Thirteenth X Clara - Alternative

Chapter 8: The Crowning Reveal

The rain continued to pour down on them, leaving both the Doctor and Clara soaked. It was so much so that they could barely make it out the house in front of them added to the fact that it was already at night. Well, they assumed it was a house, but it looked pretty big. Must have landed in a rich area.

"Best make for that house over there. Maybe they can give us some shelter! I wonder if that's why we're here as well!"

"I agree!"

The two of them were currently in the middle of some courtyard, in which they were closer to the house than the Tardis, so they had to make a run for it. The Doctor quickly took out the sonic and got them in.

The door opened up to reveal a rather palatial interior adorned with the colors, red, white and gold. The place was huge; the roof stretching far, far above their heads. Ahead of them, a long line of red stairs going up higher and higher.

"Nice place. Very royal."

"The owner has definitely got some money in the bank."

The two looked to take a few steps before feeling the squelching of their boots. So much for that change of clothes. Mind you, they didn't intend for another bath so soon.

"Hopefully we can get done with this thing quickly so we don't have to walk around like this for too long."

"Good point. So, you're still the boss. Where should we start?"

The two women walked up the steps a bit and saw up ahead by the entrance to the next room, a woman, a brunette. She was a bit too far away to make out.

"Should we talk to her and see what this place is?" Clara asked as the Doctor's attention appeared to be diverted.

She smelled something, something familiar. She tried to piece the smell together in her head. It was sweet, but it didn't feel like it was meant to be sweet. She walked ahead of Clara to see if she could get a better scent of it. Then she got it, the memory hitting her like a lightning bolt.

Froridian blaster powder, illegal in over 10 galaxies. Its smell was potent and you only would smell it when.... a Froridian blaster has been armed.

Now she began to panic. She tried to look around for the shooter, but couldn't see them anywhere. She could hear the blaster being ready to fire, she had a minute left. She knew that there was a target system which was invisible to the naked eye, so she took out her sonic and began scanning for it. She turned and turned and turned until the signal revealed its whereabouts. It was focused on the brunette woman.

Time check, 30 seconds. This was it.

"Come on!" the Doctor said as she took Clara's hand as they ran towards the woman.

Time kept ticking down as they climbed the steps. Not that much further now, they had less than a metre to go. 10 seconds remaining now.

'10'

'9'

'8'

'7'

'6'

'5'

'4'

'3'

'2'

'1'

The Doctor leapt as far as she could and tackled the woman to the ground, milliseconds before the blaster went off and the shot went over their heads. She looked up. It had broken a window.

"I'm so sorry. I'll explain later." She said to the woman, not glancing at her before she ran to see where the shooter was.

"Clara! Look after her, make sure she's alright. I'm gonna try to pick up a scan of whatever fired that thing." the Doctor said before going off to scan the immediate area.