess I panicked. I didn't want to be a risk to the people close to me, so-"
Wait, what? "You deleted your friends?"
"My friends," he agreed. "Anyone who ever helped me, my family."
I couldn't imagine ever forgetting Ma, Da, Jenny, Melody, SJ or my niece Suzy. "Your family?"
"Of course my family."
"How could you do that?"
"Well, I don't know." Psi sighed. "I suppose I must have loved them."
But then there was a moan further ahead of us, and we ran to catch up with da, SJ and Saibra, and Clara gasped as she saw the customer with a caved in skull, being held up by chains. And there was more than one occupied cell. "Oh, my God. Why is he even still alive?"
My sister growled a little, and I saw how she was so like ma, more feral and wild than she was straight laced like da. "I don't know. But someone is watching."
" Doctor, twins." Psi muttered. "However this goes, whatever happens, don't let me end up like that."
Then an alarm sounded, causing us to start running again, reaching a No Entry Grill that I just phased right through, before remembering that not everyone could do that and went back. "Sorry. This says place to hide."
They all followed, and Saibra frowned as again my sisters eyes faded to normal green. Well, as normal as emerald can get. "Where are we?"
"Nobody move. Nobody say a word." SJ muttered, pressing her hand softly against the cool glass with water droplets dripping down the side around her hand. "It's cocooned. Forced hibernation. Its power is probably dormant." But then something happened and my sisters eyes fixed on Clara. "Auntie Clara. It's locked on to you. It may still be asleep. Don't wake it."
"Okay." She asked hesitantly. "How do I not do that?"
"Keep your mind blank. Block everything. Once it locks onto your thoughts, it won't let go."
The Teller growled gently and Auntie Clara closed her eyes. "It's waking up. Keep blocking your thoughts, Clara. Don't think."
"This way." Saibra called, and we retreated through the hole we came in by, but she stopped before she could get through after me. "Oh."
"She's still in there." I told Da. "How do we get her out?"
SJ was staring at her. "It's scanning her brain." Psi seemed to not know what was happening next, so SJ had to explain. "Soup. Saibra."
"What should I do? How can I get away?"
"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?" My sister nodded slowly. "Can you not get me out?"
Now she shook her head, playing with one of the things from the box. "I'm sorry. I don't know how, once it's locked onto your thoughts. I'm not great with my gift, I don't know how to use it to help."
Saibra's eyes locked onto her. "Exit strategy. That means what I think it means, right?"
She held it out to her through the grill. "Atomic shredder. My ma made them in case she was ever caught by the Shadow Proclamation. She's not exactly always been mother material."
"Painless?"
"Depends on what mood our ma was in." I sighed. "But it's instant."
"When you meet the Architect, promise me something." The mutant human told us in all seriousness. "Kill him."
Da shook his head. "I hate him, but I can't make that promise."
She smiled a little. "A good man. I left it late to meet one of those." And then she was gone in a brilliant blue light. Ma, you'd better have been forgiving...
SJ:
"Right, vault."I told everyone, moving my incredibly long hair our of the way, the curls starting to get in the way. "That's clear. What's not clear is what we do now."
Everyone kept moving, but Arcadia grabbed my arm, seeing that I wasn't OK. "Hey. You okay?"
"No, I'm an amnesiac telepath robbing a bank against a guilt reading telepath that I'm not compatiable against. Why would I be okay?"
"Because Saibra"
I hesitated for a moment before realising I was so much like ma that I was starting to detach myself. "What? Saibra is dead, we are alive. Prioritise if you want to stay that way."
"Sarah Jane, you are not ma or da. They are still trying to stop being how they were, and you're being like them. Be you. Let youself free."
This was not the time for this. "Listen. When we're done here, by all means, you go and find yourself a shoulder to cry on, brother. You'll probably need that. Till then, what we need is ma, and we don't know where she is as usual. Off with Sherlock again."
Then I started to walk away again, catching up with dad who looked like he was going through something similar to me. "Feeling good, love?"
"I'm fine. I can do this, it's what you trained me for, da."
"Just because you're trained, doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." He stroked my hair fodly for a moment, then reached down and grabbed a case in a computer access alcove by the door. "Another gift from the Architect. Shall we unwrap it?"
Psi jacked himself into the small device in the case and downloaded its contents, causing him pain. He then went into the computer access alcove while Clara and I looked at a printed card that was also in the case. TECH 251 ORG 339 PV. "Right, the system looks like it's time-delayed. There are twenty four lock codes I need to break."
Growling came by the end of the corridor then, and my head starting itching again, and I wanted to pick through my skull to reach it. The Teller. "Da? It's coming. We're trapped."
"Psi, how long?" He asked, moving Cadia and I nearer to him.
"As long as it takes."
This was not going well. "It's locked on to one of our thought trails. We have to split up, minimise the brain signals."
Psi looked at me. "What happened to your professional detachment, Doctor, Sarah Jane?" He was holding out his hand, and I put one of the atomic shredders to Clara and Arcadia's horror. "In case it finds me. It's my choice."
Clara pointed at him for a moment. "You don't use that, okay? Promise me."
"Time to run."
We did as he said, and when da told us to, we split into pairs, me and Clara, with Da and Arcadia. "Keep your mind clear, Clara. Keep your mind blank." I muttered when it grew closer to us, but I couldn't do it myself, feeling the guilt I had over Saibra reach me. I gave her that shredder...
I cried out as it reached out for my mind, my block over my ability dropping as it caught me. "Sarah Jane!" Dad shouted, making a break back for me, but then it released me, letting Da and Cadia wrap their arms around me.
"Come and find me!" Psi was shouting. "Every thief and villain in one big cocktail, first of all the Demon." Ma wouldn't be happy. "I am so guilty! Every famous burglar in history is hiding in this bank right now in one body. Come and feast! Clara, Arcadia? For what it's worth, and it might not be worth much, when your whole life flashes in front of you, you see people you love and people missing you. Well, I see no one."
And the he screamed as he killed himself too, but da was already pulling us onwards, back to the vault. That didn't open, makin Auntie Clara bang on the door in anger. "It's not opening. Psi. He died for nothing."
But I walked to the computer, looking at the screen. "Multiple locks. Last one still in place." I flicked my hand out to open the nearby panel. "Atomic seal. Unbreakable, even for you, da. The Architect would know that. He wouldn't bring us all this way for nothing."
"And get two people killed." My brother and Clara added.
Da nodded. "Exactly. There must be some logic."
Cadia didn't look impressed. "Some logic?"
"Come on, Architect. What else have you got?" Da was muttering as I just typing at the computer. Until thunder hit the ears. I hated, hated storms, I always did. So unpredictable, and they had a life, had thoughts. "A storm. The storm's tripping the system. That's what he's got, a storm."
"How would he know when a storm would hit? Unless he's got Phi?" Clara asked, wrapping an arm around me. I was tall, nearly the same height as her already.
And now da was laughing. "Of course. Stupid, stupid Doctor. Of course, of course. Whoever planned all this, they're in the future. This isn't just a bank heist, it's a time travel heist. 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." And then the vault unlocked. "The bank is now open. "Come on."
We stepped through into the golden lined vault with safety deposit boxes up and down the walls. "It explains why we're not here in the TARDIS."
Clara looked at me. "Sorry, what? SJ?"
"The solar disruption would have made navigation impossible." Arcadia finished for me. "The one time the bank is vulnerable is the one time we can't just land. Not even ma could."
"Doctor?" Clara asked da after taking both our hands. She's known us since we were born, and that was only a year ago for her. "The code. The code that was in the last case. Look. Tech."
He looked quickly. "Technology. 251. Find it."
We started looking, and Cadia was the one to find it, ghosting his hand through the metal. First, was a fat, hypodermic needle. "It's a neophyte circuit." Da explained, making light up blue. "I've only ever seen one once before. It can reboot any system, replace any lost data."
"Psi." I said softly. "That's what he came for, his reward. "So what did Saibra come for?" I found hers, a small bottle of something. "Gene suppressant. She wanted to be normal."
Da shrugged. "Everyone has a weakness. So the big question is this. What did we come for?"
Clara looked at the card again. "PV."
"Private vault." My twin nodded. "Karabraxos's own fortune?"
We then walked right around the box, going straight into the Teller, where we were then dragged up in front of the leader. There were two guards too, and I had a small bit of satisfaction knowing who they were. Kinda awesome. "Intruders are most welcome. 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." She showed CCTV of the Brain-Dead, no thoughts or emotions. "Are you ready for your close-up? If you're thinking of ways to escape, the Teller will know before you've even made a move, even you, little telepath. You'll never be bothered by all that thinking again."
"Useful species."
"Last of its kind, and we've signed an exclusive deal."
I sat up a little straighter, letting my eye turn back to gold. Wasn't doing anything anyway. "Must be noisy inside its head. Painful to listen to so much chatter, so many secrets, more painful than you'd know. Must drive it wild. How can you force it to obey?"
The woman smiled at me. "Oh, everything has a price tag, I think you'll find." The storm got worse, making me flinch. "The storm's getting worse. The customers are leaving. Director Karabraxos will be concerned. Our jobs will be on the line."
Hang on... There was something not quite right here. "You're scared."
"Oh, I'm terrified. I have the disadvantage of knowing Karabraxos personally."
"If you don't like your boss, why stay?" Da asked her, taking my hand.
"My face fits." She smiled bitterly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must take the Teller to its hibernation. You two, dispose of our guests, and take the children to be incarcerated"
She walked out, and the two guards pushed da and Clara up against the wall. "Don't do this. I'm having a very bad day, and I do not want to be pushed around, having my twins watch me be executed."
"You're wrong." I smirked as Cadia ghosted out of the handcuffs, then broke mine off.
"Wrong?"
The bearded guard then joined in. "It's not that bad a day. And you're being very slow."
He was getting very confused now. "Why are you undoing my handcuffs?" And then Saibra came back, the other man changing into her. "Saibra?"
Now the helmeted one spoke, taking it off and the numbers were comforting. "It looked like death. It was actually a teleporter. Your mum must be pretty clever, twins." Clara hugged him right away. "Good, eh? You think we're dead, so the Teller thinks we're dead, and we play the creature at his own mind games."
"No, no. Wait, wait, wait, wait. What? Sorry, sorry, what?" Da asked, and I saw the relief and guilt in his eyes. "You, you, you're, you're alive? The atomic shredder doesn't exist?"
"Yeah, we're alive. Look at us. We're all alive."
Psi nodded, looking pretty pleased. "There's an escape ship in orbit. Takes you right there. Oh, and there's this big blue box. Is that yours?"
Yes! The TARDIS! "Well, this is good, I suppose. You'll be able to resume the mission. Gene suppressant. Antidote for your condition." I handed Saibra the bottle.
"Memory giver. All your yesterdays." Arcadia smiled, then handing the syringe to Psi. "There you go. Job done, paid in full. Clever old Architect."
Saibra smiled. "Very clever."
"I still hate him." Da shrugged, putting his arm around me, stroking my hair again.
"Me too."
"How were you paid?"
"We don't know." He admitted. "There's something in the private vault."
Psi nodded, leading the way to a basement sort of area. "What's that?" I asked, running my fingers along some tubes.
"Supply line. It's the only oxygen down to the private vault. There's another one for water, for basic life support."
Clara frowned a little. "What, for a private vault?"
"Someone likes to hang out with their wealth." We then started crawling through the tubes ourselves, and saw so, so many things in the vault, form Tutankamuns coffin, to the Original Buddha statue. "Director Karabraxos? Excuse us, but we've come to rob you. So if you want to put your hands above your head, or-"
The richly embroidered high backed chair spins round, revealling a woman identical to Ms Delphox with her hands up. "Or? You didn't bring any weapons besides the mutant children. The ghost is useful, I'll give you that." Arcadia was not a ghost! "Security, Karabraxos here."
Da was staring at her. "You're Karabraxos?"
"One moment."
Then a clone came on the screen. I said there was something else going on. "Director Karabraxos, is there a problem?"
"Intruders in the private vault. Send me the Teller. I want to find out how they got in, and then I want to wipe their memories and the children added to the team when they're conditioned. We could always do with one more telepath." Heh, no.
"She's a clone."
Karabraxos noded with a small smile. "It's the only way to control my own security. I have a clone in every facility. Get on it right away. And then hand in your credentials. You're fired, with immediate effect." And of course, the clone started to beg, saying how long she'd been there. "Ever since the last one let me down and I was forced to kill it. I can't quite believe that you're putting me through this again." The transmission ended. "My clone. And yet she doesn't even protest. Pale imitation, really. Ha! I should sue."
I glared at her. "You're killing her? You just said-"
"Fired? I put all of the used clones into the incinerator. Can't have too many of moi scattered around."
"Sorry, you don't get on with your own clone?" Psi asked her, looking a little baffled. I grew up with this, I was used to it.
"She hates her own clones. She burns her own clones. Frankly, you're a career break for the right therapist. Shut up. Everybody, just, just shut up." Da was thinking now, and the amount of words going through his head at one time was immense, it made me dizzy.
The Director smiled a little. "And what is this display now, as amusing as you are?"
Nope, he was gone, rambling and rambling. Ma usually slapped him to get him to shut up. "Shut up. Just shut up, shut up, shut up, shutetty up up up. What, what did you say? What did you say? What did you say about your own eyes? De-shut up. Say it again."
Saibra hesitated, but repeated what she said earlier. "How can you trust someone if they look back at you out of your own eyes?"
"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." Da, seriously? Just tell us, enough of the questions. "I hate him. He's overbearing, he's manipulative, he likes to think that he's very clever. I hate him!SJ, Cadia, Clara, don't you see?" He stuck the gong. Drama Queen. "I hate the Architect."
Karabraxos was getting very annoyed. "What in the name of sanity is going in this room now?"
This was getting stupid. "We're getting sanity judgment from the self-burner."
"Do you mind if I borrow a little bit of paper?" Da asked, taking one anyway and started to write the TARDIS phone number that I'd memorised at the age of 4. Never knew when you'd need it.
"And what are you doing now?"
He looked at her like she was an idiot. Which she was. "I'm giving you my telephone number."
"Why?"
Da folded the paper over and wrote on the outside, too. "Well, I thought you might like to call me someday." I Am A Time Traveller, really? "Sorry, I thought we were getting along famously. Am I, like, misreading the signals or something? Well, I am married to their ma. That's mum for the uneducated." More thunder echoed around us. "Oh, that was a big one, wasn't it? I think that your bank is about to close for good, Karabraxos. If I was you, I'd get going. Don't mind us, we'll just stay here and burn."
The alarm sounded as the solar flare swept across the planet and the Bank and Karabraxos started to pack. "Hard to know what to take." I told her bitterly, my eyes darkening. "The greatest treasures of the universe in just one suitcase."
Clara held us close as the building shook again. "Doctor, what's the plan? Is there a plan?"
"We can use the shredders and get us back to the ship." Saibra recommended.
Da shook his head. "They're not shredders, they're teleports, and that's not the most interesting thing about them. There were six of them. Hey. Give me a call me some time."
This was to Karabraxos who was escaping through the lift. "You'll all be dead."
"Yeah, you'll be old." He shrugged. "We'll get on famously. You'll be old and full of regret for the things that you can't change."
She was gone then, and Psi looked at my da like he was crazy, which on a good day he was. "Doctor, what the hell is going on?"
Something was going on with his head, the thoughts going even faster than ever and I couldn't make any sense of it. "Are you remembering?"
"No, not a thing." He smiled, stroking my hair as he'd done for as long as I could remember. "But I'm understanding, my SJ."
"What?" Clara questioned. "What is it? What are you understanding?"
"I'm not sure yet. I need my memory back. And I think there's only one way to do that."
Oh, I saw where this was going... "Which would be?"
"Soup." Then the lift opened, letting the Teller through. "Hello, big man. Peckish?"
He grabbed da, and I tried to hold him up, protect him somehow. "Da!"
"No, no." I supported him as he fell to his knees in pain. "Let it take me. Let it read me. It's the only way."
"It will kill you."
"What have I told you about pessimism? You're too much like your ma, that's what. That's it, that's it. There are so many memories in here. Feast on them. Tuck in. Big scarf, bow tie, bit embarrassing. The first time I held my kids, Lillian, Hannah, Danny, Melody, Arcadia and Sarah Jane. What do you think of the new look? I was hoping for minimalism, but I think I came up with magician, or that's what my wife tells me. In the last few days, there's been a block. Can you see the block? Tell me why I'm here. Show me why I'm here. Show me!"
And then he was released, after a long moment, looking a little shaky, but not too bad. "Did you see why we came? Why we're here? We had to delete our own memories, otherwise you'd have known, and then she'd have known, because you were mentally linked, it's how she tracked us with Sarah Jane. 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."
A small lock turned on the wall. "It knows the combination."
"Of course it does." Da scoffed. "It was linked to Karabraxos, if you had looked, you'd have seen it too."
Clara frowned a little at him, her arm still around my brother. "What exactly are we doing here? That thing killed people."
"Well so might you do, to protect everything you loved." The safe door swung open to reveal a second creature in a straight jacket. It wailed, and the other one wailed back. Oh my God... "There she is. Not the last of its species. The last two. Just like your ma and I before. We'd do anything for each other, and now. Now we'll do anything for you two. No matter what you both think of us for how we are. We've done a lot to be able to have you." Da smiled, wrapping his arm around both of us. Cadia fought it for a moment, before letting him, Psi working to unchain her. "It's okay, it's okay. It's all right. Unless, we tell your ma."
Saibra smiled brightly. "Exit strategy. We've got 8 shredders."
Da nodded, his arms still around both of us as I saw Clara take a photo. Great, my hair was seriously frizzed out today. "Exactly. This wasn't a bank heist. It never was. It was rescue mission for a whole species. Flesh and blood, the last currency." The lights flickered, and more thunder boomed around us, making me flinch into him. "Time to go home, my twins. What do you think of that, big man?"
The Doctor:
So we dropped off the two telepathic beings, said goodbye to Psi and Saibra, both now able to either remember, or not turn into someone else with physical contact. And lastly, we had to drop off Clara for her 'date'. "7.12, local time, as promised. Go and enjoy yourself. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Tell Phi what happened today, and I won't be happy."
"It's a date." Clara pointed out. "You know, I've just realised. I'm going out for another meal now."
SJ giggled a little, looking a lot better now she was away from the Tellers. Her telepathy wasn't cross compatible. "Don't worry. Calories consumed on the TARDIS have no lasting effect."
The elder woman stared at her. "What? Are you kidding?"
What did she think? "Of course Sarah Jane's kidding. It's a time machine, not a miracle worker. Bye, bye."
"See you." Clara sighed, heading for the doors. "Don't rob any banks."
"Don't rob any banks what?"
She looked back with a glint in her eye. "Without me."
"Course not, boss. Bye Auntie Clara!" The twins called, both arguing over what to watch on the scanner. Vampire Diaries or to play Rise of the Tomb Raider. I was voting for Tomb Raider, Sarah Jane and I loved video games.
"Robbing a bank. Robbing a whole bank. Beat that for a date." I smiled.
And then Phi came in, looking exhausted. "Beat what for a date, my Dove?" She smiled. "Where have you guys been, and why are the twins now 6 years older?"
OK. Time to see if they could lie to their ma. "Mini golf on Alpha Centuri. We kept arguing, had to have rematch over rematch. Took 3 years to leave, and the we got stuck saving the people of the Prentick 8 from a Dalek invasion."
That made her roll her weary golden eyes. "Right. Well, I'm going for a half hour nap, then I'm ready for wherever you wanted to take Clara. Love you, and you my wonder twins." She kissed both their heads, and walked away.
Well, we got away with it.