Chapter 21 - Love and Justice
The Doctor checked the scanner again with a frown.
"That whole area is clear of bugs now," he pointed out and Diana-37 nodded. "We can bring both TARDIS out of the Vortex now and finish the repairs."
"Good. Should we set down right next to each other," Jake asked, looking at Diana.
"They've been good so far, but I don't want to push them too hard." She considered. "We'll keep the promise. I just don't want them to feel like we're flaunting him under their noses, either, let's not risk setting them off. It's not like we all don't realize that we can't kill him and still have the Revolution."
"Yes, because that sort of thing stains you," the Doctor murmured. "I've seen it all throughout history. A revolution starts, people have ideals, goals, dreams, and then it ends with blood, guillotines, and terror. They only way it works really, is if you don't go the path of violence." He shrugged.
"That doesn't mean he is off the hook," Diana-37 frowned at him. "You saw the lab. Sooner or later we are going to want something like… justice. Not a lynching, but… something."
"Really? Justice? He was ripped apart as a child by an egomaniacal bastard and put back together wrong? You want to punish him for that?" the Doctor asked, his eyes hard and angry. "You really want justice, then make friends with him, take care of him, show him the compassion and caring that he should have gotten all this time! Because anything else isn't 'justice' it's just revenge!"
"I think that they need answers, Doctor, closure of some sort. To feel like he is sorry and that they've been heard," Jake interrupted. "It's not like they want to chop bits off of him, well, maybe Neveah does, but most of them are just bewildered. He made them, tossed them into hell, and they don't understand why. They need to understand their past and make peace with it, before they can move forward."
"That's the three semesters of psych talking isn't it?" the Doctor snarked.
"Doesn't mean I'm wrong," Jake retorted.
"He made us and hated us. What does that even mean? Susan said he should have been our father. Aren't fathers supposed to love their daughters?" She paused. "I'm not even sure I know what justice means exactly, I don't think I have worked it all out yet. But I'm not sure this can last like this. I mean, yeah, the arrangements work for right now, and yeah, I see why we made them, but eventually something else will have to happen. I just… don't know what that is."
"Yes, I can see that," the Doctor sighed. "But, he made you because Rassilon ordered him to, the man who got Susan killed, ordered him to use the girl who let Susan down, to replace Susan. Can you possibly grasp how awful that must have been for him? Of course he hated you. Not one of you was ever going to be Susan." He turned his head back to the controls and re-materialized them on the ground.
"Are you saying he was right, then?"
"No, I'm saying that there was no right thing to do, except not to have started the project in the first place, but I'm selfish enough to be glad he did, because I've grown rather fond of you all," he sighed and looked up at her sadly.
"Well, I won't say I don't like being alive," Masha-37's hand found Jake's and held it quietly. "But I don't like being a bomb. I don't want to be a weapon. I want to be something else."
"Yes, we're working on that, Tomoko-6 and I," he murmured. "But anyway, we're here."
In Susan's TARDIS, the lovely Art Nouveau interior was scared and charred, the console was patched and had parts and broken pieces scattered around. Under the console, Guinn's legs stuck out, while nearby Koschei and K-9 were trying to repair and calibrate the Secondary Control Console's 2LO Energy Distributor Circuit.
Susan stood quietly by, her hand on the controls, waiting for word.
Koschei had changed into jeans and a black t-shirt, while Susan had thrown on slacks, her boots, and a green blouse. The legs sticking out from under the console were now clad in black trousers, though they were already growing stained and dirty from the work.
"Try it again," Guinn called to Susan, from under the console.
"Yes, love," Susan replied and flipped a switch that induced a shower of sparks.
"Bugger," Guinn swore and she turned it off again.
"Is that thing repaired yet, Koschei?" he asked next.
"Yes, finally," he grumbled, as K-9 welded the last piece together under his direction. "Good dog," he told him with a pat on his head.
"Affirmative Koschei," the dog replied with a wag of its tail.
"Got to get this damned thing flying," grumbled Guinn. "Okay, try it again, Susan!"
She flipped the switch again and there was a grinding noise. The lights came on, buttons flickered and then lit. Susan's TARDIS was back in business.
"That works," Koschei agreed and closed up the panel.
"Indeed it does," Guinn agreed.
"My brilliant men!" Susan chuckled, beaming at Koschei.
Guinn crawled out from under the console and stood up between her arms and the console frame. He kissed her hard, the intoxicating combination of her presence and finally having power lighting a fire in him. She twined around him, holding him tightly and kissing him back with her whole attention focused on him for a moment. Koschei wiped his hands on a cloth, his eyes unreadable as he watched.
"Come on, let's go kill some bugs, love," she groaned. "Before you distract me." She evaded his hands and slipped away from the console, though her face showed her reluctance to do so. "Your reward for a successful kill is more later," she promised the two of them and Koschei smiled at that.
"Hmm, I think I'll take more later, regardless," Guinn told her. "Assuming you haven't changed your mind." Koschei rolled his eyes at that.
"As if," he muttered.
"Still have those neck ties?" Susan replied, looking up at Guinn through the curtain of her hair, eyes dark with promise and he pulled her against him, kissing her softly.
"Yes, but I'll only use them on you, if you ask very nicely," he whispered in her ear and she shivered, her arms slipping around his neck and drawing him down into another kiss.
"I promise to be very good," she whispered, once she'd finished driving him mad.
"Actually, I like it much better when you're naughty," he replied, loving the hot burn in her as she smirked up at him.
"Yes, Master," she replied and now it was his turn to shiver.
"Hey, my turn!" Koschei teased and Susan stepped into his arms for a kiss as well. "So, you're heading back to the other TARDIS soon?" he asked Guinn, his brows drawn down as he asked.
"Besides the controls for the Lens, all the real weapons systems are in my TARDIS," he pointed out. "None of which are any good against a threat like this. Even so, you two do realize that you're completely unarmed in this ship?"
"I know, but arming her hasn't been a top priority," Koschei sighed.
"I don't like the idea of you being on the other TARDIS though, without us there, what if you get in trouble?" Susan asked, looking at him with a worried expression.
"There's no other alternative, there's no hope of getting the Lens controls moved in the amount of time that we have." He smirked at her. "Besides, when was the last time I got myself into trouble with a giant cosmic super-weapon? I'm sure it's been at least a week." Koschei winced at that and shot Susan a somewhat guilty glance.
"At least a week," he agreed.
"Exactly what I'm talking about," she groused and cuddled against Koschei with a sigh. Guinn watched as their energy coiled around each other, the way that they seemed to melt together and fought his feelings of longing and jealousy. That could have been him, if he hadn't mucked everything up.
"Something has occurred to me," Koschei said with a blink. "You haven't even eaten, have you?" he asked and Susan looked up at him, chagrined.
This hadn't occurred to Guinn. None of them had eaten, they had all been so busy repairing the TARDIS. He'd promised to help look out for Susan and he was already failing at it. He felt the stirrings of shame.
"No," she said simply. "There was so much to do!" she protested and Koschei looked at her and kissed her again.
"Go get something to eat," he suggested "Bring us some sandwiches and tea, please, once you've eaten?" She nodded her agreement.
"Croissants?" she teased and both of them nodded at the same moment, which made her laugh as she headed out to get food for them all.
"What systems are still down?" Koschei asked.
"The Mean Free Path Tracker is the last thing needing repair at this point," Guinn replied.
"Good, then we should get moving on that. Is that really the last thing" he asked, a bit surprised that they'd completed so much work already.
"Yes and we can't begin our attack run until that's fixed," Guinn pointed out. "Susan will have to be with you, no matter how the road turns. I'll assume that you two have a plan to deal with the Arkytior?"
"What do you mean 'how the road turns'? Of course we have a plan, now sit down! I am getting a crick in my neck looking up at me!" he grumbled and Guinn frowned, but sat down in one of the green velvet wing chairs.
"Is your plan going to be to let you two handle Her, in order to protect Adie?" Guinn asked with a grimace and Koschei gave him a sour look.
"You know yourself far too well," he groused.
"Fine, you two deal with the Arkytior, I'll take care of everything else," Guinn replied. "You keep her safe for me."
"I know that look on your face, by the way, I've seen it the mirror often enough. So stop it right now, she's not like that and you know it. You're not just a spare me, you know! When Susan says 'forever' she means it, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She's already got a bureau picked out for you." Koschei informed his other self with a rueful smile. "Once you're caught, my friend, there is no escaping her orbit and you quickly forget why you ever wanted to." He admitted the last part with a snort.
Guinn was surprised. He hadn't been thinking of Susan at all, just then, but rather the Arkytior: now Koschei's words drew him back to her.
"A bureau?" he said blankly.
"Yes, and she's thinking about where to put an addition to the workshop for you."
Guinn blinked. Three times.
"I.. hadn't thought ahead that far." He hadn't pictured himself in the bedroom as a permanent resident: merely as an occasional roll-in-the-hay guest.
"This is Susan we're talking about. She doesn't do 'casual'," he pointed out and Guinn wanted to yell at him. He'd had six and a half days with Miranda and several weeks with the shattered remnants of Susan. He didn't know her the way that Koschei obviously did. Susan had told him that one day he'd know her inside and out and it was obvious that Koschei did know her that well. It was hard not to feel jealous of that. Still, he'd ruined his own future all by himself, so no reason to punish Koschei for succeeding.
"None of which is going to matter, if we don't survive the day," he reminded Koschei, who snorted.
"So, let's see what we can do to ensure our mutual survival," he agreed.
"Can you talk her back once the Arkytior shows up?" The Master was feeling restless and uneasy, as though there was still something he was missing here.
"Yes, I think so," Koschei asked, frowning.
"We fire the Lens, that takes care of the bug, but it triggers the Arkytior. There's no anchor for her and that girl will fry without one. That leaves the Arkytior in the area. It will certainly latch onto Susan, so you will have to bring her back. Regardless, once we fire the lens, you and Susan will be occupied; from there it's a matter of handling the Nanites and the Manifold, I'll deal with that. The Doctor and Rose will help me with that, I suppose."
"How does she put up with me?" Koschei grumbled looking at Guinn as though he was rather slow.
Guinn frowned, double-checking his plan for holes, and found none.
"I take it you have a better plan in mind?" he snarked, crossing his arms.
"Susan and I are going to take her into gestalt with us and shield her." Koschei's voice was granite hard. "We'll intercept the Arkytior and keep her occupied."
"Which still puts the three of you out of the picture at that point," Guinn reminded him with a frown, still not seeing how that changed things.
"You too, though, because you're bound to us," Koschei pointed out. "We will have to have the Doctor and Rose running what they can. Oh I wish Dar was here," he groaned and scrubbed his face. "We need another Time Lord in this TARDIS to help us out."
Koschei grabbed a laser spanner and cracked the panel on the Mean Free Path Tracker circuits. Guinn rose and joined him at that, there was too much to do and not much time. He handed Koschei a circuit tester without thinking about it and thought hard.
"So, Rose and the Doctor take care of the Manifold," Guinn muttered.
"Along with Jake and the Mashas," Koschei reminded him.
"Of course," he agreed.
"How are you doing?" Koschei asked and Guinn opened his mouth to lie and then snapped it shut again.
"Awful," Guinn replied and looked away. He'd been mad, but more than that, he'd been dead inside, the very centre of his existence taken from him. "What I did to the Mashas... it was worse than most of the rest of the things I've done. Not because I didn't do even more terrible things to other people, other worlds, but because I didn't even do it because I wanted to. I took no benefit from it. It was just something to do to keep from going mad. I wasn't... myself." It was as close as he could come to saying it.
"Not surprising. When Susan and I were trapped in separate universes and I thought I'd left her to die on Gallifrey, I went utterly mad. Lost it completely." He shuddered. "Can't blame you in the slightest for not being in top form."
Guinn nodded, thinking of that terrible day when he had killed Susan, when she had died in his arms, and his shoulders hunched. For an instant, the light drained from his aura, leaving it blank and dead looking. But then he shook his head and thrust the memory away. It was too painful, so he tried to think of it as seldom as possible. Without another word he went to the console and began adjusting dials.
"Careful. She'll see that," Koschei murmured gently and rested a hand on his shoulder in sympathy.
"Yes, I'll have to work on better shielding when I get a moment," he muttered
"I'll show you how to shunt that stuff to one side," he replied. "It's just because I don't like upsetting her and when I get into one of my funks, she gets that hurt feeling in her chest and it makes me cringe and feel horrible," he sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"I don't think I should like to experience that," Guinn said ruefully.
"I know this is all a huge change for you. After everything that has happened, you must be reeling. You're going to need some time to adjust to it all. When it gets to be too much, we can escape the smothering familial affection occasionally by hiding on New San Martine, I found the same house in this universe and bought it for Susan as an anniversary gift last year."
"Thoughtful of you," Guinn said quietly, the memories of that time, that place, they still haunted his dreams.
"Selfish, you mean. A place I can have her all to myself for a few days, without Theta walking into the bedroom without knocking!" Koschei complained his blue eyes filled with remembered annoyance. "Still, it made her happy, which is all that matters."
"Yes," Guinn agreed. He could see already how happy that had made her. She must have treasured her time with him there. He silently vowed never to return; some other house could be located when, or if, the three of them wanted to be together. Susan would still want alone time strictly with Koschei, and Koschei clearly needed it. "That's all that matters."
"It is," Koschei agreed and looked up at him with an unreadable look. "I'd do anything for her, even not do things I want to."
"As evidenced by the fact that you haven't shot me. For which I thank you." he said and Koschei barked a laugh.
"Nor have you shot me, thank you, which proves that you feel the same way. Not surprising, we're the same in many ways. Even if you're freakishly tall," he teased. "You and I, we just need to take care of her, keep her safe, that's what will keep us friends, you know. Because anyone that loves her as much as I do, is someone I like already," he chuckled.
Guinn looked at his other self in surprise. It occurred to him that he
already rather liked Koschei as well. It was soothing, talking to someone who understood completely, who'd gone through the same hell as he had and had the same pole star drawing him along.
"I… could see that," he mused. "Yes, I am in agreement."
"Well, we do think alike," Koschei pointed out. "You kept all your tools in the same order in your workshop, I found everything I needed, exactly where I always keep it."
"I haven't had a chance to look at yours," he admitted. "Too busy repairing the ship."
"Well, we have time now, I just got a new ion lathe, haven't even had a chance to use it yet," he told him.
"I don't… make things any more," he said and his voice was awkward. He didn't know how to express what he was feeling, the sudden extreme reaction he felt to the very idea of building something, designing something. His hands were shaking at the thought and his stomach was churning.
Koschei stopped and turned, looking at him for a long time. There was a deep understanding in his eyes and he nodded.
"I know. I felt that way too. I never wanted to use the same tools, the same hands again, I was afraid of what my mind would churn up. It terrified me. I had dreams where I'd have built something and it would have killed Susan, or the Doctor, and I'd wake up screaming," he told him and then took a breath.
"Then the Sycorax attacked Earth. The planet had no defences and I just sat down and started working, the ideas just pouring out of me. Everyone was thrilled with them and I did something good. I used my skills to help. I realized that not helping was as bad as hurting them." He stopped, flushed and shrugged. "So, there's that." he muttered and headed to his workshop, not looking to see if Guinn was following or not.
Guinn checked the controls, then followed with a sigh.
"Well, that means that the Earth has you, doesn't it?" He shook his head. "At the moment I have seventy-four angry clones after my head, and eventually we are going to have to try and pull…" He stopped and hastily rearranged what he had been about to say, "... Susan back from the Arkytior. I don't make things. You lathe, and I'll watch."
"Fine, you can hand me things," he muttered. "I'm too tired to argue about it."
Guinn nodded and followed him into the workshop. He found that suddenly, he was too tired to argue either.