Now for the meeting of the Doctor and the Master. Will they managed to kill each other? Is Sam really gone? What's happening to Annie? Where is Martha?
I hope I have answered these questions in this chapter.
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The Master opened his eyes, the voices of the Toclafane still in his head. He slowly looked around. He was standing in the office in which he had not long before, been abducted in. Outside he could hear the sound of screaming and sirens. Slowly, he walked out of the office and down the hall to a flight of stairs. As he reached the bottom, he could see the chaos clearly through the windows leading out to the street. The Toclafane were creating turmoil in the city. He turned his attention to the room he was in. It was in the front office of the police station. It was deserted. Slowly, he turned and without thinking, walked down another hall to a closed door. Gently he pushed it open. A middle aged woman was sitting by the bedside of a younger woman. The Master stared at her. 'Phillis' he thought. The woman turned to look at him, making the Master wonder if he had said it out loud. She looked him up and down, her face filled with anger.
"So there you are DI Tyler." she said. "come back to see what you did to her?"
The Master was shocked. One part of him noted quickly that Phillis never acted like this. Another part was consumed with rage that she was accusing him. He met her gaze.
"Get out!" he whispered.
Phillis looked at him. The Master cracked.
"GET OUT!" he shouted.
Phillis took one look at his eyes, her face showing her sudden fear. Without speaking, she stood up and retreated from the room. Slowly, the Master turned to the bed and its occupant.
"Annie?" he whispered, walking over to the bed.
Annie didn't move. Her face was pale. For a moment, the Master thought she wasn't breathing. He reached over and held his hand out, letting it hover a few centimetres over her mouth and nose. He could feel the uneven breaths she took. A part of him urged him to push his hand down. To hold it over her mouth until she stopped breathing. Another part of him, told him to hold her, protect her and never let her go. From somewhere in his sub contuse a voice much like his own whispered. "I loved her and I never told her". The Master jumped and turned around, searching for the voice. He was alone in the room. Slowly, he turned back to Annie, his hand coming down to rest of her cheek, while his other hand reached over to grip her fingers. Gently, he stroked the smooth skin of her face. Then he slowly bend over and kissed her forehead. Behind him, someone entered the room quietly. The Master didn't turn around. He already knew who was behind him. He closed his eyes and mentally prepared himself to speak, before opening them and turning around to face the newcomer, Annie's hand still in his own.
"So Doctor. Here we are again." he whispered.
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The Doctor made his way through the streets, narrowly avoiding the Toclafane at every turn. He was a minute away from the police station when he felt it. Another Time Lord. He increased his pace, running along the streets, paying that he wasn't too late. He bust through the office door and almost ran into the desk officer. She was pale and shaking, gripping the desk. He gulped down some air.
"Tyler?" he asked.
The officer nodded down the hall to the room Martha had used as a sick bay. The Doctor nodded at her before slowly walked towards the door, trying to regain his breath. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. Quietly, he pushed the door open and walked in, pulling the door closed behind him. He looked to the bed. Sam Tyler was leaning over the woman in the bed. It took a few seconds for the Doctor to realise that he was kissing her forehead. Then he pulled away and sighed, not looking at the Doctor. The Doctor once again, wondered if he had made a mistake when the man turned to look at him. The Doctors thoughts disappeared as he looked into the face of his oldest friend and enemy. The Master met his gaze.
"So Doctor. Here we are again." he said.
The Doctor nodded, noting for the first time, the tired look on the Masters face.
"Master" he said.
They held each others gazes for a little longer before the Master turned back to the woman in the bed.
"Go on. Ask. I know you want to." he said to the Doctor, not bothering to look around.
The Doctor nodded to himself.
"You died." he said.
The Master nodded. The Doctor continued.
"And yet you're alive. So my question is. How did you survive?"
Slowly, the Master let go of the woman's hand and turned back to the Doctor again.
"The Toclafane brought me back to life." he said.
He looked at the Doctors face.
"Oh, don't be so shocked. They were the reason I died in the first place." he said.
The Doctor gave him a confused look. The Master sighed, annoyed that he had to explain this to his enemy and friend.
"The Toclafane were responsible for my death. They planned it in case something happened to the paradox." he explained.
The Doctor looked confused.
"But you were shot by your wife. The Toclafane had nothing to do with it." he said.
"You would like to think that wouldn't you." the Master said. He shook his head softly. "The Toclafane had a survival tactic involving mind control. The longer you were around them, the more control they had over you. They took control of Lucy and got her to kill me."
The Doctor shook his head.
"That still doesn't explain how your alive." he said.
The Master snapped. "It doesn't explain why your not ginger either." he said. "Have you seen outside? Try and explain that!"
The Doctor looked hurt. The Master sighed and rubbed his hands across his face, ignoring the part of him that was trying to apologise. Finally he looked up at the Doctor.
"Tell me Doctor, after I died, did anything strange happen in the TARDIS?" he asked.
The Doctor opened his mouth to deny any strange incidents but stopped. He remembered crashing the TARDIS into his 5th TARDIS. He remembered hitting the Titanic. Silently, he nodded. The Master nodded back.
"Thought so." he said. "You do realise that you can't stop a paradox by shooting up the place. That's something you might want to tell that freak Jack Harkness in the future."
The Doctor looked shocked. The Master rolled his eyes at the Doctors ignorance.
"Look, its quite simple. The paradox in your TARDIS is still operational, despite your best efforts. The Toclafane are using it to invade this world. The reason I'm still alive is because the they need me to correct the paradox!"
The Doctor glared at him and gripped his sonic screwdriver.
"So what are you going to do? Are you going to try and steal the TARDIS again? Are you going to help them?"
The Master gave him a dark look.
"No. After what they did to me, I'm going to destroy the paradox and I'm going to destroy them." he swore.
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Sorry, but this is sort of a two part chapter. I probably should have mentioned that earlier. The next part will be soon. I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused but I hate long chapters as they take forever to load.