Continued from Deep Breath ― III
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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."

"We will not negotiate." The Half-Face Man said, a blowtorch now where his hand once was.

"You don't have a choice." Clara shook her head. "I'll tell you what, we'll answer your questions if you answer ours."

"We will not answer questions."

"An answer for an answer." Lucas said, not backing down. "We'll go first... Why did you kill the dinosaur?"

"We will not answer questions."

"Why did you kill the dinosaur?" Clara repeated.

"We will not answer questions!"

"Then you might as well kill us, because we're not talking again till you do."

The Half-Face Man stared them down before speaking. "Within the optic nerve of the dinosaur is material of use to our computer systems."

"You burned a whole dinosaur for a spare part?" Clara stared at him.

"Wait, hang on." Lucas frowned. "If you know what's in a dinosaur's optic nerve... that means you've seen them before."

"Where are the other ones?" The Half-Face Man asked.

"How long have you been rebuilding yourselves?" Clara examined him. "Look at the state of you... Is there any real you left? What's the point?"

"We will reach the Promised Land."

Lucas frowned. "The what? What's the Promised Land?"

"Where are the other ones?"

Clara swallowed. "We don't know."

"But we know where they will be." Lucas quickly added as he and Clara backed away. "It's where they will always be."

"If Sky and Jupiter are right and the Doctor and the Glorious are still the Doctor and the Glorious," Clara closed her eyes. "they will have our backs."

"We're right, aren't we?" Lucas asked, closing his eyes as he and Clara reached back expectantly. "Go on. Please, please go on. Say we're right."

Just then, hands suddenly grabbed theirs and pulled them back, the Impossibles grinning as two of the robots pulled their skin off to reveal the Doctor and Lexi.

"Ah, hello, hello, rubbish robots from the dawn of time." The Doctor smirked. "Thank you for all the gratuitous information. Five foot one and six foot two and crying? You never stood a chance."

"We were not crying." Lucas scowled at him. "Oh, ye of little faith."

"You might've been, just a tad." Lexi told him, smiling before she turned to look at the Half-Face man, slapping down his blowtorch hand. "Stop it." She scolded him before putting her sonic in the Half-Face Man's recharger, making the lights go out. "This is your power source, yes? Bit feeble, but I can use it to blow this whole room if I or my husband see one thing we don't like."

"And for me, that includes karaoke and mime. So take no chances." The Doctor pointed at his wife in agreement before glancing at Lucas and Clara as he held up the skin. "See, guys? That's how you disguise yourselves as droids."

Clara scowled. "Yeah, well, we didn't have a lot of time. We'd been suddenly abandoned."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Lexi winced, then paused. "Actually, no we're not. After all, you both are brilliant on adrenaline."

"And you..." The Doctor pointed at the Half-Face man. "were out of your depth, sir. Never try and control a control freak."

"Oh, I know you're not talking about me." Lucas frowned.

Clara narrowed her eyes. "I am not a control freak!"

"Yes, ma'am." The Doctor said dryly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Why are you here?" The Half-Face Man asked.

"Why did you invite us?" The Doctor countered. "The message in the paper. That was you, wasn't it?" He cleared his throat as Lexi slowly took back her sonic. "I hate being wrong in public. Everybody, forget that happened."

"Not a chance." Lexi giggled as she slid her sonic back into the sleeve of her dress. "Clara, Lucas, say the word."

"What word?" They glanced at her.

Lexi smirked at their innocent looks. "The Doctor and I know very well that our children, along with the Paternoster Gang, never would've sent you in here without a word."

Lucas and Clara shared a look, both of them grinning before Clara pressed a finger to her broach and Lucas spoke into one of his cufflinks. "Geronimo!"

From the ceiling came four individuals: a lizard woman, a human woman, a Time Lady and a Time Lord; all four of them in black tactical gear as they rolled down from long pieces of fabric around their waists while a distinct glowing purple mist of a certain human-genie swirled around them. They landed on their feet, drawing swords from scabbards on their backs as Marguerite manifested fully with magical golden energy swirling around her fingertips.

"Remain still and lay down your weapons in the name of the British Empire!" Vastra announced. There was a loud bellow from above, and the last piece of fabric (that was way too short) deposited Strax to the floor.

Jupiter closed her eyes. "We looked so badass until that happened."

"Sorry." Strax got to his feet.

"I've told you before, take the stairs." Jenny hissed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh, look, the cavalry."

"I burned an ancient, beautiful creature for one inch of optic nerve." The Half-Face Man said as he began advancing. "What do you think you can accomplish, little man?"

"What do you think, Vastra?" Lexi tilted her head.

Vastra used her sword to block the Half-Face Man's blowtorch. "The establishment upstairs has been disabled with maximum prejudice, and the authorities summoned."

Clara blinked. "Hang on, she called the police? We never do that."

"Maybe we should start." Lucas thought out loud.

"You see?" The Doctor asked, ignoring the two friends. "Destroy us if you will. They're still going to close your restaurant." Lexi raised an eyebrow, and he sighed. "That was going to sound better."

"Then we will destroy you." The Half-Face Man raised an arm.

The Doctor looked around, seeing every droid had a sword for an arm. "No, you won't. You're logical. You have restraint. You kill to survive. You're not a murderer."

"You do realize that this is a slaughterhouse, right?" Clara frowned.

"And how does that make it different from any other restaurant." The Doctor countered. "You weren't vegetarian last time I checked. This is over. Killing us won't change that. What would be the point?"

"To find the Promised Land." The Half-Face Man answered.

The Doctor frowned. "You're millions of years old. It's Time you knew there isn't one."

"I am in search of paradise."

"Yeah, well, me, too. I found it with Alexis Pond."

Said woman blushed, only to run forward when the Half-Face Man knocked the Doctor down. "Doctor!"

"I will leave in the escape capsule." The Half-Face Man said. "Destroy where necessary."

"Escape capsule?" Marguerite narrowed her eyes, her fingers twitching as she resisted the urge to blast the Half-Face Man with her powers. "This ship is millions of years old. It'll never fly."

"It has been repaired."

"With what?" Jupiter scoffed.

"You."

"Defensive positions, everyone!" Strax barked, and Jupiter and Sky fell in immediately with the Paternoster Gang.

"He's getting away!" Clara and Lucas watched the Half-Face Man back up to the bench.

"Your friends are intelligent." The Half-Face Man shook his head. "They'll know better than to follow me."

Jupiter snickered as the bench rose, the Doctor and Lexi hanging onto brass handles on the underside. "Yeah, wouldn't be too sure about that."

Vastra held her sword in salute to the cyborgs. "It is our intent to leave. If it is your intent to stop us, perhaps we should get down to business."

Jupiter and Sky held out their swords as Marguerite clawed her hands, golden energy and glowing purple mist swirling together around her hands as Clara and Lucas stood back-to-back as they readied to fight as best they could.

***

The Half-Faced Man turned to see the Doctor pouring two glasses of whiskey, Lexi making a face as she lowered her own glass of whiskey away from her mouth. "What are you doing?" The cyborg asked.

"We've got the horrible feeling that we're going to have to kill you." The Doctor shrugged. "Thought you might like a drink first. I know I would." He looked up to see the Half-Face Man go to a control panel in the wall and pull down a small lever. He looked up, hearing a grinding, and watched the roof open. "Fifty-first century, right? Time traveling spaceship crashed in the past. You're trying to get home the long way round."

"I go to the Promised Land." The droid declared.

"Yes, that is what you keep saying." Lexi chimed in, finally looking up from staring down curiously at the glass of whiskey that now strangely tasted horrible to her. "But your restaurant is made out of your old ship, so you're wasting your time. It can't ever fly."

"The escape pod is viable." The Half-Face Man said as the Doctor walked past Lexi and picked up a small bouquet of flowers from another table.

"How?" The Doctor scoffed. "You can't patch up a spaceship with human remains." He frowned. "You know, this really is ringing a bell." The room suddenly shook, making him and Lexi look up to see a large pink balloon above them. "Okay, that's clever. How are you powering it?"

"Skin." The Half-Face Man answered.

***

"How many do you estimate, my dear?" Vastra asked.

"More than upstairs." Jenny looked around as they all fought off the droids. "About twenty, thirty?"

"The ones upstairs were mere decoys, I think." Marguerite stated as she flicked her hand forward, blasting a droid back a good few feet. "These are battle ready."

"A challenge, then." Vastra nodded, looking around.

"Don't worry, my boys." Strax said. "We shall die in glory."

"Good-o!" Lucas rolled his eyes, grunting as he shoved a droid back.

***

The Doctor took a fuse from the control board and read off it as Lexi looked out a window and down at London below. "'SS Marie Antoinette.'" He said. "Out of control repair droids, cannibalizing human beings. I know that this is familiar, but I just can't seem to place it."

"How would you kill me?" The Half-Face Man asked.

"'Sister ship of the Madame De Pompadour.'" The Doctor considered, then shook his head. "No, not getting it." He sniffed the little bouquet of flowers he still held in his hand, then just tossed it over his shoulder.

"How would you kill me?"

"You know, you do repeat yourself a lot." Lexi spoke up, turning away from the window. "Why don't you sit down and have a drink first before we answer?"

"It is only human." The Doctor nodded at his wife as she walked over to them.

"I am not human." The Half-Face Man said.

Lexi smirked as she came to stand beside her husband. "Neither are we."

***

"Marguerite, you'll have to tear them apart!" Jupiter shouted as they fought the clockwork droids, all of them getting back to their feet when they went down.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?!" Marguerite winced, using her magic on two droids at once.

"Why can't you stay dead, coward?" Strax roared as Sky jumped in front of Clara, swiping his sword at an advancing droid.

***

"What do you think of the view?" The Doctor gestured outside.

"I do not think of it." The Half-Face Man answered.

"I don't think of it." The Doctor scoffed. "I don't. Droids and apostrophes, I could write a book. Except you are barely a droid anymore. There's more human in you than machine. So, tell me, what do you think of the view?"

The Half-Face Man pulled back the net curtain, observing Westminster. "It's beautiful."

"Not exactly." Lexi said as she walked up on the other side of the Half-Face Man. "It's just far away. Everything looks a bit too small." She sighed. "Talking from experience, I actually prefer it down there. I mean, everything is huge. So... important. Every little detail, every single moment, every life clung to."

"How could you kill me?"

"For the same reason that you're asking us that question, because you don't really want to carry on." The Doctor answered before walking away, Lexi following him. "What'll happen to the other droids when you die? You're the control node, aren't you? Presumably, they'll deactivate."

"I will not die." The Half-Face Man shook his head. "I will reach the Promised Land."

"There isn't any Promised Land." Lexi sighed, rolling her eyes. "Take it from a former human. It's just... It's a superstition that you have picked up from all the humanity you've stuffed inside yourself."

"I am not dead."

"You are a broom." The Doctor scowled. "Question: you take a broom, you replace the handle, then later you replace the brush, and you do that over and over again. Is it still the same broom? Answer: no, of course is isn't. But you can still sweep the floor." He paused at the look Lexi was giving him. "...Which is not strictly relevant, skip that last part."

Lexi sighed, looking to the Half-Face Man. "The point, is that you've replaced every piece of yourself, mechanical and organic, time and time again. There's really no trace of the original you left." She tilted her head. "Can you even remember where you got that face from?"

Lexi held up one of the silver platters to the Half-Face Man. He took it, examining his reflection before throwing it onto a table. "It cannot end." He said.

"It has to." The Doctor shook his head. "You know it does." He said before going and opening the doors. "And there's only one way out."

"Self-destruction is against my basic program." The Half-Face Man shook his head.

"And murder... is against ours." The Doctor told him.

Lexi's eyes widened before she ran forward as the Half-Face Man suddenly lunged at the Doctor, hopping and latching herself onto his back as the three of them began struggling in front of the open doors.

***

"Starting to feel a bit tired here!" Lucas warned, resorting to kicking the droids back that he was fighting.

"You're not the only one!" Jupiter panted, jumping back as a droid swiped at her. Marguerite was almost to her knees with how much of her magic she was using, Clara getting fed up and shoving a droid away from Sky as said man used his sword to push back another droid that was coming up behind Clara.

***

"Ow!" Lexi winced as the Half-Face Man stumbled back from a shove the Doctor gave him, causing Lexi to be thrown against the door since she had been latched onto his back to try and pull him away from the Doctor.

"You both are stronger than you look." The Half-Face Man narrowed his eyes.

"And we're hoping you are, too." The Doctor warmed while keeping a concerned eye on Lexi as said woman straightened, her face set in a firm frown. "This is over. Are you capable of admitting that?"

"Do you have to murder me?"

"We don't want to." Lexi told him, cracking her neck. "But those people down there, the species that I come from, they are never small to us."

The Doctor gestured to the planet below. "So don't make assumptions about how far either of us will go to protect them, because I've already come a very long way. And she" He pointed at Lexi. "has spent over nine hundred years of her life doing the exact same thing."

"And, sorry to say," Lexi smiled sadly. "unlike you, I don't think either of us expects to reach the Promised Land."

The Half-Face Man tilted his head, then extinguished his blowtorch, releasing the Doctor, said man backing away to the opposite door as Lexi leaned back against the other one.

"You realize, of course, there is one side of us who is lying about their basic programming." The Doctor told him.

The Half-Face Man paused for a moment before responding. "Yes."

"And I think all three of us know who that is." Lexi said as she pushed off of the door she was leaning against.

***

Abruptly, the droids all bent forward at the waist, winding down before all collapsing to the floor.

"They did it." Clara bent over in relief. "They really did it."

"They always do." Sky responded as they all were able to relax for a moment and recover slightly from the fight they just went through.

***

The Doctor and Lexi looked out upon the spire at the top of Big Ben, the Half-Face Man impaled on top.

"So this is how it ends." Lexi remarked softly, leaning her head against the door as she looked out. "We saved everyone."

"Never going to stop either." The Doctor said, glancing at her. "Our Impossibles, they've... sort of changed their minds."

"And apparently Sky and Jupiter are the reason for that." She nodded before finally looking at him. "What do you think? Do you like what you see?"

"Honestly, I couldn't care less what you look like. It's still you... I still see you." He told her before looking back out the doors and back down at the Half-Face Man, trying to look disinterested for what he was about to ask. "You've seen all my faces, Lex. How does it feel to actually see the change in person?"

Lexi raised her eyebrows as she continued to look at him staring out the doors. "Have you not realized that I am now older than you were when we first met?" She questioned. "For however long you have that face, I won't and will never care that you look older. I mean, do you really care that I look like I'm twenty years younger than you?"

The Doctor snorted, smirking. "No."

"Oi." Lexi smacked him on the arm, grinning. "Stop it."

"You asked." He chuckled as they headed back inside. The Doctor suddenly paused, though, when a thought occurred to him. "I just realized something."

"Oh, no, that's never a good thing." Lexi rolled her eyes playfully.

"I'm serious." The Doctor said as they turned towards each other. "This is so very important, that all of time and space might just implode if I don't do this right now."

Lexi tilted her head. "What are you ta-"

She was cut off as she felt his hand on her cheek, then looked up just in time for him to kiss her softly. Not being able to help herself, she smile into the kiss as she slid her hand up his chest, resting it on his shoulder while wrapping her other arm around his neck.

The Doctor gently pulled back and smiled down at her. "With everything going on... hadn't been able to properly kiss you."

"Well, you best start making it up to me." She grinned, a twinkle in her eye.

"Oh, I definitely can." He smirked, offering her his hand. She took it with a grin, the Doctor leaning down and whispering in her ear. "Geronimo."

***

"Whoa!" Strax called as he brought the carriage to a stop, Marguerite manifesting from her glowing purple mist as Vastra, Jenny, Clara, Lucas and the time twins all climbed out of the carriage.

"You're sure they'd come back here?" Jenny frowned.

"There's no trace of them in the wreckage." Vastra shook her head. "They searched all Parliament Hill. Where else would they go?"

"Well, here." Jupiter pursed her lips in thought as she scanned the environment before her gaze stopped on a particular spot on the ground. "And then not here."

Everyone looked to where Jupiter was looking, seeing there was an obvious square spot in the straw where the TARDIS had been... and now there was no TARDIS.

"I fear we have missed them." Vastra tilted her head.

Clara's shoulders slumped as Lucas sighed dejectedly, but Sky shook his head. "They'll come back." He said surely. "They always will."

"They care about you both so much." Jupiter said as she took Lucas's and Clara's hands, making them look at her. "And I'm pretty sure they wouldn't leave me and Sky here."

Lucas let out a chuckle. "No, I s'pose they wouldn't."

"Patience." Sky told them, putting a hand on Clara's shoulder. "That's all we need."

"Right." Clara took a deep breath, nodding as she reached and gave the hand Sky held on her shoulder a squeeze. "Patience."

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