With a little sonic reprogramming the evil robotic ruler was finally defeated by the many-armed mechanical chair from which he tried to take over the previously peaceful Languidian senate. It was a fitting end to a ruthless leader without a good sense of humor.
But the Doctor still wondered, what had caused this mild janitorial automaton to seek power in the first place? If he hadn't noticed that there was an unexpected shadow from behind the contraption the real mastermind might have gotten away.
"Missy, is that you, hiding behind the throne? You usually just take that position figuratively. But you always were one from dramatic gestures."
Out stepped Missy, his arch-nemesis, discovered, but stepping forward confidently, acting as if she would have even if he hadn't said anything.
"Now Doctor, you know me better than to accuse me of hiding. I like people to know when I'm involved. It adds to my wonderful notoriety."
"And I'm sure you would have showed your face, had I not noticed you, if your mechanical puppet had won."
"I guess all men, metal or otherwise, are no more than the sum of their nuts and bolts."
"Well some would say you have a screw or two lose yourself."
"And you? What would you say about me?"
"If a person is a sum of their parts then there is something really rotten inside you, but sometimes I'm sure I see a glimmer of good. I don't know what made you this way, but I can't believe you weren't once good. Evil has to be learnt."
"Well isn't that nice. I'm just a victim of circumstance, who'd otherwise be helping the weak and defenseless, or I'd be weak and defenseless myself waiting for someone like you to help me. That's a very convenient story Doctor, but couldn't it just be that I made myself. the magnificent Mistress I am today?"
"No. I don't give you that much credit. I don't give anyone that much credit. Even the Daleks had to be artificially engineered into what they now are. At some point you were put into a mold, one that you once didn't want to be in, and probably tried to escape from, but you gradually grew until you fitted it, and couldn't imagine being outside of it. But you don't have to be what bad luck or bad choices has forced you into."
"Doctor, I am nobodies sob story, and there is nobody here to convince of your story, so it does you no good to tell it. The truth is that for everything in the universe there is an equal and opposite. Although I'd never call you an equal, I am certainly your opposite. You make plans, I thwart them. You seek peace, and I bring war. You may give me momentary setbacks from time to time, but I have all of time to play with."
"And you will keep failing, because I will always arrive just in time. One of these days I'd like to arrive long before that so I can put my feet up and relax without the worry of all the mischief you are going to get up to, but I blame the Tardis for my tardiness. Yet in the end my job is done and your attempts are undone."
"In all of your attempts to convince me I have your pity and supposedly should seek your mercy, but you forget one thing: the one possibility you don't want to consider. I like being me. I revel in the disruption I cause. I enjoy the fear that goes before me. I love coming up with wicked plans, and sometimes I'm less worried about winning than what you trying to stop me might cost you, and I expect that cost to add up, until the day comes that you see it would be better join me or get out of my way. On this occasion it would seem that you have temporarily triumphed. I'll conceded that. But there have been other times you haven't fared as well. Interfering with me has come at a high cost to some of your companions, to others caught in the cross-fire. You were the one who put them there, and that is a truth you can't escape in in time or space."
"It is because of those lives that I won't let you get away any more of your crimes. Yes, some of those close to me have died sacrificing their lives to save others, but far more have been saved than would have been left if all your plans succeeded, and all those who suffered deserve some justice."
"Now we come to the real Doctor. Not a healer, not a mender of broken things, but a self-appointed judge with the power to punish, as if you can define whats right and use your might to carry it out. Well no-one asked you to intervene, no-one asked you to come to this planet, and maybe it's people would have been happier after I'd taken a little well earned power and gave them much greater security in return for serving pretty little me. Some might call that a mercy mission, and what would you give them? The burden of choices they can't handle, power they'll use poorly, and wealth they would squander. It doesn't sound to me like you are doing them any favours."
"My dear Missy, freedom may be messy, and it may have it's burdens, yet without such choices all beings are mere slaves, and the last thing the universe needs is a few billion slaves working to satisfy your already enormous ego. But, it seems we are running out of time for a nice chat. I can hear the royal guards on their way now. It seems my companion succeed in their mission to release them, and they may not deal with you as kindly as I would."
"You really think you have the upper hand, don't you Doctor? But have you ever asked yourself why I always manage to get away. Don't you wonder who I really am?"
"I know what you are and that's enough for me. You are a danger to every living thing."
"No it's not. I can see the curiosity in your eyes. You know that we were at the Prydonian Academy together. You, Romana, Rani and me all being taught by Borusa. But for some reason you can't place who I was. Why is that? Don't you think it'd odd that you haven't been able to solve that little mystery? It must drive you crazy, and I'm sure you think by capturing me you'll get the answer, but the real question is why you haven't been able to figure it out. The day may come when you do and then it will all make sense to you, and you'll see how alike we really are."
At this Missy began to slowly walk backwards toward the robotic throne that carried the now broken would-be robot emperor.
"You have nowhere left to run or hide. Your time is up, and whether I never get some answers I'll be happier knowing you are locked up and the universe is safer."
"How safe is that universe Doctor with you. Like me you stole a Tardis, worse than me you've destroyed worlds in your dubious pursuit of peace, thinking you're doing good. Whereas I introduce chaos to make eternity more interesting, with my own personal style and flair. Last time I looked I'd say I'm the one succeeding."
"Yet now your time is up."
"Is it? Are you quite so sure? Somehow you never could resist the chance to give long speeches in defense of your morals. You'd think that someone might take advantage of that some day."
With this Missy darted behind the large metal multi-armed chair-vehicle she had been hiding in the shadow of before, and the Doctor then realized how much his certainty that he had captured the Mistress had cost him, as he heard the whooshing of a Tardis disguised in the form of the throne, disappearing from sight just as the royal guards arrived.