The Master's Children
The girls watched as the gas started to creep closer. They began hearing voices in the gas, calling to them. Memories began to flow into their heads. Sketch, forgotten memories of each other, and their father. They looked over at the Doctor with fear in their eyes. He had an indescribable expression on his face. Suddenly, the gas swirled around the girls. They breathed it in, then fell back in their chairs, unconscious.
"Once everyone has awoken, and I mean everyone, bring the prisoners to my lab." The Master told Sketch.
"Yes, Master." Sketch said, bowing to his father.
The Master walked out of the TARDIS, with an evil grin.
Sketch started to sharpen his assortment of weaponry, when Strax woke up.
Strax looked at the Doctor and said, "Sir! Emergency! We seem to have been captured!"
"Really? I hadn't noticed. Thank you, Strax, for bringing this to my attention." The Doctor remarked, rolling his eyes.
"You're welcome, sir!" Strax said triumphantly. When Strax finally noticed the unconscious lizard and human beside him, he asked, "What happened to Madame and the boy?!"
The Doctor groaned. "Just, try to wake them up."
Strax shifted slightly, leaning on the Doctor, and kicked Jenny. She stirred slightly but didn't wake. He did it again. After the third kick, Jenny woke up. Strax shifted himself to lean against the wall again.
"What tha-" Jenny mumbled, trying her best to sit up.
"Jenny, don't say anything, just wake Vastra up." The Doctor instructed.
After Jenny sat up, she tried to communicate telepathically with Vastra, but it failed. Jenny rolled her eyes and then purposely fell over on Vastra. Vastra woke up with a start. She was very confused as to why Jenny was on top of her.
"Okay, now that everyone's awake, this is what happened. I got captured by that boy over there and woke up to you three laying beside me." The Doctor explained shortly.
"Doctor, the girls were with us. Where are they?" Vastra asked.
"Over there. On the TARDIS chair." The Doctor nodded in their direction.
Vastra, Jenny, and Strax looked over at the two girls. They were not tied up, just sleeping on the chair.
"But what happened to them? I mean, they aren't tied up." Jenny asked.
"Their fob watches were opened." The Doctor said. Seeing their confused faces, he elaborated. "Time Lords are able to change themselves into many different races, as a hiding mechanism. They are able to store all of their memories and biological DNA in fob watches. The Master must have changed them to be human. He opened their fob watches when I woke up. It was too much for them to absorb at once, so now they're asleep."
"Doctor, you're not saying that they're- I mean, they can't be. Can they?" Vastra asked.
"The Master has done many things. I don't doubt that he was able to pull this off. They are Time Lords." He answered.
It was a few hours later when the girls finally woke up.
"Ow, my head…. Are you okay, sis?" Meaghan asked, holding her head.
"I can't believe he did that! Sketch, where's dad!?" Darby asked, outraged.
"So you two are finally awake. Father wants us to take the prisoners to his lab." Sketch said as he put the sword he was sharpening back in its sheath.
Meaghan sighed and walked over to the prisoners. "I was just starting to like these three, too." She said pointing to Jenny, Strax, and Vastra.
"I am not doing anything until I talk to him! I can't believe he did that!" Darby let out a frustrated scream and marched out the TARDIS door.
"Why should she care? She did it of her own free will…. I think…." Sketch said to the air, as he walked over to the four people tied up against the wall.
"Sketch, Stay here, I have to go do something." Meaghan said as she walked into the TARDIS hallway.
Sketch punched the wall and yelled, "Why?! Why did they have to come back?! I was the favorite! Before Darby gave Father the rest of her regenerations! He trained me personally! I was the best assassin on Gallifrey! And he just ignored me, after she 'saved' him. She should have just let him die!" He then looked at the four people staring at him, and clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Oh, you're lucky they didn't hear that." The Doctor said.
"Shut up. Don't you dare tell them! Or else!" Sketch threatened.
"Or else, what? You need us, don't you?"
"Father needs the Silurian, the human, and you. But Strax, I can do what I want with him." Sketch said evilly.
Meaghan walked back into the control room, she had changed back into the clothes that the Doctor had given her.
"Okay, let's take them to Father." She said.
Sketch picked the Doctor up by his collar, and made him stand, and then Strax. Meaghan helped Vastra and Jenny stand up, much more kindly than Sketch. Sketch marched the Doctor to the TARDIS doors. They were in single file, first was the Doctor, then Strax, then Vastra, followed by Jenny, Sketch was leading them, and Meaghan was following along behind, making sure no one tried to escape. They walked out into a huge room, with stairs going down a few feet in front of them. There were machines everywhere, and at the far end were stairs going up and, level with the platform they were standing on, was another platform with a machine in the center, and a huge metal door behind it. The Master and Darby were standing in front of the machine on the far side. They could hear Darby yelling at the Master.
"I can't believe you did that!" Darby yelled. "You didn't even tell me! Meaghan and Sketch knew but you just decided to take me while I was asleep! I did not want to do this and you knew that!" She glanced over and saw Meaghan and Sketch with the Doctor, Jenny, Vastra, and Strax. Darby lowered her voice, "And now look what you've done. I need to go change out of this ridiculous dress." She let out a frustrated groan and stomped away to change into her clothes from the Doctor's wardrobe, as the Master watched his beloved daughter storm away.
Sketch led them across the room and up the next set of stairs, to the platform the Master was on. Meaghan made the prisoners stand shoulder to shoulder, facing the Master.
The Master grinned, and said "Doctor! How much I love getting to you through your friends. This is the time that I will win, and nothing you can do will stop me. Oh, and Vastra, don't think of using your poisonous tongue, or Sketch will have a little chat with Jenny."
The Master turned around and opened a panel on the side of the box-like machine in the center of the platform. It folded out to make a computer.
"Doctor, this is a progenation machine, a progenation machine takes a sample of someones DNA and creates…an offspring from it. But I have modified this one. This one, will take DNA from more than one person. You may be curious as to why I would need a progenation machine, well, I have failed at creating a perfect warrior. You have met my failed attempts…Sketch, Meaghan, and Darby…Sketch is a perfect assassin, Darby is a flawless strategist, Meaghan is an incomplete, and insane, combination of the two. So I have been scouring the universe, trying to find a way to create a perfect warrior. I came across the sontarans, they may be great warriors, but…no.
"The humans are the most resilient, and creative race I could find. And the only race that I have seen out-smart the sontarans, is the Silurians. So, with the help of your little friends, Doctor, I will create the perfect warrior."
Sketch grabbed Vastra's shoulders and forced her to walk over to the progenation machine, while Meaghan grabbed Jenny's shoulder with one hand, and put her tanto against Jenny's neck with the other.
"If you do anything, your precious wife gets killed." The Master told Vastra, as he untied her hands. "I don't need the person alive to get their DNA."
The Master opened another panel, but this time it was on the front.
"Put your arm in there." The Master instructed.
Taking off one of her gloves, Vastra did what he said, and winced as the progenation machine got what it required from her hand. The machine let go of Vastra's hand and the Master tied her hands together again. Sketch led Vastra back to the line and Meaghan led Jenny to the machine.
"Jenny, you have a choice, do this willingly, or die." The Master told her.
Jenny walked up to the machine after Meaghan lowered her tanto. Meaghan sheathed her sword and untied Jenny, who then put her arm in the machine.
When the machine let her go, Meaghan re-tied her hands and led her back to the others, and the Master started typing on the computer.
"Wait…. I have a brilliant idea. Why not add Time Lord to the mix? Come on Doctor. Willingly, or your friends deaths?" The Master asked.
The Doctor walked up to the machine, and the Master untied him and immediately the Doctor reached for his sonic.
"Sketch took you sonic screwdriver. Doctor, one last chance, or they die." The Master said as Meaghan held her tanto against Jenny's neck, and Sketch held a dagger against Vastra's.
The Doctor put his arm in the progenation machine, with an even angrier look on his face. "I hope you're happy." He glared at the Master.
"Extremely!" The Master said with a huge grin on his face.
After the Doctor was tied up again, and back in line, the Master went back to typing thing on the computer.
Suddenly the huge metal door behind the progenation machine started to open, and a lot of smoke drifted out. All they could see was a silhouette of a feminine person about six feet tall walking out of the smoke.
The Master sighed and with a sad face said, "Of course its female. Because two out of three parent DNA is…."
She walked out into the bigger room, and everyone gasped when they could see around the smoke. She was wearing a black sleeveless shirt with a high collar, dark brown pants, and black boots that came to her knee. Her fingers looked human, but from the palm up her arms were green and scaly. Her head was human looking, but it was covered in green scales, and she had wavy dark brown hair that reached her waist. Her right eye was dark brown, and her left eye was icy blue.
"Amalexia." The Master told her. "Your name is Amalexia."
"Amalexia?! Really Master?!" The Doctor asked, shocked, and a bit angry. "You named her after our childhood friend?!"
"Yes? What else would I call her?"
"I don't know, maybe something besides Amalexia?" The Doctor said sarcastically.
"Sketch, Meaghan, put them in cells, I'll deal with them later. And try to calm down my daughter, will you Meaghan?" The Master said as he led Amalexia to a door, with what looked like a training room beyond.
That annoyed Meaghan more than anything. How could he treat her like she wasn't his daughter? She guessed she would always be just Darby's guard to him.
Meaghan and Sketch led Vastra, Jenny, Strax, and the Doctor, back down the stairs and through a door on the far left side of the room. It led into a hallway with five doors on either side. There was a huge window beside the door so you could see the prisoner inside. Meaghan led Vastra and Jenny down the hallway and stopped at the last two cells. Sketch put the Doctor into the first cell on the right, and Strax into the third on the left. Meaghan took Vastra's veil , and then put Jenny and Vastra into cells across from each other.
"Sketch, how did you capture the Doctor?" Meaghan asked.
"It was annoyingly easy. I was watching over you two, at the orphanage, so when the Doctor came back after he left you in Victorian London, I snuck aboard the TARDIS."
"How did you know where we were?" Meaghan asked suspiciously
"With this" He held up his arm and pulled his sleeve back. "It's a modified vortex manipulator. Father gave it to me when he trained me to be the best assassin on Gallifrey."
"There are assassins on Gallifrey?"
Sketch sighed and explained."The Celestial Intervention Agency, was created to be a covert arm of the High Council, to safeguard the Time Lords' interests. I was one of their agents, and a freelance bounty hunter."
"But why did he come back to the orphanage?"
"He wanted to see if he could figure out how you and Darby could speak telepathically and use telekinesis."
"Oh, okay then…why can we do those things?"
"Do you know nothing?" He sighed again before answering her. "Father experimented on both of you. he thought that if he combined your minds it would create the super soldier he wanted, but like all of his experiments, it failed, fortunately for you two it didn't mess you up too bad. But that's the real reason you're insane. Just make sure you keep that ring on, I don't want to have to shoot you again."
Meaghan looked at the black, blue, and red, braided metal ring on her little finger.
"You, stand guard here...I'll go talk to Darby." Meaghan said as she left the hallway, and went looking for her sister.
She found her in her room on the other side of the base. She was sitting on her bed reading.
"Darby, are you alright?" Meaghan asked.
"If it will get everyone to leave me alone, then yeah, I'm fine." Darby told her sister without looking up from her book. "Now I'd like to read my book if you don't mind."
"Darby, I didn't chose to do it either. But now we won. We got them, just like he wanted. And now he has a hybrid super soldier, and now we can takeover the galaxy!"
Darby shut her book. "You honestly think this is okay? That he just keeps hurting people to get what he wants? Why should we take over the galaxy? We don't have a valid reason. I get why Sketch doesn't feel this way. He's the perfect assassin. Of course he doesn't get it. I don't think that way because I'm a strategist. I don't think violently, I think logically. And then there's you. You've got a combination of both. You should be able to see it on either side. You should be able to see that this is wrong. Just, try okay?"
"I do see, but you were fine with it before we became human. Why change now? At least go talk to Father. He takes his anger out on his captives, remember? I kinda like those four now…." She trailed off as she walked out of the room.
Darby sat a minute, thinking. She stood up and walked out of the room to find the Master. She found him in the training room with the hybrid.
"So, have you got a new favorite then?" She said leaning against the doorway.
"No! You are my favorite! She isn't even my daughter!" The Master said as he walked over to Darby
She backed up and folded her arms. "The only reason I came is because Meaghan suggested it. I am still plenty cross with you."
"What do you want? I can give you something. Name something. Anything." He bribed.
Darby thought about this for a moment. What she said now could help her in the long run. "How about… The Doctor's sonic screwdriver?" She proposed.
The Master looked slightly surprised at her answer. "Fine." He said. "Go tell Sketch that I said to give it to you."
With that, Darby walked to the prison. She entered the room to find Sketch leaning against the wall. He turned to see who had come in.
"Oh, so you've decided to join us again have you?" Sketch said in a mocking tone.
"Dad said to give me the Doctor's sonic screwdriver." Darby stated.
The Doctor heard this and suddenly became interested in the conversation. He discreetly moved closer to the door so that he could hear better. Darby saw him but didn't say anything.
"Why?" Sketch asked suspiciously.
"Because he did. Now give it to me." Darby demanded.
Sketch pushed her up against a wall. "Maybe you should get him to tell me that you're allowed to have it."
Darby pushed his arms outward with hers and kicked his knees. Sketch fell to the floor.
"Don't talk while pinning a strategist. It doesn't end well on your part." She said, holding up the sonic. Darby put it in her pocket and left the room, with all four prisoners staring at her.
The next day, Meaghan woke up to Sketch pounding on her door.
Walking over to the door and opening it quickly she yelled, "What?!"
Sketch looked like he had been sprinting,and his top hat was on the floor next to his feet.
"He's-he's experimenting on her!" Sketch panted.
"On who?!" Meaghan asked, scared.
"Jenny!"
Meaghan slammed the door closed so she could change clothes, and then she and Sketch ran to the Master's lab.
They burst into the room, but the Master was no where in sight.
"Maybe he took her back to the cells?" Sketch suggested.
They ran to the prison, as fast as they could. They arrived just in time to see the Master toss an unconscious Jenny into her cell. They also saw Vastra was laying on the floor of her cell unconscious.
"What have you done?!" Meaghan yelled.
"What?" The Master said with a look of disgust.
"What did you do to her?!" Sketch yelled at his father.
"Don't raise your voice at me. That is a very dangerous thing to do." The Master warned.
"I have had enough of this!" Sketch yelled, "I am tired of doing everything for you, and you treat Meaghan and I like dirt!"
"What. Why should I care about you two?"
Meaghan remembered what had happened seven days ago, in Victorian London, when Harold Flint came to Vastra for help, and completely ignored Jenny. Meaghan knew exactly how Jenny felt, and now she was angry, but before she could do anything, the drums came back and she couldn't move.
The Master laughed and said "You really thought you could betray me? I still have control over you. But now that I have Amalexia, you are no longer needed. Amalexia can guard Darby, you two can die." He sighed before adding, "I no longer need these people, my experiment didn't have the desired effects, instead of turning her into a different race, I think I just slowed down her ageing process exponentially. Such a shame she doesn't get to benefit from it."
He laughed, and then made Sketch, and Meaghan, lead Strax and the Doctor to the huge center room and kneel. He then made Meaghan carry Jenny , and Sketch carry Vastra, into the large center room, and put them on the floor. After that, he had them go wake up Darby and lead her to the others.
When the three children got back to the center room, Amalexia was standing beside the Master, holding a gun, and Vastra and Jenny were awake and kneeling beside the others.
"Meaghan, Sketch, kneel by the others." The Master ordered.
They did.
"Darby? Kill Meaghan." He ordered.
"What?!" She yelled.
"My. Dear. Daughter. Shoot. Her. Now." He paused after every word.
Darby then realised that he must have control over her sister, for her to just sit there and let him kill her. So she came up with a fast plan, that had a twenty percent chance of working. She grabbed the only gun she had, and shot her sister, with the stun gun.
The electricity from the stun gun kicked the Master out of Meaghan's head, and she could move freely again, so she tackled the Master, causing them both to fall to the ground. As she did, the link between the Master and Sketch broke.
Sketch jumped up and drew a dagger. He started to free the prisoners hands.
Amalexia just stood there watching Meaghan beat the Master to a pulp, with a curious expression on her face.
Vastra and Jenny had to pull Meaghan off of the Master, they kept saying something but she couldn't hear, she was so angry.
Amalexia handed Vastra her sword, and Strax his gun.
"Darby? My sonic." The Doctor said, while glaring at the Master.
Darby handed over his sonic screwdriver, as Meaghan finally realised what they had been saying, 'He's dead! Stop!'.
"Strax…. My arm hurts…." Meaghan said as she fell to the ground.
Strax unbandaged her injured arm and said, "Its gotten worse! You really should stop using it, boy."
The Doctor put his sonic screwdriver in his jacket's inside pocket. Darby looked at him then quickly stared at the ground. The Doctor looked at her.
"So… I guess you won't want to be traveling with us anymore then…." Darby said quietly, shuffling her feet and staring at the ground.
"It's dangerous for him to travel alone." Vastra said
"You are still welcome to travel with me girls, but Sketch…."
"All I need is for you to take me away from this place." Sketch said. "And I won't bother you ever again."
"Fine." The Doctor said and walked over to his TARDIS.
The Doctor opened the TARDIS door and led everyone in. They all stood around the console. The Doctor walked over and opened a panel in the floor. He took out a bunch of wires and strange materials.
"What's that?" Jenny asked.
"It's a bomb." Strax replied.
"Right. We can't leave the Master laying there, and we most certainly cannot leave this base here. I'm going to put it on a timer. It'll go off in a minute, just enough time for me to get the TARDIS out of here."
"What if there are other people here? There is another prison on the other side of the base." Meaghan asked.
"Meaghan, Amalexia, and Jenny, go check the other prison, Vastra help me with the bomb." The Doctor ordered.
Meaghan and Amalexia walked out of the TARDIS, but the Doctor stopped Jenny, and poked her hand with his sonic screwdriver, before letting her leave.
"I don't really need help with the bomb."
"What did he do to Jenny, and what exactly is Amalexia?" Vastra asked.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out." The Doctor said as he put his sonic screwdriver in a socket on the console and looked at the screen. "Now thats interesting."
"What is?" Darby asked.
"Amalexia has two hearts, one is warm blooded and the other is cold blooded."
"Can she regenerate?" Vastra asked.
"I don't know, but there would only be one way to find out, and I'm not willing to take that chance."
"Doctor, what did he do to Jenny?" Vastra asked him again, anxiously.
The Doctor pressed some buttons and the screen changed. The Doctor read it and then reread it two or three times to make sure he read it correctly.
"Vastra, give me your hand." He said as he picked up his sonic screwdriver.
He poked her hand and then put the screwdriver back in the slot, and looked at the screen again.
"It looks like he was trying to turn her into a silurian, but, thankfully, failed."
"So what did he do?" Vastra asked.
"Like he said, he slowed down her ageing process exponentially."
"She was unconscious Doctor…." Darby told him.
Meaghan, Amalexia, and Jenny were running to the other side of the base, when Meaghan slipped on something and fell, hitting the ground head first she lost consciousness.
"Really?" Jenny asked."Why is it always her?"
"She has bad luck?" Amalexia suggested.
Jenny grinned and said, "You can carry her."
"Yes Ma'am." Amalexia said as she picked up Meaghan.
"Let's walk this time."
"Good idea Ma'am."
It took thirty minutes to reach the other prison.
"Leave Meaghan here, and we can go search the prison."
"Yes Ma'am." Amalexia said as she put Meaghan down by the door.
Jenny opened the door, and saw a long hallway, with cells on either side, there were about fifty cells in all.
"You take the right, and I'll take the left." Jenny ordered.
As they walked down the hallway, Meaghan woke up, but her head was swimming so she just stayed on the ground where she was.
"Renalia?!" she heard Jenny exclaim.
Jenny opened the cell and untied Renalia before helping her up.
"Tek is here somewhere, we have to find him!" Ren yelled.
"Wait with Meaghan, we will find him."
Ren walked over and sat beside Meaghan, as Amalexia and Jenny searched for Tek.
He was in the last cell, and the only other person in the prison. After Amalexia let him out, and untied him, they all walked back to the TARDIS.
An hour later, Meaghan, Jenny, Amalexia, Renalia, and Tek, walked into the TARDIS.
"Renalia? Tek? What are you guys doing here?" Darby asked.
"The Master captured us." Ren replied.
"Okay, then if thats it, we should blow this place to smithereens!" Strax yelled excitedly.
The Doctor rolled his eyes, and then ran outside and placed the bomb next to the Master's lifeless body. He started the timer, and, with one last look at his childhood friend, ran back to the TARDIS.
Darby, Meaghan, and Sketch helped the Doctor pilot the TARDIS to Victorian London. They landed in Vastra's parlor.
"Amalexia is more than welcome to stay with us, Doctor. She'll fit in quite well." Vastra said.
"But the boy's arm is not fully healed." Strax started to say.
The Doctor cut him off, "I don't have Silurians to save now. She stays here. Now that she's a Time Lord again, she will heal faster."
Amalexia walked over to the Doctor and said with a smile, "Goodbye, Grandfather!" Slightly confused, the Doctor just waved. And with that, they left.
They then piloted the TARDIS to the planet Sida, where they said goodbye to Tek and Renalia.
The Doctor, Sketch, Meaghan, and Darby then flew the TARDIS to modern day London. There, they let Sketch off.
"Don't make me have to come after you. You stay out of trouble. Understand?" The Doctor asked sternly.
"Yes sir." Sketch replied, leaving the TARDIS.
The Doctor closed the TARDIS door and turned to the girls. They sat on the chair near the console and avoided his eye contact. Maybe if they didn't look at him, he may not bring it up. They stayed like that for about a minute when finally, Darby couldn't stand the tension.
"Doctor… Please don't look at us like that…." Darby said, still not looking at him. "We can leave…. Just drop us off at the orphanage…. We can convince them that we were never adopted…. Or we can just live with Sketch…."
The Doctor stared at them for a moment, then replied, "Girls, I know what the Master is like. And the fact that he was…well, you know. It was hard for you. Darby, you took my sonic for a reason didn't you? You didn't want Sketch to have it?" Darby nodded. "That's what I thought. And Meaghan. When you found out that the Master was hurting Jenny and Vastra, you did the right thing. He had you under the idea that he was immortal. He isn't. He is the same as you or me. I don't blame you for not being able to stand up to him, Meaghan. It's alright. You two are my daughters. I will not abandon you." The Doctor told them softly.
The girls looked up. The Doctor was crouched in front of them so that he was eye level. The girls hugged him and began crying. Taken slightly off guard, he awkwardly patted their backs. The girls leaned back and, wiping tears from their eyes, looked at him.
"So, not a hugger this time?" They said together, smiling.
"I don't think so." He answered.
"Too bad!" The girls yelled joyfully, hugging him tighter this time.
