Twissy: Run to the End of the Galaxy

Part Fifteen

Missy didn't need to read Clara's mind to know that she had come up with over a hundred ways to somehow kill her. They were involved in a vicious staring contest across the console room and never took their eyes off each other.
"You killed him".
"Believe what you like, pup", she answered nonchalantly, staring off into the depths of the TARDIS.
"Yes, and I believe you killed him".
"I killed a Cyberman! Your boyfriend was already dead".
"His name's Danny, not just 'your boyfriend', and you... you... You killed him".
"Christ, it's like arguing with a Dalek. In fact at least you can shove them off a cliff if they get in your nerves. You I have to keep alive".
"Shove me out then".
"Don't you think the Doctor would realise one person missing? And anyway, 'Danny' couldn't have been saved by the Mire healthkit anyway".
"Why not?"
"It's been programmed for humans and Daleks. Both are enemies of the Cybermen. Put two and two together, you might just get six".
"So, you knew it wouldn't work?"
"Of course I knew. Why do you think I tried to warn you off from it? The Doctor probably knew too actually. Yeah, but probably thought you wouldn't actually do it". She got up from her armchair and wandered underneath the console. This was where Missy kept her stash: a bag of years old jellybabies, three spare vaporiser devices, a Dalek eyestalk (from the first one she killed), a few knives that were disguised as hairpins and her greatest prize of all. She had kept it away from UNIT, away from The Doctor, away from anyone that wanted it. Which she supposed was everybody, because they all wanted something from it. Underneath an old tartan blue blanket was the Nethersphere. She didn't want all her hard work to go to pot when UNIT stormed St. Paul's Cathedral, so the old trick of replacing the wanted item with a different item seemed to work. Goodness knows, Kate Stewart must have been angry when she found it was a fake. From what Missy had overheard on the Doctor's telephone conversations, they had found a way to bring people back from the dead. But it wasn't working and because the only recent incursion that had something to do with death was Missy; they thought it best to storm the Cathedral. Eight months after the actual incursion. But Missy knew, as she stared over her stash and picked out a dusty red jellybaby, that she would be hunted. They would hunt her like a pack of wolves until she gave up the Nethersphere. She pulled off the head of the jellybaby and stuck it back in the bag, thinking about all the people locked in it. Clara's 'Danny', Kate's father, at least six of the Doctor's old companions, River Song. She had visited them all during her time as The Gatekeeper. And geez did Ms. Song have her sass about her. Missy had downloaded her when she sacrificed herself in the library. She had many accomplices, and many different skins for her Nethersphere. The computer in the library was one, and there was the datacloud used by the Great Intelligence. Missy had met him once, The Great Intelligence, but she did have to say he was a bit cold (sorry, puns).
"Missy?" asked a quiet voice from above her. It was Clara, who had obviously changed her tune and was wandering down the stairs towards her. "Look I'm sorry. I know you didn't kill him, I just really wanted hi-".
"Is that the Nethersphere?" she enquired, pointing towards the red lights brightly shining underneath the blanket.
"Damn it", Missy thought. She should have known that it activated when she was within four foot of it.
"If it was would you tell the Doctor?" she asked with a sugary sweet smile.