The electric shock may not have killed Missy, but it certainly stunned her. After her initial theatrics, the Time Lady had been rather subdued and remained so for several days. As the Doctor and Nardole headed to place Missy in the Vault, she hadn't stirred and remained a dead weight in his arms. The Doctor had placed her in the middle of the Vault without gentleness, momentarily crouching down to check she was breathing properly. Internally, he had to keep telling himself he wasn't making a huge mistake.
"She's out for a few hours," he grumbled as he pulled a bag out of his pocket with trembling fingers and threw it over to Nardole. "Hold that open, I'm going to collect any weapons on her person"
Nardole eyed the Mistress' crumpled form placed unceremoniously in the bare Vault with an odd mixture of caution and concern. He had heard stories of the atrocities caused by her hand. Often, such actions had been carried out on no more than a whim. Right now, however, she looked fragile. Her bulky clothing swamped her and bruises and cuts that weren't visible when she was kneeled awaiting her fate lined her pale skin, now in full sight of everyone who gave her a second glance.
It took at least half an hour for the Doctor to be ninety percent certain he had retrieved all the weapons she was carrying. He wouldn't be able to search her properly until Nardole had left and she was a bit more awake; he wouldn't feel comfortable undressing her until she was at least somewhat aware of it.
"Right," Nardole said into the silent Vault. They'd been sat in silence for the better part of the evening. The Doctor pretending to read an old paperback while really keeping an eye on Missy as Nardole hovered awkwardly on the periphery. Missy had remained pretty much out of it for the evening, bar the occasional bleary mumbling. "Do you think it's about time we got going?"
"You go," the Doctor responded instantly. "I'm going to stay here tonight."
"Doctor," Nardole started hesitantly- a heavy warning hanging in the air. "This wasn't part of the oath."
"I need to keep an eye on her tonight and check she doesn't try anything" he said. And check she is okay. Nardole made a small noise of protest and turned to walk out of the Vault. He made it to the threshold when the Doctor spoke up again. "Oh, I've sent a list of things to the Tardis that we need to get to make this place a bit more liveable for her. Make yourself useful and go and get them."
After a bit of grumbling, Nardole padded out of the room and left the two time lords alone.
It took three days for Missy to wake up long enough to be aware of anything other than a banging headache or general lethargy. When she finally woke up properly, she was hit by a wave of confusion. This wasn't the cell she'd spent the past few years of her life in while waiting for the arrangements of her execution to be finalised. She was no longer laying in a damp cabin-esque building with only a concrete bed, but instead was positioned on a plush mattress with a blanket draped carefully over her form. Rolling over, she attempted to sit up but ended up being jolted back by the chain around her wrist.
Ah, not quite freedom, she thought to herself as she flopped back against the bed and tried to remember what course of events had led her to her current predicament. To her surprise, she felt relatively calm and safe. She hadn't felt safe in a time longer than she could remember, certainly not in this incarnation.
"Have some water." A gruff voice ordered, shoving a bottle of Evian water in front of her.
"Doctor," Missy gasped in genuine surprise. She usually managed to sense him but not this time. That was strange. The Doctor caught her look of confusion and resolved to explain all the Vault's features over the next few days. She wasn't going to react well to having all her control taking away.
"Doctor?" Missy repeated this time as a question as she scrambled to catch up with what was going on. She'd been in prison awaiting her execution, awaiting another Time Lord to carry out the deed. Ah. The penny dropped as Missy quirked her lips into a smirk. "Doctor, Doctor, Doctor" she chorused, smirk growing into a proud grin.
"That's my name, don't wear it out," the Doctor said. "Now have a drink, you've been out of it for three days." Compassion didn't come naturally to him in this body, but that didn't mean he was willing to watch her make herself ill.
Missy ignored the water bottle thrust in her face and stared up at the Doctor in awe. "You saved me. You actually saved me," she beamed and pointedly ignored the water bottle.
"Drink the water, Missy." The Doctor was stern and resolute. "Or I will attach you to a drip and I know how much you would love that." He warned dryly, prompting Missy to relent and drink the water in great gulps.
Once the water was finished, she passed it back to him holding it out just long enough for him to reach out before dropping it onto the floor and descending into giggles.
"If you're quite finished," he sighed as he crouched down and retrieved the bottle, "we need to discuss what comes next. And what you've missed while you've been sleeping off your electric hangover."
"What comes next?" Missy scoffed, making to sit up and forgetting her restraints. "That's simple: You help me get back to my Tardis and then we'll part ways for another few decades one suspects. Now be a dear and undo this," she waved her left wrist at him and puffed out her cheeks. The handcuffs clanged against the bed frame and sent echoes around the barren Vault. It was threadbare with only the bed and two chairs withheld in a hexagonal cage. The beams illuminated a fluorescent blue and buzzed away like a heartbeat.
For the first time since awakening, Missy realised where she was. This had been built as her tomb, the silly fool was really going through with it this time.
He was going to keep her. He was going to try to redeem her.
The Doctor watched on as Missy realised where they were and what was happening.
"You were serious about this?" She spat, aghast. "Well I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but it's not happening. I'm not going to be your pet project."
"You have no choice," he stated instantly. "We're friends and we always have been but something needs to change. I'm starting that change now."
"Urgh," Missy sighed rolling her eyes up to the sky. "You sound like a therapist in a self-help magazine."
Beneath her sarcasm, the Doctor could sense her growing agitation and carefully watched the way her eyes began to scan the Vault for an escape route.
"You're not getting out. There's no escape this time, we're facing what we've both been running from for centuries. And yes, I may well be like your therapist. I'll also be your jailor but most of all, I'll be your friend."
Missy snarled at that, bearing all her teeth like a cornered animal running out of options. The Doctor backed away pre-emptively as he felt the anger radiating from her. "You're a sanctimonious bastard," she spat as she lunged forward only to be pulled back by her restraints. "Who do you think you are?"
"I think I'm your friend," he replied walking out of the forcefield and adjusting the settings via his watch. "And I'm the only one you've got."
"I hate you. I'll hate you forever if you do this to me." Missy was shouting by this stage, a slightly raised voice turning to screeched hysterics in under a second.
"No, you don't and no you won't."
The Doctor pressed a button that undid her handcuffs and pointed at the hexagonal cage.
"If you try to get through that forcefield, you'll be tasered. Seen as though you're still recovering from your latest jaunt with electrocution, I wouldn't recommend it."
Missy hissed at him but remained frozen in the centre of the mattress, seemingly weighing up her options. The Doctor started to head towards the door, pausing and turning to look back as he reached them. "I'm going to leave you alone to let this sink in and get used to being on your own" he explained, knowing they were both at the start of a very long journey.
"There's a deck of cards and some books to keep you company," he muttered nodding at the stack of paper backs before disappearing out of the Vault.
When the Doctor returned, it was sixty-eight hours later. He'd heard Missy's protests from his office and had been fully expecting the carnage he found.
"Ah and the wanderer returns," Missy huffed dryly from where she was sat in amongst what remained of the chairs. Her hair was even more frazzled than when he had left her and he could only assume his warnings about the forcefield had gone unheeded.
"I said I would. I'm here for the long-term Missy." Tapping some buttons on his watch he stepped into the cage. "I liked that chair, what did you do that for?" He asked lightly, picking up what was a wooden leg from a chair.
Missy simply rolled her eyes at him in response. "You'll be here alone, then. I'm not here for the long-term."
"Missy," the Doctor started as he knelt in front of her. Missy watched warily, unsure of what was coming next. "Ever since you've returned from Gallifrey, you've been telling me we're still friends. The last few times I ignored you but I won't be doing that this time. I want us to be friends again but things need to change."
Missy shook her head. "Friends don't lock friends in Vaults for a thousand years."
"They do when that friend is a risk to every sentient being in the Universe- "
"Ah! There it is! You're keeping me here for the safety of the Universe."
"You didn't let me finish," the Doctor said calmly. "I was going to say you do when that friend is a risk to the Universe and a risk to themselves."
Missy's head bowed down in embarrassment and her cheeks reddened. "I'm not a risk to myself. Don't be ridiculous."
"You are. You need help, Missy. Please, just this once, let me help you."
There was a long silence in the Vault before the Doctor shuffled towards Missy tentatively. Taking her chin in his hand, he tilted her gaze up to meet his. It was impossible to ignore her trembling and he wondered how many others had done this to her with far harsher intentions.
"I've seen your injuries," he stated bluntly.
The cuts and bruises he'd seen as he had got her settled in the Vault were a mixture of injuries from the carefree, danger-fuelled lifestyle she led and her time in brutal prisons. He'd even noted some deep scar tissue that he could tell had been with her from the start of this incarnation. Though he was yet to check for any injuries to her psyche, he was sure they were there. As he'd changed her into one of his old shirts, he'd come to the grim realisation that locking her in this Vault was about to save her life in more ways than just saving her from the initial execution. There was only so long that even Time Lords could go on living the way she had been.
Missy remained silent and pulled away from his touch. Looking down at the oversized shirt, she finally noted that she had been changed.
"You changed me?" She hissed, looking down. "Like an invalid?"
"No," the Doctor shook his head and backed away to give her some space. "I changed you like a friend. I also changed you because I had to check I had all your weapons."
Missy's lips quirked into a small smile at that, though there was still a heavy sadness there.
"You haven't been kind to the Universe, Missy but the Universe hasn't been kind to you either. I'm doing this to help you and I hope that one day you're going to realise that." The Doctor spoke in a calm tone, watching every little movement Missy made.
"You saw my injuries?" She questioned after some time had passed in silence. There was a mixture of shame and fear behind her voice.
"I did. We don't need to talk about them now but I hope one day, you'll want to tell me what's been happening."
Missy nodded and raised to her feet, walking the short distance to the bed.
"I guess this is my new home then. I haven't had a home for a long time" she commented, perching on the edge of the bed.
"Neither of us have," the Doctor said as he kicked the remains of the chairs out of the way and pulled out two sandwiches from his pocket. "Catch!"
A bacon and egg sandwich made its way towards Missy landing in her lap. She stared down at it, not quite sure what to do with the offering.
"Well eat up," the Doctor ordered. "You must have worked up quite an appetite from all the screaming and shouting you did down here."
Missy looked over at him coyly and began to unwrap the sandwich. "It's bed and board, is it? Are you expecting a good Expedia review?"
"Take that look off your face, Missy. Coy has never suited you and it never will." He took a bite out of his own sandwich and watched as she nibbled at the crusts. "This isn't a hotel, this is still your— "
"My prison?"
"Your rehab."