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Seeing Red (Doctor Who Story)

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It had taken barely a moment for Scarlett's life to change.
One moment she'd been waiting at the bus stop eating an ice cream in November, eating away at the Magnum with care and precision as she devoured the chocolate on the outside of it. Her black curly hair was draped around her neck, contrasting sharply with her red toggle coat. Wearing no makeup, Scarlett looked at ease with her own face, not caring what anyone thought of her. She wore a pair of wellingtons with green leaves adorning them in a complex pattern, and wore green peridot earrings that matched her eyes perfectly. On her wrist sat a charm bracelet from her one and only trip to London, which had a small black cab charm, a red London bus, a heart with the flag imprinted on it, and a small circular 'GB' logo. This sat next to her green wristwatch on her left wrist.
She hated things on her right wrist; it got in her way.
She yearned for another trip to London. She wished one day to live there.
Her legs were covered with a pair of emerald green and black striped tights worn under a black pleated skirt and black shirt, simple but with an elegant complicated green emerald belt.
Her neck was adorned with a simple emerald necklace, matching the earrings at first glance, but at a second glance, you'd see that they could have never have come from the same set of jewellery.
A pair of iPhone headphones sat in each of Scarlett's ears, leading to not-an-iPhone-but-an-Android-phone. She was listening to 'Future Boy' by Turin Brakes.
The next moment - the life changing one - a strange man had appeared in the corner of Scarlett's vision. Being naturally curious, she'd slightly turned her head the sly way she did to watch the strange man, dropping a small piece of the chocolate from the ice cream on the ground in front of her as she did. She didn't notice. She didn't care. Her mind was focused on the man. There was nothing else to watch at the bus stop.
"Scar, the bus is here." Her friend pulled her arm, tugging her rudely out of her trance. Scarlett tried not to glare at her friend, but she couldn't help it. She hated having her music interrupted.
"Just a moment longer." Scarlett muttered, putting one headphone back in her ear after it had dropped out.
"Scar, the bus! Come on, we won't fit on it!" Her friend - Florence - pulled her arm harder, anger building on her face. As the bus drew up, about 34 school kids aged from 12 to 18 ran for the bus, ready to cram themselves on the already half-full vehicle.
Scarlett sighed. She hated getting the bus. She was one of the 18 year olds, of who there were few. The other was her friend, Florence.
"Flo, can I...?" Scarlett smiled as best she could, the smile her friend knew meant 'I'm not getting on this bus again, so can I go?'
"Oh, Scar, you never get the bus anymore!" Flo complained.
"I know, I'm sorry." Scarlett said quickly, eager to leave the chaos behind. She smiled, and nodded, and began slowly walking away before breaking out in to a slow run, careful to not drop her ice cream. She wanted to see what the strange man was doing.
From where she was at the bus stop, she could see that the man was dancing around with a weird lighting-up stick in his hand, pointing it at the drains for the school.
"Ugh..." Scarlett muttered. No-one went near the drains if they could help it. They stank.
What was curious - apart from the lighting-up stick - was what the man was wearing. He wore a long purple jacket over a blue shirt and a black waist coat, and a long pair of black skinny jeans with a pair of purple-ish brogues.
Scarlett thought of her similar pair at home.
Above all that, the man wore a purple bow tie. Scarlett liked bow ties. Not enough people wore them, she thought. The man had a curious hair style, but it suited him greatly.
She pulled her headphones from her ears and shoved them in her pocket after turning the music off. That had been hard, as she hated to stop listening to a song half-way through.
As she got closer, she saw that a girl was standing at the side of the pavement, arms folded and her feet crossed as she leaned back on the wall. The girl was short. Especially compared to the man.
Even though she wore heels.
She had brown hair just shorter than Scarlett's, and she wore a black dress covered with slightly raised burgundy swirls over a pair of leggings. She wore a waist-length black coat with a belt to keep warm. She seemed bored, hanging her head as she spoke phrases that Scarlett couldn't hear.
As she walked closer, Scarlett could see that the girl was roughly the same height as her.
"How tall is he?" Scarlett wondered. He reminded her of her too-tall maths teacher. The strange man looked about the maths teachers height. Scarlett instantly pitied the bored looking girl.
Now a great deal closer to the pair, Scarlett his behind a four metre high wall bordering the school, trying to listen to what the strange man was saying.
"...I'm telling you Clara, this isn't just an ordinary school." The man said statemently.
"You're telling me." Scarlett muttered to herself.
"Doctor, we've been here for ages. Someone's going to notice!" The girl who Scarlett presumed was Clara said.
"Doctor?" Scarlett wondered slightly louder than she would have liked. She spun behind the wall and put her hand over her mouth, holding her breath in case she'd been heard, but she hadn't. The conversation went on. Scarlett quickly ate the ice cream.
"We can't just leave if the school has been using alien technology." The man - the Doctor man - said. Scarlett's eyes widened.
Alien technology?!
"Well what are we meant to do?" Clara asked. Scarlett dared to look around the wall again. As she did, the Doctor man glanced up and just caught site of Scarlett, turning away and quickly glancing back when he realised that he was being watched. Scarlett's eyes widened, and she turned around and ran as she heard footsteps rapidly approaching her from behind.
"Wait a minute! Who are you?! I just need to ask you some questions!" The man shouted. Scarlett ran at full pelt, not caring about the heavy weight of her rose-covered bag on her back. Her shoulder - the testy right one - began to hurt badly, and Scarlett was forced to slow down to reduce pressure on the muscle. The man caught her up in no time, the girl not far behind, and Scarlett gulped.
"I haven't done anything, I swear!" Scarlett said quickly in sudden panic. She looked terrified.
"Were not going to hurt you." Clara said in a soft voice, smiling as she did. Scarlett stood back slightly.
"Who are you, and why are you...pointing sticks at the drains?" Scarlett pointed at the stick in the Doctor's right hand.
"I'm the Doctor, this isn't a stick, and that's Clara. She won't bite." He said like Scarlett had implied that she might.
"I didn't think she would..." Scarlett said slowly. "Now I'm thinking that you might."
"Ignore him, he'll only confuse you. I promise I won't bite, okay?" Clara stepped forwards, and the Doctor frowned at the back of her head.
"Um..." Scarlett stood back slightly again. She saw the Doctor looking at the lanyard around her neck, reading the proud emblem of Queen's Park High School.
"Do you go to this school?" The Doctor asked.
"What does it matter to you?" Scarlett narrowed her eyes.
"Because, Scarlett Millen, it matters to the world." He said, and Scarlett instantly hid her lanyard, pulling it off her neck with a snap and shoving it in her pocket.
"Can you stop reading my lanyard?!" Scarlett scowled. "And it's not Scarlett. It's Scar." She muttered, lowering her head slightly.
"Scar." The Doctor said simply. "According to your lanyard, you're eighteen years old a week ago." He said. She nodded. "In your last year of school then?"
"It's not school. It's college. It's a sixth form college." She corrected sullenly.
"Fine, college." The Doctor pulled a face, and Clara punched his arm, making Scar grin.
"Doctor, it's very different to school." Clara enforced.
"How is it?! You learn at both places, even in the same building in this case!" The Doctor pointed to the wall surrounding the school.
"Why were you pointing that...not-stick at the drains?" Scarlett put him back on track.
"Because..." He smiled. "This not-stick is a screwdriver, a sonic one to be precise, and I was scanning that nauseous smell eminating from the drains. Have you noticed it?" The Doctor lifted an eyebrow, saying it in a way that suggested that he might actually think that Scarlett hadn't noticed the smell.
"Of course. It's been there since year seven." Scar pulled a face. "Every morning it's been there. It's disgusting."
"Why hasn't anyone complained?" The Doctor wondered.
"They have, but no-one listens. I suppose everyone's got used to it over time, though. And when the new year 7's come, no-one really listens to them at all. Did you say that's a screwdriver? It doesn't look like one." Scar became sidetracked by the weird-looking tool.
"Yes, a screwdriver. You've been here since year seven?" He clicked.
"All the way. Not of my own choosing, mind. School is boring."
"Nah, it's the best years of your life." The Doctor put an arm around Clara as he turned nostalgic, and Scar and Clara stared at the Doctor with sceptical looks. He saw the look Clara and Scar gave him, an he instantly removed his arm.
"I could actually believe that someday..." Scar said with an air of maturity, and the Doctor gave her an approving, thoughtful look.
"Do you know what the smell is?" Clara asked. Scar turned her head towards her.
"I've always thought it was broken sewers, but then you just mentioned alien technology..." Scar drifted off, and the Doctor beamed.
"Yes, good! Attentive, like that!" He smiled. "Alien technology, yes, indeed. Do any aliens go to your school?" He asked seriously.
"Um...I don't think so..." Scar gave a confused look to Clara. "Why? Do aliens actually exist?! Do they really actually exist?!" Scar was instantly full of enthusiasm. The Doctor and Clara shared a knowing smile.
"Do you think you could get us into your school?" The Doctor asked. Scar nodded.
"I could try. I mean, my key fob won't work now-"
"Locks won't be a problem." The Doctor spun his screwdriver, making Scar more bemused. "Which is the least guarded door?"
"There's CCTV everywhere." Scarlett said blankly.
"That won't be a problem either." The Doctor smiled.
"There's janitors everywhere. They come running when there's any sort of problem." Scar added. The Doctor's smile dropped slightly.
"That won't be a problem..." He said more warily. Clara gave him a worried, sceptical look.
"If not janitors, one of the many teachers and staff."
"That won't be a-...is your school a medieval castle or something?!" The Doctor exclaimed.
"I'd say it's more like Fort Knox." Scar smiled, then her face dropped. "Which is really annoying."
"Doctor, why don't we just go in when all of the teachers and everyone have gone home?" Clara asked. He turned to her.
"That really is a good idea." He nodded, then turned to Scarlett. "Scar, with regret, the role of companion is firmly staying with Clara."
Clara beamed.
"Um...yeah. Anyways." She narrowed her eyes at Clara and the Doctor. "It's Thursday. The teachers should be going home at about eight o'clock."
"Eight?!" The Doctor sighed. Scar nodded again.
"And then the motion sensors are turned on." Scar added.
"This just gets better and better, doesn't it?" The Doctor hung his arms by his sides.
"I won't tell you about the alarmed doors sending signals directly to the police then." Scar muttered. The Doctor sighed and marched off into the distance.
"Doctor?" Clara asked. "Where are you going?"
"The TARDIS! Where did you think...?" He glanced around and pressed his lips together. "Well, are you coming?"
"Coming where?" Scar asked Clara.
"The TARDIS. It's a time machine." Clara smiled as she took Scarlett's hand and pulled her along. Scar reclaimed her hand and stood back, gasping.
"Wh-...what?! A time machine?! An actual time machine?!" She asked in disbelief.
"It travels through space too." Clara grinned as she grabbed Scarlett's hand again, and Scarlett pulled her hand back. Again.
"Are you coming or not?!" The Doctor turned back and waved his hands in the air.
"Hang on!" Clara shouted to him. "Scar, are you coming or are you going to take the long way round?"
"How do I know that you're not just trying to abduct me?! You...you...you might run away with me and...and use me as a slave or god knows what!" Scarlett exclaimed. "You might be murderers! Oh my god, I'm talking to a pair of murderers..." Scarlett paled.
"No, honestly, I can promise you that I have no intention of killing you. Now come on." Clara began to run as she grabbed Scarlett's hand, and Scar followed, lagging behind slightly.
She didn't have to run far.
At the place that had been dubbed 'Smoker's Hill' by the teachers at the school, a large blue police box sat hidden behind the draping willow tree, at the top of a slowly rising hill. The Doctor ran up to it, and put his hand on the door as Clara stood by his side, and Scarlett approached slowly.
"Wait...isn't that one of those old police boxes they used to use, like, ages ago?" Scarlett remembered. "I thought you said it was a time machine." Scar frowned.
"It is." The Doctor smiled, pausing as he glanced at Clara before pushing the door open and standing back for Scar to see.
She gasped. She couldn't believe it. The large grey structure inside looked far too big to fit in the box, and then corridors led away from the room down small sets of stairs. In the centre of the room sat a hexagonal control panel covered in buttons and levers, overshadowed by a revolving screen. Little lights flashed, and the large machine made low humming noises as it silently worked.
Scarlett slowly walked into the machine with a face of pure fascination and awe as the Doctor and Clara walked past her to the control panel, shutting the door behind them.
"But...but..." Scarlett began.
"It's...?" The Doctor encouraged as he pulled a lever.
"It's..." Scar began again. Clara rolled her hand to encourage her to speak.
"It's...?" The Doctor asked again.
"It's...bigger than my bedroom." Scar nodded. The Doctor and Clara shared a look.
"Okay, bigger than your bedroom. Bigger than most, I'd think." The Doctor said.
"Have you heard that one before?" Clara asked the Doctor silently with a devious smile.
"Not that I can remember." He smiled back.
"Hey, I don't like all that quiet muttering that I'm not supposed to hear!" Scar said, making the Doctor and Clara turn around sharply.
"You're very suspicious for a student." The Doctor narrowed his eyes as he slowly walked towards Scar.
"You're a very suspicious person." Scar retorted.
"Why are you so suspicious of people?" He paused in front of her, looking down at her.
"I'm curious." She said matter-of-factly.
"Curiosity, yes, makes people suspicious. Nosy. But paranoid?" He narrowed his eyes even more. Scar's eyes widened slightly.
"Paranoid? I'm not paranoid!" She laughed. The Doctor continued to stare at her. Clara tapped his shoulder, and he turned his head sharply, smiling at Clara before going back to the controls.
"Ignore him, he's just a bit...tetchy sometimes." Clara whispered to Scar, glaring at the Doctor as she did.
"Why?" Scar asked. Clara shrugged.
"He has his moody days. Like a child." Clara said, raising her voice at the word child. The Doctor gave her a cursory glance, and Clara pretended not to notice.
"Is this one of his...moody days?" Scar asked.
"Must be." Clara said blankly. "Though it wasn't this morning..." Clara walked up besides the Time Lord, poking whatever button was within her reach. The Doctor slapped her hand away, and she pouted.
"Right, small hop forwards. Easy!" The Doctor flicked a lever, and the TARDIS jutted about slightly, whirring and whining louder than before as it skipped a few hours forwards. It landed within seconds, and Scar skipped to the door and pulled it open, seeing how the sky had gone completely dark. The Doctor walked up behind her, and Clara walked up behind him. Standing in the doorway with her hands on each side of the door, Scar smiled.
"...This is actually a time machine." She said quietly.
"Actually a time machine, yes." The Doctor lifted Scar's right arm up to walk past her, letting her arm drop back by her side as he marched ahead. Clara walked past the stunned Scar, and slowly, Scar managed to follow, running slightly to catch up with the Doctor, yet keeping a slow pace because of her right shoulder hurting.
"Entrances, given it any thought?" The Doctor looked to his left at Scar, and she stared at the school ahead.
"We can't go through any of the main entrances; they all have CCTV galore and so many alarms. There is one unprotected, unalarmed, unmonitored door though...two, to be precise." Scar smiled.
"Ooh, like the sound of that. When I say sound...you know what I mean." The Doctor pressed his lips together. They crossed the silent road to the school walls, and Scar walked to the right and followed the walls to the school field at the back, pausing at the edge of the road leading to the back car park.
"Wait!" Scar stopped, making the Doctor and Clara almost crash into her.
"What?" Clara asked. The Doctor looked over the spiky hedge to where Scar was looking, his eyes darting around wildly in the dark.
"CCTV." He said. Scar nodded.
"Where?" Clara squinted into the dark, peering over the top of the hedge.
"Up there and there, see?" Scar pointed to two cameras looking down on the field entrance and the first back car park. Clara couldn't really see them, but she'd just follow the Doctor's lead.
"Where do we need to go?" The Doctor asked Scar.
"All the way down that pavement and turn left." Scar pointed to the long pavement between the school side and the road to the second back car park. It was about 40 metres long. "But we can go behind those hedges, just over there. There's quite a gap behind them." Scar added, darting off and running for the beginning of the hedge. The hedge sat between the pavement and the school, and were just as spiky as all the others. The Doctor and Clara ran after Scar, trying to dodge the first camera as best they could. The Doctor avoided rendering the cameras here inactive so they could try and attract as little attention as possible at this point. If the cameras were down, people would investigate.
"You know a lot about the school and how it works." The Doctor stated to Scar. When they arrived at the hedge to walk behind, Scar slowed down to talk, not turning to look at the Time Lord.
"I know a lot. My ears burn a lot. I see a lot. I remember a lot. I love to learn." She smiled over her shoulder. "If you know where to listen, you'll hear everything that you'll need. If you look for something, you will find it. I look for what people don't. I find what people don't. As you can see." Scar raised her hands, spinning around and stumbling, and lowering her hands instantly to regain her posture.
"But still, you do know a lot about how the school works and everything." Clara pointed out.
"I could tell you each of the staffs wages of you like." Scar smiled.
"Geez, I remember when just knowing the teachers name was super exciting." Clara said.
"But really, how do you know so much?" The Doctor asked, and Scar shushed him as they came to the edge of the hedge. The trio lined up at the edge of the wall, and Scar scanned the horizon quickly.
"CCTV." She pointed above their heads. A single camera sat in a plastic globe, staring to their left. "It's pointing at the technology rooms. We can't use those doors." Scar muttered. "It'll have to be PE."
"Where's that?" Clara asked as she and the Doctor watched Scar intently.
"Round this corner. Follow me." Scar edged around the corner to her left, and crashed into a low wall at the edge of a stairway leading to the PE fire exit.
"Sorry, forgot about that." She smiled, weaving around the wall and darting down the stairs, quickly followed by the Doctor and Clara. At the doors in the well at the bottom of the stairs, Scar stood back.
"I can't get them open." Scar pointed at the dark blue doors. The schools colour scheme was dark blue.
"Hang on." The Doctor said, pulling out his screwdriver and pointing it at the fire exit. The doors opened slightly, and he smiled as he pocketed the sonic tool.
"It can open locks?" Scar asked. He just pointed to the door. She nodded, taking the lead and slowly entering the building.
She edged into the completely dark room, the large sports hall illuminated by nothing whatsoever, making it look like a large, dark, uninviting, imposing cave. They were lucky that the floor in the hall was flat.
"Watch the-..." Scar began, but winced as Clara tripped on the metal border lying underneath the door. "...Step." Scar finished. She couldn't see whether Clara was scowling at her or not, but there was a high chance she was.
The Doctor brought out the screwdriver again to illuminate the space directly in front of him, and he walked besides Scar to light her way, Clara following behind with a sigh.
"What about the motion sensor?" Scar remembered, pointing to the miniscule red light on the ceiling alerting to the presence of the sensor. The Doctor pointed the screwdriver at it, and the red light went out.
"Disabled." He said simply. Scar went on.
"What are you looking for, anyway?" Scar asked, realising that she didn't know why they'd wanted to get in the school. For all she knew, the Doctor and Clara could be a pair of high-tech space thiefs, and she could have just brought down the school in a matter of seconds.
"The source of that noxious smell. Does the school have a cellar?" The Doctor asked.
"Which one?" Scar asked.
"Which one?!" The Doctor raised his voice slightly in surprise, illuminating his face with the green screwdriver. Scar pushed his hand back down at the floor.
"Well, there's a storage cellar beneath the stage in the main hall. It's bone dry and a serious fire hazard. The schools had trouble hiding that from the fire marshall. It's full of electrical wires and lights and wood for the stage plays. You should come and see them if you ever get the chance; they're pretty good." Scar went on. The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Yes, whilst that's all very nice and cosy, were not here to listen to a sales pitch." The Doctor said. Scar sulked.
"I'm in someone of the stage plays." She muttered. "I sing. And I work backstage."
"Yes, that's nice. Any useful pieces of information would be good." Clara said as they came to the door of the sports hall.
"Well..." Scar began.
"Well? I like that well; it sounds like it's going somewhere." The Doctor smiled slightly.
"Next to the sixth form common room, underneath the sixth form stairs, there's a black gate with a thick chain keeping it shut. Behind the gate there's a set of stairs going down. I'm the only person in the whole school who's noticed it, but no-one who I've told wonders about it. No-one at all. I find that really weird." Scar said.
"A mysterious set of stairs that no-one cares about...ooh..." The Doctor smiled. "That sounds fun." He sonicked the sports hall door, and it fell open, letting Scar push her way through it. She held the door open for the Doctor and Clara, and ran ahead of them to walk down the corridor past the changing rooms.
"Spooky stairway then?" Scar smiled, skipping up two steps. The Doctor walked over them in one. Clara stepped on them normally.
"Do you have to call it a spooky stairway?" Clara asked.
"Why? Are you scared?" Scar asked. She didn't smile when she said that. Clara nodded just out of sight. Her silence told the Doctor and Scar all they needed to know.
"Spooky stairway it is!" Scar said, but paused as she spun around and pointed at the ceiling. "Camera." She said simply. The Doctor sonicked it instantly.
"All inactive. I've put them on a loop of the still footage from before." He said proudly. "Which is really hard to do remotely."
"Aww, would you like a gold sticker?" Scar smiled, skipping ahead. They passed the door to the separate gym and weights room, and passed the corridor to the right leading to the science rooms, a door to the left leading to the library, and a long window to the right looking out on the year 7 courtyard.
"The nursery." Scar pointed to the courtyard. "So they aren't let loose on the rest of the school. I've never spent any time in there. I couldn't stand it as a year 7."
"You seem to divert from the core parts of school a lot." The Doctor noted.
"I hate border's. They're so restricting." Scar said as she pushed the pair of doors ahead open, walking past the cashless catering machine with a thumbprint scanner, high-tech for a public school. The Doctor admired the thumbprint scanner with interest, and Clara pulled him on to light the way for Scar with the screwdriver. The Doctor turned around briefly and quickly scanned the thumbprint scanner, reading the readouts on the screwdriver and frowning as he did. He didn't say anything, and walked on, turning left to follow Scar and Clara.
To the left of them sat 'Student Services', the place to go for all a students needs. A metal barricade was down over the empty desk, protecting the inner office from invaders of the school. Opposite student services was a glass wall which behind it sat main reception, the place to go for parents, sectioned off from the school. Next to that was the frosted glass front doors of the school.
"Those doors are only for years 7 to 11. Sixth form have their own door." Scar walked on, leaving the Doctor and Clara to follow. To their right began a set of stairs leading upstairs to the maths department next to humanities, then psychology, then eventually business studies and languages.
"The school has an attic." Scar pointed to the ceiling. The Doctor made a point of remembering that. As they continued along the corridor, various doors bordered each side to little offices and help rooms including the nurse's room.
"Nurse comes every Tuesday." Scar pointed to the room.
"What happens if someone gets injured on not-a-Tuesday?" Clara asked.
"Student services will help." Scar continued on. "But they won't even give you a plaster unless you fill in a form. Some kind of thing saying that you're responsible for your death if the plaster kills you...I've never really read it." Scar pulled a face.
"In case the plaster kills you?" Clara asked with a smile. Scar smiled back. She didn't know why either.
At the end of the corridor was another set of double doors, and Scar pushed them open and stopped as the Doctor and Clara passed through the doors. To their left was a grand staircase leading upstairs to the maths department, and ahead was the pin-protected door to the sixth form common room.
"So where's this spooky staircase then?" The Doctor asked. Scar pointed with her right hand under the grand staircase. The Doctor and Clara walked forwards, peering into the darkness illuminated gently by a low green sonic light.
"Cobwebs and everything..." Clara looked less than happy.
"I know! Isn't it great?!" The Doctor seemed truthfully happy, beaming happiness like the sun beams warmth.
"Yeah...anyway." Scar carried on. "Lock." Scar pointed to the lock on the chain, and as the Doctor sonicked it, it fell and Scar caught it along with the chain, placing it quietly on the ground. Stepping aside to let the Doctor open the gate, Scar and Clara watched curiously as he edged towards it. He pulled the gate open in one swift motion, stepping back instantly and walking ahead with the sonic pointed in front of him, lighting the way.
"Come along Clara, Scar, there's nothing to be afraid of." The Doctor said slowly as he walked down, not turning back to see them. The girls glanced at each other, sharing an afraid smile before going down one by one, Clara going first, followed by Scar, down the narrow staircase.
"Doctor?" Clara whispered.
"Yes?" He asked.
"I'm scared." Clara whispered again.
"I know. I'm scared too." He admitted casually as he walked down the staircase that started to wind left, underneath the sixth form common room.
"I'm not." Scar lied.
"You're not?" Clara asked.
"No." Scar said tersely as they rounded a corner on the stairs, unable to see ahead into the darkness. "Shouldn't there be a light switch around here or something? Like...on the wall?" Scar asked slowly.
"Yeah...somewhere around here..." The Doctor muttered as he reached out his left hand and ran it along the left wall.
"These stairs go down quite far." Clara noticed. "Must be a very deep cellar." She shivered.
"I can barely see." Scar squinted into the darkness. The stairs began to straighten out.
"Join the club." Clara added somewhat positively.
Five more steps, and the Doctor's feet hit flat ground. He began to blindly search the walls for a light switch as he pointed his screwdriver at the wall for light, and Clara and Scar found the flat ground too. It was cold concrete, and it echoed loudly with each step.
"Doctor, couldn't you just...point your screwdriver at the lights to switch them on?" Clara asked. The Doctor paused in his search, and turned to face Clara in the dark.
"I didn't think of that." He said before turning away again.
"That's why I'm here." Clara smiled, her expression evident in her voice. A low whirring buzzing sound filled the air momentarily more so than before as the sonic was pointed at the ceiling, and stuttering, bar-shaped lights slowly flickered to life, illuminating the cellar beneath the school.
They all took an involuntary step back.
They really had gone down quite far. Ahead of them sat a machine, steampunk in its appearance yet a small screen on its side embodied modernism. The machine was silent, switched off in the darkness of the night.
Above the tall coppery machine was a large, wide pipe leading to the ceiling, presumably to the drains at the front of the school. Cogs and pulleys placed - at first appearance - in random places slowly formed a complex jigsaw of brilliance.
"What...is that?!" Clara gasped.
"I don't know..." The Doctor said quietly as he slowly edged towards the tall machine, pointing his screwdriver ahead of him and scanning it for all it's worth.
"Wow..." Scar mumbled, her eyes wide with fascination and awe like Clara's. "Is that the source of that wretched smell?"
"At a guess...yes." The Doctor said distantly, his attention focused heavily on the tall machine. He waved the sonic all over the machine, occasionally glancing at the reading that it gave out, and he frowned at one particular reading.
"Doctor, what is it?" Clara started towards the Doctor, and as the Doctor opened his mouth to answer, the machine roared to life, making the three of them jump back towards the staircase.
"What did you do?!" Scar bellowed above the machine's noise.
"It must have activated remotely..." The Doctor muttered, but there was doubt in his voice. And he glanced at Scar. And he glared at Scar.
And he sharply turned toward her.
"Doctor...?" Scar and Clara asked nervously as the Doctor grabbed Scar's shoulders.
"It's you, it's all you!" He seemed angry. Scar was afraid.
"What's me-" Scar began, but the Doctor spat out his words before Scar could get a word in edge ways.
"You, I bet you don't even remember, do you?"
"Wha-" Scar's eyebrows arched.
"Before that machine started, what could you hear? Hmm? Nothing, that's what. But you should. You should have heard sirens, alarms, police cars, excetera, because you should have been missing until now, not ringing home, and leaving your parents to worry. But no, there was no sirens, no nothing because you don't have a home to go to. Don't you wonder why you never get the bus anymore? It's because you can't. It's not as if you have anywhere to go to now anyway. That's why you came to see what I was doing outside of the school, you had to find an excuse to go back. And - and - you had to guard the school. Oh, clever, portable security system, clever-" The Doctor ranted. Clara stopped him.
"What are you going on about?!" Clara shouted. The room began to fill with a noxious smell. Scar fell silent, her eyes more distant than the furthest planet.
"See, you're remembering. Didn't you ever wonder why you know so much about the school and the staff? Or weren't your data banks designed that way? Were you not given the ability to question your own actions? No, you were given just enough to act as a normal student, so normal - in fact - that you made friends. They didn't notice anything different, they wouldn't, and it was necessary if you were going to be a success-"
"Doctor, what are you going on about?!" Clara pulled his shoulder. The Doctor let go of Scar's shoulders, and she stood there like an empty shell, void of all consciousness, staring into the distance.
"I can guarantee you Clara that if you go back up those stairs the gate will be locked, because we've been trapped down here-"
"But what are you talking about; Scar, security-"
"Scar - Scarlett Millen - ordinary student until she learnt too much. Became a prime candidate for conversion to this." He pointed at Scar. "The school needed a security guard for their new toy when other students started to notice, but I suppose that's what happens when you use performance enhancing gas on the students-"
"What?!" Clara was very confused.
"Not the nicest smelling gas. Eventually fatal. But if the grades go up...some schools will take anything, even if it is a life-"
"What are you saying?" Clara lowered her voice slightly.
"Scarlett Millen is a shell, a portable security system to guard the machine which produces - what shall we call it - Intelligas to improve the intelligence of the students. She's a walking trap, and we fell for her act." The Doctor finished darkly, scowling at the distant Scar. He glared into Scar's uninhabited eyes, and tried to look I to her non-existant soul.
"Scar, please listen. You have control the machines and all the security systems of the school, you have to turn this machine off and open the gate. I know you can because somewhere inside you will be a tiny scrap of decency that will help us escape. If you let us escape, I'll shut you down permanently, releasing you from a life of encoded commands, but you have to let us go! Scarlett, please?" The Doctor stressed as he held Scar's hand.
And a single tear fell down her left cheek.
"Why me?" Scar asked almost mutely.
"Because you knew too much." The Doctor said softly, wiping away her tear. "Now please, Scarlett, let us go and I'll deactivate you."
"No." Scar said simply.
"Scar, please-"
"No, I'll let you go, but please don't deactivate me. I don't want to die again." Her voice had changed, becoming the childish voice it had began as. This certainly wasn't a scripted machine speaking.
"Doctor, isn't there anything we can do?" Clara asked quietly. He shook his head.
"If she moves more than 500 metres from the school, she'll automatically deactivate. Scarlett, listen, if I don't deactivate you, your life will be destined to live constantly in the parameters of the school. No-one wants that-"
"I do. I can stop the machine working." She said silently. "I'll do a master override of the commands, make it unusable, but if I do that, there will be no need for me, so I'll automatically deactivate. I'll sacrifice myself for the students sake. If I do that, at least they'll be free." Scarlett went silent, and the Doctor started to pace, fighting with himself in his mind.
"Doctor, think of something, anything. You can't let her do that." Clara demanded quietly. He dropped pacing briefly to look at her.
"No, she has to, she has to! Scar, do it now!" The Doctor turned to her, holding Clara back with one arm as he pointed at Scar with the other. Scar nodded in understanding. Clara screamed.
"No, Scar, don't!" She shouted. The Doctor continued to hold her back. Scarlett collapsed.
She'd pushed the computer code from her mind that had controlled her life. She'd shut down the machine. The large machine whined and groaned as it deactivated before coming slowly to a stop. Clara cried. The Doctor pulled her away, back up the stairs as he directed her gaze away from Scar's limp shell.
"Clara, come on. She'll be happier now." The Doctor said in quiet, comforting tone's as he pulled Clara up the stairs. Clara tried desperately to turn back, but the Doctor wouldn't move out of her way, pushing Clara onwards forcefully for her own good, ignoring Clara's protests and screams to go back, all the way to the TARDIS.

What the Doctor didn't know was that deactivation didn't mean the total loss of Scar's concience...
And her hand twitched...
First of all, I'm a Whoufflé shipper.
I wrote this a while ago, and thought I'd post it before I forgot. It's sort of an OC story I suppose, but yeah. It's not an OC story. If you get me?
I haven't re-read it, so sorry for any typoes, and I'm sorry if there are plot holes.

11th Doctor X Clara stuff.

It's set in my school. Heh.
© 2014 - 2024 ExuberantStarchild
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SO GOOD. O.O Ish beautiful! Adorable Girl Anime Emoji (Kawaii Jump) [V6] Taiga and Minori (I miss you hug) [V1]