SEQUEL TO "DYING EMBERS"
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Life returns... Life prevails... Everything has changed. And in the mysterious world of the Nethersphere, plans have been drawn... and it most certainly can't lead to anything good. (FULL SUMMARY INSIDE!!!)
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Continued from Deep Breath ― III __________
Clara woke up on the floor of the spaceship, Lucas still blinking next to her as he groaned.
"Where are the others?" The Half-Face Man asked as Clara looked up at him. "There were two others. Where are they? Where are the others." He aimed at her. "You will tell us, or you will be destroyed."
Clara frowned. "What did you say?"
"You will tell us."
"Yeah, I know, or what?"
"You will die."
Just then, Clara suddenly remembered words a student had said to her on her first day teaching at Coal Hill, a day filled with numerous unruly students. A day when Lucas finally had to pause in teaching his students and come over from his classroom to come in and help settle down Clara's students.
Clara narrowed her eyes at the half-faced man. "Go on, then. Do it." She taunted. "I'm not going to answer any of your questions, so you have to do it. You have to kill me." She smirked. "Threats don't work unless you deliver."
"Yeah." Lucas grinned as he got to his feet. "What she said."
"You will tell us where the other ones are." The Half-Face Man ordered.
"Nope." They shook their heads.
"You will be destroyed."
"Oh, destroy us, then." Lucas rolled his eyes. "And if you don't... well, we won't believe a single threat you make from now on. 'Cause if we're dead, we can't tell you where the other ones went. You need to keep this place down here a secret, don't you? Word of advice, never start with your final sanction." He smirked. "You've got nowhere to go but backwards."
"Humans feel pain."
"Oh, look." Clara gave a mirthless smile. "Bigger threat to smaller threat. That is backwards."
"The information can be extracted by means of your suffering."
"Are you trying to scare us?" Lucas scoffed. "It's going to take a lot more to frighten us when we're already terrified of dying... And believe me, we'll endure a lot pain for a very long time before we give up the information that's keeping us alive." He tilted his head. "How long have you got?"
The clockwork whirred as the Half-Face Man stood.
"All you can offer us is our lives." Clara told him. "What you can't do is threaten them. You can negotiate."
Lucas raised an eyebrow when the Half-Face man removed his big, right hand and clamped it down onto his lapel. "Okay... Maybe a bit frightened now."
"Make that very." Clara clutched onto Lucas's arm tightly. "And if you know anything about human beings, that means you are in a lot of trouble."
