"Oh, it's a young man's game, all this dashing about," the Professor said. He leaned up against the porthole and noticed the look on Clara's face. "Clara, what is it?"

"I was doing okay, but...Seeing those bodies back there. It's all got very real. Are we going to make it?"

"Yes, of course."

The metal around them creaked.

"What was that?"

"The Doctor told you, it's just the boat settling. Tell me about yourself. What do you like doing? Clara? Clara?"

Clara was looking around in all directions. She wished Elise would snap out of her comatose state, but it was like the Timelord's mind had snapped and she was frozen like a statue.

"Stuff. You know, stuff."

"Stuff. Very enlightening. And the Doctor, what he said. Is it true you're from another time? From our future? Clara?"

"Yes."

"Tell me what happens."

"I can't."

"Well, I need to know."

"I'm not allowed."

"No, please."

"I can't!"

"Ultravox, do they split up?"

To the Professor and Clara's shock, Elise started laughing. They were going to be murdered by an alien from Mars and he was more preoccupied with whether one of his favorite bands was going to split up.

"Funny. You're funny," Clara told him. Two hands grabbed Clara's head.

"Clara!" Elise yelled, standing up.

"Let her go!" the Professor yelled, firing shots at Skaldak.

Skaldak let Clara go.

"See? I don't just like Western music." He twirled his pistol as Skaldak grabbed him.

"No, please don't hurt him. Please!" Clara begged.

The Doctor ran up.

"You attacked me. Martian law decrees that the people of this planet are forfeit. I now have all the information I require. It will take only one missile to begin the process. To end this Cold War," Skaldak said.

"Grand Marshal, there is no need for this. Listen to me," the Doctor told him.

"My distress call has not been answered. It will never be answered. My people are dead. They are dust. There is nothing left for me except my revenge."

"There is something left for you, Skaldak. Mercy."

"Mercy?"

The captain came barging in with a shotgun and the rest of the crew. "You must wear that armor for a reason, my friend. Let's see, shall we?"

The Doctor put his hand on the gun and lowered it. "No, Captain, wait!"

"I will do whatever it takes to defend my world, Doctor."

"Yes, great, fine, good, but we are getting somewhere here. We are negotiating. Jaw-jaw not war-war."

"Churchill?" the Professor asked.

Elise wanted to pipe up and say they'd met Churchill, but decided that this probably wasn't the best time. The Doctor promised to visit again when she was older. Maybe she should do that soon.

"Churchill," the Doctor confirmed.

"Very well, we'll negotiate, but from a position of strength," the captain said.

"Excellent tactical thinking. My congratulations, Captain," Skaldak complimented him.

"Thank you."

"Unfortunately, your position is not, perhaps, as strong as you might hope."

"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked.

Skaldak's empty armor entered the corridor and Skaldak dropped back into it after releasing the Professor.

"He summoned the armor," the Doctor said.

"How did it do that?" Clara asked.

"Sonic tech, Clara. The song of the Ice Warrior."

One of the soldiers fired his gun at the armor.

"No!" the Doctor yelled.

"My world is dead but now there will be a second red planet. Red with the blood of humanity!"

"Skaldak! Skaldak, wait!"

Skaldak headed to the control room and plugged himself into the computer.

"No! Skaldak, wait! Wait, wait," the Doctor yelled.

"He's arming the warheads," the captain said, still pointing his gun at Skaldak.

"Where is the honor in condemning billions of innocents to death? Five thousand years ago Mars was the center of a vast empire. The jewel of this solar system. The people of Earth had only just begun to leave their caves. Five thousand years isn't such a long time. They're still just frightened children, still primitive. Who are you to judge them?"

Skaldak unplugged himself. "I am Skaldak! This planet is forfeit under Martian law."

"Then teach them. Teach them, Grand Marshal. Show them another way. Show them there is honor in mercy. Is this how you want history to remember you? Grand Marshal Skaldak, Destroyer of Earth. Because that's what you'll be if you send those missiles. Not a soldier, a murderer. Five billion lives extinguished. No chance for goodbyes. A world snuffed out like a candle flame! All right. All right, Skaldak, you leave me no choice. I'm a Time Lord, Skaldak. I know a thing or two about sonic technology myself." The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

"A threat? You threaten me, Doctor?"

"No. No, not you, all of us. I will blow this sub up before you can even reach that button, Grand Marshal. Blow us all to oblivion."

"You would sacrifice yourself?"

"In a heartbeat." The Doctor felt a hand wrap around his and he glanced at Elise standing next to him. She give a curt nod, her way of saying 'If there's no other way, do it'.

"Mutually assured destruction."

"Look into my eyes, Skaldak. Look into my eyes and tell me you're capable of doing this. Huh? Can you do that? Dare you do that? Look into my eyes, Skaldak. Come on. Face to face."

"Well, Doctor." Skaldak's helmet retracted back and he stared at the Doctor. "Which of us shall blink first?"

"Why did you hesitate? Back there, in the dark. You were going to kill this man, remember? I begged you not to, and you listened. Why show compassion then, Skaldak, and not now?" Clara asked, gesturing to the Professor.

Elise stepped out of her father's shadow and approached Skaldak. "If you do this, billions will die. Mothers, sons, fathers, daughters. Remember that last battle, Skaldak? Your daughter. You sang the songs..."

"Of the Red Snows."

The submarine lurched.

"What's happening?" Clara asked.

"My people live. They have come for me!" Skaldak rejoiced.

"We're rising," the captain realized.

"Six hundred meters. Five fifty," the Professor read off.

The submarine broke through the ice.

"We've surfaced. Your people have saved us," the Doctor told Skaldak.

"Saved me, not you."

"Just go, Skaldak, please. Please, go in peace."

Skaldak was teleported away.

"We did it. We did it!" Clara said.

"No. No, no, no, no, no," the Doctor said, walking over to the weapon's system, "It's still armed. A single pulse from that ship... I'll destroy us if I have to. I will destroy us if I have to."

Elise placed a hand on her father's back, to let him know he wasn't alone this time.

"Show mercy, Skaldak. Come on. Show mercy."

"Why are there so many songs about rainbows..." Elise sung under her breath.

The weapon's system disarmed itself and the Doctor ran a hand down his face. "Now we're safe."

Clara launched herself into his arms. "Saved the world, then?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"That's what we do."

"Yeah."

The two smiled and giggled, causing Elise to roll her eyes until the Doctor threw an arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead.

They stepped outside and admired the Martian spaceship.

"The TARDIS! Where's the TARDIS? You never explained," Clara said.

"Oh well, don't worry about that," the Doctor told her.

"Stop saying that. Where is it?"

"Yeah. Well, I wasn't to know, was I?"

"Know what?"

"I've been tinkering, breaking her in. I'm allowed."

"What did you do?"

Their bickering made Elise smile. It reminded her of simpler times with the Ponds and River.

The Doctor muttered under his breath. "I reset the HADS."

"Huh?"

"I reset the HADS."

"The what?"

"The HADS. The Hostile Action Displacement System. If the TARDIS comes under attack, gunfire, time winds, the sea, it...relocates."

"Oh, Doctor."

"Haven't used it in donkey's years. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Well, never mind, it's bound to turn up somewhere." His sonic screwdriver started going off. "Ooo. Ha, see? Right on cue. Brilliant."

Clara smiled. "Brilliant."

"The TARDIS is at the pole."

"Not far, then."

"...the South Pole."

"Ah."

The Doctor turned to the Captain. "Could we have a lift?"

The Captain and Professor laughed as they went back into the submarine.

The Doctor mocked them until Elise playfully hit him on the arm. The Doctor saluted the Martian spaceship as it flew away. "Earlier, in the control room, you weren't scared."

Elise shook her head. "No."

"Why?"

Elise looked at him. "Because I knew that even if you weren't able to talk him down, it'd be okay."

"You have too much faith in me."

Elise gave him a small smile. "I don't think you have enough faith in yourself." Elise placed a hand on his cheek and kissed the other one before going back down into the sub.