Of course.
He fell hard. Just shy of his TARDIS. He'd assumed that she was telling the truth when she claimed to have timed it precisely.
Since when have I ever been honest, even with myself?
"Oh no you don't."
A woman with startlingly blue eyes and narrow glasses grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet with far more strength than any mere human would possess. He leaned heavily on her shoulder while she practically dragged him into the control room. Easing him to the floor, she rummaged through his jacket pockets, muttering.
"Here's hoping you have that spare dematerialization circuit after all…"
The Master managed to get the circuit out of his pocket and into her hands. His question came out in a rasp, "Who are you?"
She arched an eyebrow at him in an oddly familiar expression, "Smarter than you. At least some things never change."
While she popped a panel out of the console and removed the charred component, realization dawned across his face.
"Aryna?"
The Time Lady glared at him over the rim of her glasses, "You do realize that you'd have had the time to do this yourself if you hadn't insisted on shooting Missy in the back? You're a tad more self-destructive in this incarnation than I'd imagined."
His laugh turned to a wet cough and he could feel his fingertips begin to tingle, "I don't know what I'd be if I wasn't fighting the Doctor."
"Maybe you could just be his friend again," she finished snapping the panel back into place, and the controls lit up. "You saved his life. The day that Gallifrey came back – the day that Rassilon tried to kill him."
"I just hated Rassilon more than…" he pulled in a ragged breath, "Than I hated the Doctor."
"I know," Aryna crouched down next to him, "What they did to you… I don't know how to apologize for that."
Another mirthless laugh ended in a cough.
She reached out and brushed her fingertips across his forehead, "It will be quieter in there after this. I promise."
"How could you know?" he tried to shout, but the words came out in more of a strangled whisper. Anger wasn't enough to hide the pain anymore.
"I had tea with an old friend," she squeezed his hand, "So many things are going to change… but not everything. You won't remember that I was even here, but if you can hold onto anything… anything at all… let it be that the Doctor still cares about you. He still believes in you, in who you could be."
The glow engulfed his hands and Aryna stood quickly, "That's my cue. I have to go finish saving you anyway." She crossed the control room and opened the door to a red police box that he'd not noticed in the corner before.
A TARDIS inside a TARDIS? That shouldn't be possible…
"You can't," he gasped, "do that…"
She turned and winked at him, "Maybe you can't…"
The doors shut and the red box dematerialized just as the Master was completely overcome by the violent tides of regeneration energy.
?
Shame the sky isn't orange.
The odd thought drifted through Missy's mind as dark spots started crowding in her field of vision. She guessed that she was hallucinating when a TARDIS materialized around her and she found herself on the hard floor of a control room.
"Saving you twice in one day. Well, well, I don't think even the Doctor can boast that."
Missy looked into the face of a Time Lady with a rather smug half-smile. Something in the back of her memory tugged at the sight of the blue eyes and narrow, gold-rimmed glasses…
"You did say that you had to finish saving me. I don't think even you can save me now, dearie."
Aryna knelt on the floor next to one of her oldest friends and held up a small, brilliant orange jewel, "Don't be so sure."
"How did that end up in your hands?" the spots had returned.
She rolled the gem between her thumb and finger, "Why stop at just stealing a TARDIS? Besides, despite everything, I'd say the Time Lords owed you this much."
"Do you even know how to use it?" Missy's voice was strained and her eyes drifted closed.
"I guess we'll find out, won't we?" Aryna shrugged, "Not 100% certain what cracking this open will do to either of us. Still… someone has to save you, even from yourself."
Aryna eyed the jewel once again and took a deep breath, "The Doctor will owe me another one after this," looking down at her once-friend's nearly lifeless body she closed her own eyes while she crushed the fragile casing containing the maelstrom of energy.
"Once more into the breach…"
Brilliant, burning gold light rushed to fill every corner of the control room, leaving nothing unchanged...