A Harrowing Decision

The Doctor reeled. The pain ripped through his body. But it wasn't the pain of the shot from Desmond's weapon. That shot had found its way straight to one of the Masters hearts. The pain the Doctor felt was from his ever failing regeneration. The Master fell to the floor.

"Damn. I really liked this one too." The Master exclaimed.

"Come on, Doctor. We have to leave, the guards have been alerted." Desmond said somberly.

"No, no wait. I must see this. I mean…I must be here for this."

The Master laughed. "That's a gamble at best, Doctor. Even if it works, my regenerations generally go more swimmingly than yours. You'll have to get out of here fast. Because if you don't…" The Master's eyes went cold for a brief moment. His body glowed and warmth overtook the room.

"Doctor, come on. We have to go."

"No!" The Doctor yelled. Crawling towards his briefly lifeless enemy, he reached towards the Masters body. Desmond watched as the glow crept from the Master's body to the Doctor's. Slowly, it overtook him. The Doctor seemed animated by the light, eyes wide, back arched. A tear dripped from his eye as he tilted his head back down. One heart hoped The Master's regeneration failed. The other…well it was his softer heart.

"I'm still regenerating. He's just started his. He'll have an excess of temporal energy I could desperately use." The Doctor managed through the pain of the re-regeneration. Slowly, with his other hand he touched the Master's head. "I've got to complete the circuit or else it'll just change me again!" He gasped out, his voice breaking.

With a certain swiftness and all at once, the Doctor's injuries healed and the Master's face began to change. Taking the place of the face once before them was a gruff, thick face with which the Doctor was all too familiar. Seeing this, the Doctor released his grip on the Master.

"No no no you can't! Not him! He was a good man! You can't take him! Not him!" The Doctor yelled.

"Doctor, come on! We're wasting time!"

"So what! That's all we have is time, anyways!" The Doctor tucked his head between his knees and began to cry. "Not him." He whimpered. Desmond grew impatient. He walked up, grabbed the Doctor's arm and dragged him out of the room. "Doctor I don't know what's going on, but I know you need to get out of here. We need to get out of here!" He forced the Doctor to his feet and started him running, Desmond in the lead.

"How did he get away!" Rani yelled at the Ogron Commander.

"Madame, he overpowered your Judoon sergeant. Either this Desmond was underestimated or those Judoon are dumber than we thought." The Ogron Commander responded.

"Or both. Tell me how he was able to dispatch so many of your mercenaries so easily!" She shouted. "And where is he now!"

"Madame, we don't…." the Ogron Commander started. Before he could finish a Judoon guard ran up to the Rani in her control room.

"Ro wo ro to yo po so do!" He shouted quickly.

"What!" She exclaimed.

"Yo ho wo to mo fo uo."

"Find them!" She barked. "Well, Commander, if the Judoon are dumber than we thought than so are the Ogrons! Not only did you let this human escape but he's gathered the Doctor with him. Where's the Master!"

"Fro tho mo ro go no to."

"Oh for the love of…"

"Don't worry, lady. This one's a lot betta than I've been in the past." The deep, dark, throaty cockney accent related through the loud speaker. "You'll have to give me a bit, though. Gotta pick out a new wardrobe. Can't be causin' 'avoc in a suit, now can I?"

"Master, I presume." The Rani growled.

"Well who else was you thinkin', lady?"

"Your command of the language is now ghastly, Master."

"Yeah, sing it to the wall, lass cause I ain't 'earin it. Anyways, lemme get changed an I'll be wif you in a jif, toots."

"Don't call me that! Master! Master! Damn him, damn that man! Look, we haven't landed yet and there are only so many places on this ship they can go. Find them and kill them!" The Rani shouted at basically anyone within earshot.

"She's got to have a secondary control room. Every TARDIS does." The Doctor yelled as they ran down the hall. "If we get to that control room, we can jettison it and get back to mine!"

"You sure a…type…what is it?" Desmond shouted back.

"One O Six."

"Yeah. You sure a Type 106 has one?"

"No."

The two rounded a corner. "But if it's laid out anything like mine…then…I have no idea where it would be either." The Doctor said as the two quickly caught their breath against a bulked.

"So! Do no to mo vo!"

The Doctor and Desmond looked in the direction of the sound. A small detail of Judoon soldiers obviously did not expect to find them there and looked just as shocked as them.

"No!" The Doctor shouted, throwing up his hands. "Ro mo mo. Io ho lo po do yo mo no to yo."

"You speak that shit?" Desmond asked.

"Yes, Desi. No be quiet."

The Judoon stood there. With faces that didn't allow for much expression, Desmond guessed that they were thinking. Not thinking, really. Deciding. The Doctor knew what Desmond suspected. He was causing great turmoil within these Judoon. They weren't naturally bad creatures. But they had to obey orders. On one hand, killing The Doctor, in their experience, would be a bad thing. On the other hand, they had the things told them by The Rani and The Master. And they had their orders- find The Doctor. Find Desmond. Kill them. But in all their personal experiences, The Doctor was a good man.

Time seemed to slow. The door behind the Judoon regiment slid open and The Rani, head on high and shoulders broad, strode through. The Judoon Sergeant turned and considered her for a moment, long enough. The Doctor grabbed his screwdriver, as he had retrieved it from the safe where it and his psychic paper were stored. As the Judoon turned, his eyes seemed to beg forgiveness from the pair. Desmond's would kill if they were armed. The Doctor's were a combination- forgiveness, anger, despair…depression. He lifted his sonic and did a horrible thing, but one that had to be done. Setting 66. After the noise was made, he grabbed Desmond and forced him down on the ground. The explosion from the Judoon gun, happening as it pulled the trigger, sent The Rani flying backwards. All the soldiers died and, thankfully, it was quick.

"Come on! This way!" The Doctor grabbed Desmond's shirt and forced him up. The next series of turns and dead sprints and panting happened on auto pilot for The Doctor. His head whirred with the horrible thing he had just done. The thing he tried to not do. The thing he promised himself he would not do. Those Judoon were good souls. All Judoon were naturally good hearted souls. Sure they had a penchant for fighting, but up until now it had only been for the greater good, for justice. If they had died for a greater cause, a sacrifice necessary to save millions or even thousands, it would be acceptable. But those good Judoon had died because The Doctor wanted to escape.

"Doc, where are we going!?" Desmond shouted.

The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks, grabbed Desmond and slammed him against the wall. "DOES IT MATTER!" He screamed, the saliva emphasizing his point. "Where to! Why! To who! You're moronic brain may not understand this, Desmond, but I refuse violence. I avoid it whenever possible. And I certainly do not kill good beings for my own benefit but THAT'S WHAT I JUST DID!"

"Doctor, those 'good beings' were trying to kill us!"

"NO! I had them stopped! I had them thinking. If only I would've had more time I could have swayed them! But I didn't. I killed them so I could get away. And to what! Everyone has abandoned me. Everyone! Or the ones who haven't have all died! Or, in your case, they're so violent they go against what I stand for. Do you even know why my name is The Doctor?" Desmond shook his head. "It's because I chose to help! To stop evil! To fix things that have gone wrong! But despite all of my experience, all of the knowledge I hold, ALL THE GOOD THINGS I HAVE DONE! Do you know how many races, how many life forms I have saved? All of them! And this is how the Universe repays me? It's not fair! It's not fair…"The Doctor released his hold and, to Desmond's surprise, put his head on his shoulder and started crying.

But Desmond wasn't having any of that. He shoved The Doctor away and slapped him hard in the face. "Get a hold of yourself!" The Doctor looked absolutely shocked at Desmond's insensitivity. "How dare you! Is it always me, me, me with you? Did you ever wonder why I went out of my way to help you?"

"Boredom?" The Doctor replied meekly.

"Yes! But not just boredom, Doc. It's a long story, but suffice to say I've fought for a lot of selfish, greedy, even bad men. And I justified it to myself for far too long. But the minute you popped out of your little blue box, Doc, I knew something was different. You can't help it, Doc. If nothing else, when all is said and done, when the Universe is against you, god dammit, you are a good man! And I want to fight for a good man, once in my life, I want to do something truly good. And yeah, I am violent. I didn't take an oath to help not to harm. I took an oath to fight. And like it or not, Doc, you need me. You're on the run from, apparently, an awful lot of really bad people. People I have no qualms with killing. And I'm not here to coddle you, Doc. I know, right now, everything seems really shitty. But if we don't find this alternate control room, I guarantee, it's gonna get a whole lot shittier."

The Doctor looked Desmond right in the eye. In all the Universe right now there was no one he hated more than Desmond. Conversely, in his entire life, he had never met someone he trusted more than Desmond.

"Okay then. See that door 3 feet to your left. That's it."

Desmond looked at The Doctor and seriously considered punching him in the face. "You mean the whole f….you know what, never mind. Let's just go."

The Master strode confidently through the corridor littered with Judoon soliders. On top of his tapered grey baggy pants, he grasped the lapel of his black jacket, adorned with a plastic pin of some gooseberries. A purple silk dress shirt, wrinkled, lay below his poorly tied necktie.

"I thought you said you couldn't case mischief in a suit." The Rani said, still recovering her senses.

"Its not a suit. Not a proper one anyways. It just…felt right." He said, smiling.

"And the bowler hat?"

"All gentlemen where 'ats. Thought calling myself The Master means I need to look like one as well. Anyways, where's our quarry?"

The Rani smiled. "They got away. But now they have a real crime to be charged with." With that she motioned with her head to the dead soldiers.

"No way!" The Master exclaimed with excitement. "Oh this is just brilliant, this is. 'Aven't any idear as to where they may 'a gone, though eh?"

"No I was…seriously Master, your language is disgusting…I was knocked unconscious by the blast."

"Well, 'ats multiple 'omicide and attacking a proper officer of the law. Sounds like we got our rallying cry."

"Look, Master, you know as well as I do that The Doctor isn't the only problem in the Universe."

"Don't worry, love. I'll be after them leads in a bit. Gotta cause a bit of mischief first. Blame it on The Doctor. Hmmm, lots of possibilities there."

"You'll go where I tell you to!" The Rani said starting to get up. But before she could finish The Master grabbed her throat with both hands.

"Now, you listen to me love. You remember your place in all of this. I'll do as I like, and if I so feel like it, I may let you in on the fun. But til then, piss off!" He released his hold on her and she gasped for air. "You just remember to be a good little boy and tell me if he pops up any wheres 'e ain't supposed 'a be." He added over his shoulder as he strutted away.

Rassilon was standing tall and mighty before the host of Time Lords and his query. "Before we finish, I feel it is my duty and my honor to properly commend you. You efforts in the War and the Isolation were far above and beyond the call of the Time Lord's. Without Lord's and Lady's such as yourself, the Daleks and The Doctor would have won the war with ease. Above that your scientific contributions in the fields of altered timelines and paradox study is legendary. Many of the younger Time Lords here are familiar with your work, as we proudly instruct your methods at our academy. On behalf of the Time Lords, all Gallifrey and surely all of Space-Time itself, we thank you."

"No, Lord President, I thank you for the guidance you have given not only myself but our vaunted society in this, our time of dearest need."

"Now, I must stress to you the importance of this. The Universe and the balance of time wallow on the precipice of destruction unless you follow my exact orders to the letter. Do you understand?" Rassilon's voice boomed through the council chambers.

"Of course I do, Lord President." The man answered. His flowing grey robes gave him an air of humility and authority, his face denoting his knowledge and concern.

"The Solomon Islands. 1943. Now remember, if this man lives the wars that result decimate the human race…"

"…more like human decency and human morale, Lord President."

"In either case, Mortimus, this man must be stopped."

"I agree. Consider it done."

"I'll consider it done when it is done, Mortimus. Now go."

The Monks robes flowed as he walked down the platform and out of the door.

"Now, council members, none are more displeased with our failure to destroy the terrorist known as The Doctor than myself. However, we must not be quick to judge his captors- the honorable Rani and Master. We must not underestimate The Doctor, or his new companion. As Lord President, I decry that we remove ourselves as mere manipulators and observers. We must use the full brunt of our power on this menace, lest his slip through our hands once more. It is my will that we activate all of our TARDIS fleets…" to this the council chambers filled with the cheers of its members "and that we assign them to one cause- find and destroy The Doctor!" The councilmen and women all rose to their feet in and enormous uproar of applause. All but one.

"So, let me get this straight- you're a Time Lord?" Desmond asked, swinging his left arm in an effort to pop his sore shoulder.

"Yes."

"And what happened with The Master back there happens to all of you?"

"Yes, but only 13 times and only when we're mortally wounded or about to die of old age."

"Right. How many times has he done that?"

"By my count at least 18."

Desmond peered at The Doctor. How can this man not sweat? The middle of the day, the middle of July, the middle of Los Angeles. The two had been walking for at least 12 miles after they crash landed to get back to The Doctor's TARDIS. "And how many times have you regenerated?"

"14."

"So this 13 rule is really more of a suggestion than a rule."

"Well, we have to be given extra regenerations but…well yeah, tall and short of it."

The pair rounded the last corner. There, in all of her beleaguered glory, stood the good ship TARDIS.

"I guess we should be extra careful this time, seeing as how it's been sitting here nearly 6 months."

"Yeah. In fact, I'd better check it out first. You stay back here and cover me if I come running out." The Doctor ordered.

"Sounds fair, Doc." Watching him as he went, Desmond took note of the fact that he was walking completely without fear. There was an obvious haste to his stride, but not out of fear. So Desmond quietly followed. Without looking around The Doctor inserted his key inside the TARDIS and briskly stepped in. A moment later the door slammed and a weird, disharmonious yet not discordant screeching sound emerged and the blue box slowly started to disappear. "Oh, no you don't!" Desmond said as he seized the moment. He sprinted towards the door of the TARDIS and barreled through.

The Doctor glared at him. No anger, no frustration. Just worry drenching those jaded jade eyes. "Well, should've known it wasn't going to be that easy. Close the door will you, we'll catch a draft."