Receiving Another Chance (Book Ten of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Death in Heaven

Over 13K words, everyone. Wow, that took so much longer than I thought . . . then again, a bit of original content in here, too, so that would do it.

More familiar faces join forces with the TARDIS gang, some tense conversations are had, Missy has a terrible endgame (no pun intended), and there's lots of closure at the end.

Enjoy "Death in Heaven!"

***

Pietro was ready to rush the Cyberman when Clara ran around him. "Stop!" she barked. "You can't kill us!"

The Cyberman stopped, considering them. "Incorrect."

"We are targets of strategic value," Clara shook her head. "Alive, we're tactical advantages. Dead, we're your biggest mistakes. You don't know who we are."

"He doesn't?" Pietro frowned.

The Cyberman scanned them both. "You are Pietro Maximoff. You are human. You are unimportant."

"Thanks, mate," Pietro rolled his eyes.

"You are Clara Oswald. You are Inhuman. You are unimportant."

"Incorrect," Clara shook her head, making Pietro do a double take. "You see, that is what you're supposed to think. That is what everybody thinks."

"You are Clara Oswald."

"Clara Oswald is a cover story, a disguise. There is no Clara Oswald."

The Cyberman paused. "Identify."

"Oh, don't be so slow," Clara rolled her eyes. "It's embarrassing! Who could fool you like this? Who could hide right under your nose? Who could change their face any time they want? Hmm? You see, I'm not Clara Oswald. Clara Oswald has never existed!"

"Identify!"

Clara grinned widely, and with confidence that would have fooled Pietro had he not known she really was his girlfriend, declared, "I'm the Doctor!"

***

"Look at them!" Missy spun around gleefully, Jessie still shaking her head and trying to comprehend that the Master, of all the possible Time Lords, was back. "My boys!"

"Cybermen in broad daylight," the Doctor scowled. "You think people won't notice?"

Tony lowered his repulsors, looking around as people swarmed the Cybermen. "Uh, robots in broad daylight? Yeah, they're gonna notice . . . and want pictures."

"Exactly!" Missy beamed, and with a flourish, unpinned her hat and put it on the ground. "Photos with the big metal men, one pound!"

Jessie looked at Tony as money instantly got thrown in. "I don't suppose you can pin everyone's phones and tell them the Cybermen are dangerous?" she hissed.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y.?" Tony asked.

Missy tsked, seeing the Doctor close to panicking. "Oh, honey!"

"Boss, I'm picking up interference on the phones," F.R.I.D.A.Y. reported. "They do not appear to be civilian authorized."

"Civilian authorized?" Tony repeated. "Is that even a thing?"

"New York!" Missy exclaimed, and they turned around to see her showing the Doctor and Wanda images on her device. "Paris, Rome, Marrakesh, Brisbane, Glasgow. Everywhere, me and my boys! We're going viral!"

A throat cleared in front of them, and the six of them looked up to see a dark-haired woman with glasses and wearing a bow tie walk up. "Would you like me to take a picture?" she asked with a smile, gesturing to the device Missy was holding up. "Sorry, selfies are never as good, are they? And you're having such a lovely moment. Hang on!"