Disclaimer: As much as I would love having The Master's incredibly sexy self tied up in my basement for the rest of forever, I do not own Doctor Who or anything affiliated with it. Except in my head.
This fic is set between "Planet of the Dead" and "Waters of Mars". I love reviews! And the Master!
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It was a curious button, to be sure. From his experience around humans, the only floors labeled in elevators with the letter L were L - Lobby, and LL - Lower Lobby. This place, however, had a floor beneath the B - Basement called L0. It was definitely the number zero, not the letter 'O'. And there were guards stationed outside a perfectly normal-looking office building, which happened to be in the middle of nowhere. Curiouser and curiouser. He did like Alice in Wonderland.
The elevator itself was huge, large enough to carry at least two dozen people. Industrial sized, he decided. It made sense, considering the number of people who must work in this building. Nevertheless, he didn't much enjoy being squished in with them.
The elevator made that delightful ding noise that elevators often made, and the doors slid open smoothly. The floor was filled with cubicle after cubicle, most of the respective owners on the holophone or speaking to one another in self-important tones. They were all human, or at least they all looked human. There were a few other species besides humans and Time Lords that looked similar on the exterior. He noted a long hallway in the back, most likely leading to the boss's office. He casually headed in that direction, pretending to interrupt and apologize to a blond woman near the back.
"Excuse me, sorry to bother, but is this the way to the meeting?" he asked, all spiky hair and white teeth.
"The HR meeting, yes. Last door on the left, I think."
"Thank you," he replied, then left before she could ask who exactly he was. He made his way to the end of the hall, past a few more offices with a few more self-important people with self-important tones inside. The last door on the left wasn't open, but he quietly slipped inside anyway. It seemed as though the meeting was already underway. There were several people in suits sitting around a large table, watching a holovid screen and the man presenting from it.
"...And if this project is approved, there will be hundreds of new jobs, including several here in the HR department. In fact..."
Yawn. The Doctor sat in the last seat, the only one that was empty. He fit in somewhat, with the fancy 21st century suits, but that was where the resemblance between himself and the humans ended. Some were female, others looked far older than he did, which was always amusing. He looked around, less than half listening to the presenter. He did catch, however, that the man was the Vice President of this particular office building. That could be useful.
He wasn't one for sitting around and waiting for things to happen. However, this meeting was so unbearably boring that he couldn't find a proper point to interrupt. Had to be dramatic, you know. He couldn't just say whatever in the middle of things. There would have to be a question and answer session sometime. So he reached into his coat pocket and rummaged around a bit. They had to be in here somewhere... Ah ha!
He pulled out the plastic spoon that had been in there who knows how long, and peeled away the plastic lid on his pudding cup. Mmmmm vanilla. Butterscotch would have been better, but oh well. Why were they all looking at him like that? Perhaps it was because none of them had seen him before.
It wasn't long before he was busily scraping the last bits of the pudding from the bottom of the cup. The Vice President was talking about the project, which was expanding the actual building itself, making another branch off of the west wall downstairs, and building a surface tunnel, rather a hallway, to a secondary building, where-
"HA!" the Doctor yelled, and every person in the room, aside from himself, jumped in surprise. They all stared at him with faces of both anger and 'What the hell are you doing?'
"Err..." He noticed, looking up with the spoon hanging out of his mouth. "I got the last bit," he explained, then cleared his throat. "Sorry," he said, tossing both the empty cup and the plastic spoon into the garbage nearby. "You were saying?" he said, looking at the Vice President expectantly.
"Sorry," the man began testily, "but I don't think I've ever seen you before. What's your name again?"
"I never gave it," the Doctor said, jumping up out of his seat and making his way quickly to the front of the room. "But while I have your attention, I have a question for you, if you don't mind, but of course you don't mind, so let me ask. This entire building is surrounded by a non-human telepathic field. Why is that?"
"A what?" the VP said, visibly confused. "A telepathic field?"
"That's what I said, thank you, copycat." "...Blimey, I sound like Donna."
"I assure you, there is no such thing." The VP stiffened, as if accused of wrongdoing himself.
"Oh, but there is!" He took out his handy dandy sonic screwdriver and scanned the room. He inspected it, as if he didn't already know the answer. "You see? Non-human telepathic field. Except..." he said aloud, more to himself than anyone. "It doesn't say which species is putting out the field, like it's... unknown. Why would it be unknown?"
"Sir, I'm afraid I will have to ask you to leave. You are interrupting a very important meeting." The VP was quite angry at this point and hit a button on the desk behind him, presumably to call security.
"Alright, alright, no need to get your- ...What do you people wear these days anyway? Knickers?"
"Get out!" the man roared, his face becoming more and more red with anger.
"Fine fine, blimey you're rude!" The Doctor swept out of the room quickly and managed to reach the elevator again in time to hear the delightful ding and four guards walk quickly past him, toward the conference room he had just been in. The VP had been more aggravated than a normal person would have, which suggested that he probably knew nothing about the field. An odd conclusion to most, but the Doctor could always tell when someone was lying. Well, almost always. His office was likely on the top floor, but first... time to check out L0.
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It was awfully dark down here.
L0 was below the basement, and was about as big as a few Earth airplane hangars lined up end to end, but it wasn't quite as tall. The floor itself seemed to be made of... concrete? It was the year 6013, they couldn't find anything better than concrete?
He walked as quietly as he could down the large corridor, but there didn't seem to be anyone around. No guards or personnel, nothing. A pair of double doors sat alone at the other end and he made his way toward them.
Suddenly, he smelled something. It was slightly familiar, but also wrong. He also couldn't place it, which aggravated him somewhat. No matter. It passed quickly, and he brushed it off. The lights on the ceiling afforded him little light and he hoped there weren't any Vashta Nerada lurking about. It was pretty unlikely they would be in a place like this, but still. It echoed here. He hated places that echoed.
He was about halfway down the room when one of the double doors suddenly opened. A woman stepped through, walking quickly in his direction. The shadows hid him well enough and he had plenty of time to move away from her by the time she reached where he was standing. She seemed in a rush, but the closer she got, the more impossible she was.
Her blond hair was up in a ponytail, bangs neatly brushed. She was in a very professional looking 21st century gray pant suit with heels. They clicked smartly every time she took a step. There was a clipboard in her hand and she nervously hooked a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
She looked up and spotted him, stopping dead in her tracks, afraid that he was a guard with a gun. She gasped, "Don't come any closer!"
She obviously couldn't see him in this darkness. He slowly took a step forward, into the light that was now above his head. She stared and was impossible, all at the same time. Now he remembered where that smell had some from.
"Dad?"
He slipped his hands into the pockets of his coat, a severe look on his face. "Hi Jenny."
