CHAPTER 10

I do not own Doctor Who or Big Finish and I am making no profit off of this.

Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews!

This chapter takes place before Jenny Tyler, Time's Angel Chapter 74.

THE HIDDEN ENEMY IS REVEALED AT LAST

Koschei had immediately run out of the High Council's meeting chamber without any explanation and raced to his TARDIS which was nearby in his private chambers. He was at Downing Street in a matter of moments where he found Marissa's office in flames and completely gutted.

"Ushas!" Koschei called out in absolute anguish as he started towards the flames.

"No, wait!" Lucy said as she blocked his way and tried to keep him from running into the fire.

"I have to save her. I don't care what happens to me," Koschei said in a panicked voice.

Lucy couldn't help but look at him in shock. He was a completely different man now from the one that she had once been married to. She knew that a great deal of the reason for that was due to his love for Marissa and her love for him.

"Jack's already in there. He'll get her out if anyone can plus he can't die no matter what happens to him in there," Lucy said.

"I can't feel her in my mind. She can't be dead though. She can't," Koschei said in a voice filled with pain.

"We don't know that that means anything. Just calm down. Jack will get her out. I know he will," Lucy said as she put a comforting arm around him.

"I don't know why you're being so good to me after everything that I did to you but thank you," Koschei said as he embraced Lucy in gratitude surprising her.

"Oh, is that the way that it's going to be, huh? I go through white hot flames to rescue your wife for you and you've already moved on back to your old one?" Jack said behind them.

They both turned to see Jack covered in horrible burns with his coat wrapped over Marissa who he was holding protectively in his arms. Koschei noticed immediately that she wasn't breathing.

"Ushas," Koschei said in a broken voice as he took her from Jack's arms and gently laid her on the ground.

"I think that she's going to be alright. She seems to be in a healing coma. I found her under her desk. She must have ducked under there and went into the coma right before the bomb went off. She still would have died from the flames if I hadn't immediately gone in there after her right away. I don't feel so good myself actually," Jack said in a weak voice.

"Captain Harkness, lie down and we'll get you some medical help," Harriet called out to him as she suddenly appeared with several firefighters and emergency personnel surrounding her.

"I'm a bit beyond help now, Harriet. Don't worry. I'll be okay after I die for a little while," Jack said as he collapsed to the ground in a heap.

"Take him to my office at UNIT. We'll let him rest there peacefully until he comes back to life again," Dr. Grace Holloway said as she entered the area and immediately took control of the situation.

Grace had been a former companion of the Doctor's and an extremely talented surgeon who was now working for UNIT as an expert on alien biology. Koschei realized that Harriet must have called her in to help Marissa.

As she started checking on Marissa's vital signs, Koschei couldn't help but wonder if she would recognize who he was and refuse to help Marissa because of her past history with him. He had killed her once after all until the TARDIS had revived her. He fervently hoped that that would not be the case. He might deserve that kind of treatment but Marissa definitely did not.

After Grace finished checking over Marissa, she said to the emergency personnel, "Move her to my lab. I want to keep a watch on her vital signs until she wakes up."

Koschei looked on in alarm as Marissa was moved and started to intervene when Grace said, "She's in a healing coma right now, and she seems to be alright. I'm going to keep a check on her until she comes out of it just to make sure. I won't let anything happen to her, Koschei."

"You know who I am then," Koschei said looking down in shame.

"Yes, I do but I won't hold that against her. She's a good woman and I have to believe that someone like her wouldn't give you the time of day unless you were honestly trying to change. So I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Don't make me regret that," Grace said.

"I won't believe me. I'm sorry for what I did to you, Grace. I truly am and I am so grateful for what you're doing for her. Thank you," Koschei said.

Grace looked at him in surprise and said, "You're welcome. I'll make sure that she's alright. Don't worry."

As she left, Koschei received a message in his TARDIS that was automatically rerouted to the outside and started to play in holographic form as an image of Chancellor Flavia appeared before him. Flavia looked at him in concern as she started to speak.

"We trust that Ushas is well, Lord President. We surmised that a threat to her was the only thing that would ever make you run off in absolute terror like that," Flavia said.

"She will be. She's currently recovering. Free Time tried to kill her but thanks to a . . . friend she's going to be fine. They even attacked here on Earth. None of us are safe anywhere from them it seems," Koschei said in anger.

"You must return back to Gallifrey. We must hunt down Free Time and prevent them from attacking any of us ever again," Flavia said.

"Excuse me, Miss. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister," Harriet said as she addressed Flavia and showed her credentials to her.

"Yes, I know who you are. Lady Arkytior has told us a great deal about you," Flavia said with a small smile on her face.

"Lady Arkytior? Oh, Rose! Yes, Rose is a very dear friend of mine. So to clarify matters this Free Time group that you're talking about are who has just bombed us?" Harriet asked.

"Yes, they've now spread their attacks to your world as well," Flavia said sadly.

"I've been working to try and stop them, but I can't find out anything about them. I have absolutely no idea where they're operating from or how many of them that there are," Koschei said.

"I believe that I may be able to help you as to where they are. My government has been tracking down references to a Free Time organization for several weeks now. Marissa was just about to look into it for me as a matter of fact and that may be why she was attacked. We've received reliable information that they've established a headquarters right in the middle of London in the middle of a magic shop of all places. It's called The Trickster's Emporium. It sells all kinds of magic tricks and supplies for magicians. It seems to be nothing more than a front for Free Time's real activities because it doesn't do well enough in terms of sales in order to justify its continued existence. We had no idea who or what Free Time was though which was what we wanted to investigate," Harriet said.

Koschei looked at her in surprise as he said, "Can you tell me where this store is? I'll go there myself. I can guarantee you that I'll find out everything that you need to know about them."

After Harriet told him the shop's address, Flavia said, "You must let someone else investigate this. You belong back on Gallifrey to help us deal with much more pressing matters."

"Nothing's more pressing than finding the people who attacked my wife. I'm going after them and then and only then will I come back," Koschei said as he ended the transmission.

He immediately started inside his TARDIS then but he was blocked by Lucy who said, "This is a trap you know. They're probably expecting you to charge in with no plan or back-up whatsoever so that they can kill you."

"Perhaps but I'm sure that they're not going to be able to handle what's coming their way. Believe me when I say that I'm far more dangerous than anything or anyone that they've ever faced before. They've attacked the person that I love the most in the entire universe, and I won't let that stand, Lucy. I can't let that stand," Koschei said in a dangerous tone that was laced with menace.

"Just be careful, okay? John needs his father and Mari needs her husband," Lucy said.

Koschei smiled at her as he said, "I will be. They're the ones that you should be worried about not me. Thank you anyway though. You're a good woman, Lucy. You always were even if I was too thick to appreciate that once upon a time."

Koschei gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek and then Lucy smiled and waved good bye to him as he left in his TARDIS. She could definitely get used to the current Koschei if the lingering remnants of the old one would stop trying to come to the surface whenever he was angry. That made her very uncomfortable every time that she saw it because she always feared that one day he would lose all of the progress that he had made and revert back to his old self once more if he ever became lost in that anger. If that were to ever happen, then she dreaded to think what might happen to the rest of the universe especially her son.

Koschei's TARDIS materialized right outside The Trickster's Emporium, and he immediately went into the shop posing as a customer. The woman at the counter immediately looked at him suspiciously and eyed him carefully as he walked around the store searching for secret entrances to the Free Time headquarters.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked as she finally walked up to him.

Koschei turned to her with an evil smile on his face and stared straight into her eyes as he said, "Oh, yes. You can help me immensely by telling me where the secret entrance is."

"Pardon? I don't know what you're talking about," The woman said with an innocent expression on her face.

"Oh, yes you do. You will tell me one way or the other. We can do this the easy way or we can do it my way. I actually hope that you choose my way myself. I'll have much more fun," Koschei said as his smile became larger and larger by the moment.

The woman visibly shuddered at the homicidal look in his eyes as she said, "I d – don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do and you will tell me. I am the Master and you will obey me," Koschei said as he began to hypnotize her.

"I . . ." The woman said as she tried to fight him.

"YOU WILL OBEY ME!" Koschei said in a voice filled with anger as he tired of her attempt to keep him from what he needed to know.

The woman's will immediately crumbled under his sudden psychic onslaught and pointed to a spot at the far end of the store as she said, "It's there in the back. Press down on the bottom shelf of that display three times in a row."

"Thank you," Koschei said and turned to leave when he heard her whimpering in fear.

He saw her curled up into a ball on the floor and looking at him in fear and immediately felt sorry for her. He hadn't meant to go that far. Whenever he was angry about someone threatening the people that he loved though then he always tended to become much darker than he normally would in response.

He placed his hands on the sides of her head causing her to scream in terror as he said in a gentle voice, "It's alright. I won't hurt you anymore. Go to sleep now and have peaceful dreams as you forget all about this. It never happened. It was all just a dream."

"It's just a dream. That's all," The woman said in relief as she instantly dozed off.

Then he left her there more scared than she was at how quickly he could revert back to his old ways under certain circumstances. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and then he opened the secret entrance and pressed onward. He soon found himself in a huge room with several corridors trailing off from it. The entire room was filled with members of Free Time.

"You! How dare you come here?" One of the members of Free Time shouted as he spotted him.

"How dare you attack my wife?!" Koschei said in anger.

"We do what we must in order to free time from the control of the grasp of tyrants. Occasionally even an innocent must die for the greater good to be achieved. Perhaps now you will give up control of time if you no longer wish for others to die as she has," Another member of Free Time said as several more of them confronted Koschei.

"I'll never bow down to the likes of you. On the contrary, you will bow down before me," Koschei said as he started to try to hypnotize the entire room full of people at once.

Many of them started to kneel, but others fought back against him and pulled out weapons. They started to fire on him, and he fired back against them with his laser screwdriver set on stun. Several of them fell before him while others kneeled in obedience.

"Tell me what your group is really after. Who do you work for?" Koschei demanded of those that he had under his control even as he fought with several others.

"We work for the Angel. The Angel commands us to free time from your corrupt influence over it. He told us that you have fooled many into believing that you are a good man but that you are actually a demon on the inside. We are to use any means necessary to either stop you or to get you to show your true self to those who you have fooled so that they will all turn against you. We will stop you, Master," One of the Free Time members said as they fought with him.

"Angel? What Angel?" Koschei asked in confusion.

Suddenly a glowing figure all dressed in white appeared nearby and laughed at him as he said, "I believe that they're referring to me. They may be under a mistaken impression that I have not tried to correct because it suits my purpose."

"The Trickster. What do you want with me?" Koschei said as he practically snarled at him.

"I want you to admit who you really are and return to your proper role, Koschei. In your heart of hearts, you are a servant of chaos and always have been. Your recent spiritual conversion under the influence of the Wolf is disrupting the natural balance between chaos and order and tilting it too far toward the side of order. I will not have that. I will restore the balance and reclaim you for my side. The Master must return, and I will not rest until he does," the Trickster said.

"It doesn't matter what you try to do to me or how many little plots that you try against me to push me over the edge like Free Time I won't go back. Ever," Koschei promised.

The Trickster laughed again as he said, "Free Time served its purpose, Time Lord. I wanted to use it to find out what target that I needed to strike at in order to get the Master to reemerge and now I know. Your wife."

Koschei became filled with anger as he shouted, "If you touch her, there will be nowhere in the universe where you'll be safe from me!"

The Trickster's ugly smile grew even wider as he said, "There he is! There is the Master at long last. Now that I know for sure that he still lives I know exactly what to do to bring him back out once more."

"Never. I'll never become him again," Koschei said defiantly.

"We will see. We will see exactly how far your love for Ushas will cause you to go," the Trickster said with an enigmatic smile.

"It's my love for her that keeps me from ever becoming him again," Koschei said.

"Love's a funny thing though, Koschei. Your love can keep you in the light, but it can also be used to push you back into the darkness. It's all a matter of how you use it, and now I know exactly how. Good bye, Koschei. We will meet again, and once we do you will become mine," the Trickster said as he vanished into thin air.

"Never," Koschei said.

"What's happening? Where am I?" One of the Free Time members suddenly said.

Koschei now saw that they were all coming out of what seemed to be a hypnotic state. Chantho had been right. They had been mind-controlled and were nothing but victims of the Trickster's little games.

Koschei quickly called UNIT to come and deal with them all and chuckled to himself at what a turnabout that was. He then left in his TARDIS and returned back to Gallifrey. At least now he could say with certainty that no one needed to fear Free Time ever again.

He just wished that he could say the same thing about the Trickster. He knew deep down that he would see the malevolent being again and that made him more afraid than anything ever had in his life because he knew that somehow in some way he would strike at Marissa in order to get to him.

What almost made him as afraid as losing Marissa was that he honestly wasn't sure if he would be able to hold the Master at bay if he were to ever lose her. He wasn't even sure that he would want to either. A universe without the woman that he loved in it wouldn't be a universe that he would care about preserving anymore anyway. At that point, he would probably no longer care about protecting any part of it.

He hated to admit that to himself, but he knew that it was very likely to come true. He would have to be extra careful to keep Marissa safe from now on because he honestly wasn't sure what would happen if he didn't, and he never wanted to have to find out.

Next: The day that Koschei has been dreading finally arrives at long last despite his best efforts to prevent it as an alien attack forces UNIT to make a horrible decision in order to protect the Earth. Will Marissa die as a result just like the version of her in the previous universe? If so, will it succeed in returning the Master back to the universe and what part will the Trickster play in all of this?