Chapter 13:
The Doctor no longer kept an eye on the time, as far as he was concerned The Master needed to be stopped whatever the cost. He couldn't let anyone else die in his name, to die in vain. His eyes still fixed on the spot where his only friend once lay. His blood stained the floor as it dried out. The gun and any belongings of Wilf had been taken away with him, leaving no trace of his short visit. He would mourn his losses when this was over.
For the time being he would use this to fuel his soul. The Master's lashing had taken its toll on his body despite his Timelord healings as his old wounds reopened.
He searched the room for possibilities, for a chance, an opportunity to break free. Broken glass from the camera lay at his feet, chunks of wood from the broken chair and the overturned trough of ice water melted into the floor. His tattered suit was still drying out, hands and arms aching from being cuffed behind his back. His neck still covered with the red collar he had grown to hate so quickly.
The Doctor dried his eyes against his suit and tried to move, to adjust his seating to get a better view of his prison but his mind was clouded. The past two hours were more than just physically painful. He couldn't get Wilfred's final moments out of the forefront of his mind. All he longed for was a warm room and a long heartfelt embrace from a friend, someone to keep him in check, to give him hope.
In his state there wasn't much he could do, so it wasn't long before he succumbed to his tiredness. His were eyes heavy with guilt and dread, weary from the pain as the adrenaline left him.
A sharp pain in his leg awoke him from his short slumber. He opened his eyes expecting The Master, only to find a small shard of glass cutting into his skin. It seemed he had moved in his sleep closer towards the glass and wood by the door to the room. His suit was still drying out but the rest had helped begin to heal his wounds. He had slept right through whatever crashing sounds The Master had been making outside; there wasn't much he could've done in his battered state.
The Doctor shifted his weight, pressing his hands against the wall as manoeuvred his body into a seated position. He moved with heavy breaths and shifted to pick up of a splinter of wood. He tried to pick the lock holding his hands together but the small rough stick split in two between his fingers.
Again he tried, frustration breaking out as he failed again. He thrashed his cuffed hands against the wall but stopped immediately. There was no need for The Master to know he was awake and conscious again.
He thought clearer now; picking up a shard of glass and using it to blindly shape the metal remnants of the camera casing. By the third try he had finally unlocked his hands. With a sigh he slowly brought his hands to face, letting out a short unexpected cry, before drying his eyes and ruffling his hands through his hair. He quickly checked over his wounds, lightly touching each one as he grew accustomed to the pain that he suppressed into the background workings of his body.
He moved his hands to his neck trying to find the clasp to open the collar, but all he found was a metal gage around the ends- deadlocked seal.
His best bet was to cut through it with the glass and metal shards, but after a few minutes of cutting through the first of many layers The Doctor knew that as much as hated it, he didn't have the time to remove the red choker. He needed to focus on a way out.
Slowly pushing his body up against the wall he managed to stand up leaning to one side. Cautiously he took a step towards the door and found a renewed strength in him as he had the control to softly lean on the door one hand clasping the handle.
The Doctor took his make shift key from the handcuffs and placed it into the door lock. He listened for the quiet sound of the metal shifting into place but a sudden voice made The Doctor fall to the ground.
The Master.
He looked around the room for the source, one ear to the door listening for his presence though he heard two hearts, one was artificial the other was human, beating double time to keep up with its new Timelord counterpart. He was sure he had taken out the only camera in the room, The Master could not see him only sense his him if he made the conscious effort to. So why and how was he talking to him.
"Doctor...I know you're awake." The voice coming from a speaker hidden in the room and hallways was unusually tentative and excited with anticipation. The Doctor knew he had found something.
"Didn't you hear the noise Doctor? Don't you want to know what it was?"
The Doctor tried to think. The noise? Did he mean the drums, no, it was that crashing sound he'd slept through earlier.
"A star fell from the sky. You want know where from?"
The Master paused, a sigh of relief as he sought the words that would write history.
"Because now it makes sense, Doctor. The whole of my life, my destiny.
The star was a diamond. And the diamond is a Whitepoint Star."
With those words The Doctor's world collapsed around him. A Whitepoint star was found on one planet, Gallifrey. Which meant only one thing.
The Doctor quietly opened the door as The Master continued his speech-
"And I've worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the Star is mine, I can increase the signal and use it. As a lifeline."
The guard by the door was completely still his mind working on the drums, working on the signal.
Nearly six billion people focused on one goal. The Master had assumed The Doctor was battered, hopeless and secured in the room, but he would surely pay for the underestimation of his longest foe. Before the guard registered any movement from behind him, The Doctor opened the door and immobilized the guard by pressing on a particular set of nerves on his back.
Even without his screwdriver he would find a way out.
The Master was still going on, little knowing that his plans were not as solid as he hoped, "D'you get it now?! D'you see? Sit tight, Doctor- this should be spectacular! Over and out!"
There meant one thing and one thing only.
The Timelords were returning and The Doctor after all he'd been through and all he'd lost was sure as hell not going to just 'sit tight'.
The Doctor began quietly limping down the corridors. Checking either side for guards, though none were around after all who was going to attack. He began to wonder who he could call; perhaps Jack was still around if he wasn't wondering in the skies somewhere, Sarah Jane's son, Luke Smith, wasn't fully human and he'd have K-9 and Mr. Smith with him too. There was the old man, Mr. Copper; he dropped off on Earth after the Christmas-Titanic incident. A short list of names grew. He thought of Donna sleeping safely not knowing what had happened to her granddad. The Doctor wondered if involving them would just be like signing off their death warrants to The Master. Besides he had no means of contacting them now anyway.
He continued down the corridors wondering around without any real knowledge of where he was or any plan to defeat The Master. He found his way to the main control room. Peeking behind door he saw The Master's clones working away, converting the Vinvocci's machine into some kind of teleporter. He could see the Whitepoint star in the centre of the room, with The Master himself tweaking away at the machinery around it before he pockets the diamond once more and attends to the work of his clones.
Room was filled with at least twenty clones, eighteen to be exact plus the energy filled Master himself. There was no way The Doctor was ever getting to the Whitepoint star this way, he had to find another way in and quickly. The unconscious guard would be wakening soon and it wouldn't take long before The Master was notified of his escape.
The Doctor crept back down the corridors. He considered returning to his TARDIS but couldn't risk The Master taking that from him as well. Instead he limped away in the opposite direction, down a bumpy set of stairs.
"Open up the Nuclear Bolt. Infuse the power-lines to maximum." The Master called out across the room as the clones put in place the final details. The technician clones switch places between the locked booths as one release the other and confirmed, "Nuclear bolt accelerating, sir!"
"Doctor." The Master muttered quietly without even realising, as all his clones turned towards him awaiting instructions. The guard had awoken and sent a signal through their mental network- The Doctor has escaped, stop him. Guards had already left the room in search of their foe while The Master focused on the matter at hand placed the diamond into the centre machine wired protruding from every viable space as it glowed red. A noise started up but within seconds the machine sparked up and wires snapped away. The red glow faded instantly and a bang was heard from below.
"No!" The Master was furious, rewiring the system back into place. Smilingly he knew he would restore the link.
Moments later The Doctor was once again thrown onto the floor of the main control room, brought in by two guards. A bullet wound to his left knee explained the noise from earlier.
"We found him in the basement, he's broken the link." A clone guard spoke to The Master, who turned away from the machinery and marched towards The Doctor. He hauled him off the ground with one hand and sent a spark through his fresh wound.
By now all the lights in the room were burnt out, leaving them all in the dark except for the dwindling daylight that shone into the rooms through the windows.
"What did you do?" The Master's voice was calm but laced with fury.
"I don't know. Just pressed a few buttons, took out a few wires." The Doctor didn't care what happened to him in that moment as he feigned innocence liked a two year old who accidentally broken a TV remote by dropping it. The Master threw his fist into The Doctor's face but his foe simply smiled but with a serious tone spoke, "Did you really think that just taking my sonic would stop me. That killing my friend wouldn't make me fight harder."
The Doctor grasped onto The Master, his hands fighting to push him away but they trembled with the suppressed pain he had been bottling, flailing to clasp on to any shred of cloth of The Master's hoodie.
"Oh, but Doctor. Did you really think I was that easy to beat?" The Master sneered darkly as the lights were restored and the system rebooted itself, his clones had undone whatever nonsense The Doctor had pulled. The Master still holding The Doctor, now by his collar, kneed him in the stomach with a bolt of energy down his spine which sent crashing to the floor.
"You really should learn your place Doctor. Things are going to change!"
The Master placed the diamond into its place and a noise began transmitting.
A simple high pitched beep. Four beats, one-two-three-four.
The drumming so familiar to the Timelords, always stuck inside their heads was finally out.
"Stop this now!" The Master turned around to see The Doctor battered and bruised, standing up though leaning heavily to one side, "It's not too late, Master. The Timelords aren't who you think they are. We can still leave. I know I can fix you. Please."
"Who says I was broken?"
"Maybe you aren't but your plan's about need some tending to." The Doctor produced his sonic screwdriver in his right hand. The same hand that failed to grasp onto The Master, was in fact searching around for his trusted device.
Quickly he switched the setting on his sonic and sent sparks across The Gate and booths, but the signal was still running. The Doctor managed to dodge the first few surges of energy that The Master sent his way but eventually went down with a shot to the his neck as the collar incapacitated his body. Another shot to the open wound in his knee sent him crashing to the ground. His sonic rolling towards one of The Master's clone guards. He watched, body still spasming from the excessive current running through him, as the guard crushed his beloved device beneath his foot.
"You're too late, Doctor. We have contact."