AN: Alex MacQueen's portrayal of the sinister Time Lord has always been my favourite, and it's a damn shame he doesn't get enough credit. I've only seen one other fic where his incarnation's appeared in, and I had to rectify this immediately with a short story, a sort-of prequel to the upcoming "The Two Masters" from Big Finish. Enjoy!


Time was short.

Which was ironic, for someone like him to think that. But as time slowly dissolves around, the continuum under siege by the storms of chaos, the bald man in a suit piloted his TARDIS towards his destination, intending in sorting out this whole sorry affair before he succumbs to it.

And to his own desires.

Oh how the Master craves that power, such magnificent chaos ripping through time and space! Such power belonged solely to him and him alone, regardless of his past incarnation's hunger for the chaos himself, because the Master knew that would be the case.

No, when the time is right, he will sick his weaker crumbling self on the Doctor.

That dogmatic Time Lord will do anything to save the universe and all its unworthy inhabitants, even his own arch-nemesis. Such sentimentality will be his downfall. He had already had a run-in with the Doctor's sixth incarnation a short while back, and now it seems he must return to the present, with the aide of his own past self and that devious clown.

The Doctor will help him, where he liked it or not.

The Time Lords were fools into giving this man a new regeneration cycle, but the Master will accept the gift graciously, for he was not without gratitude, as he's certain the Doctor would scoff at. As if that meddlesome man was one to talk; he wasn't the one being drowned as a child by Torvac, instead, the Earth's beloved Doctor, saviour and crusader of time, was a murderer as a child.

The Master would love to see the looks on those companion's faces upon learning that fact.

Ah, arriving to his destination now. The scanners picked up the past TARDIS, and the Master grinned lightly.

Time was short. If he was to rule all of time and space, then all obstacles must be dealt with first; this apparent rip being one of them.

And who better to ask for aid first than himself?

Of course there were many incarnations of himself that would assist, albeit for their own ends of course, bu the Master wasn't picky. No, his previous self would do; it would do well to have the weakest of all his other lives by his side after all, just as reassurance and a reminder to who is truly in charge.

Hearing his TARDIS materialize, the bald tall man straightened his tie, rubbing back his hair if he had some, and prepared himself. By now the other Master would investigate this similar time ship near his own, and identify it immediately. That is fine, he knew that crumbling man will step into the TARDIS without invitation, and this Master was nothing if not patient.

And his intuition, as always, was very accurate.

The deformed Time Lord, holding on to his remaining lifespan, entered the ship slowly, like a predator approaching and observing his prey. And, like all their kind, he recognized the other Time Lord without delay, his eyes widening a fraction before a small smile emerged on his scarred lips.

And the future Master grinned, "The Master. Hello you."