Shadew 9

"Eemon was preaching to the footpads, trying to get them to join him as he went to Goldbridge to take the operation. I tried to warn them that it was more of a curse than a blessing but he turned them against me, said I had been embezzling their money, keeping it for myself. When that wouldn't silence me we fought and he ended up stabbing me in the chest. The footpads set off for Goldbridge leaving me for dead. I slipped into unconsciousness thinking that it was the end, can't tell you the surprise when I woke up again in a blood coloured room with pulsating floors and walls."

"A Zygon ship," the Doctor recognised.

"Yeah, as I later discovered," Olljo nodded. "Turns out the Zygons had arrived in the nick of time to save me."

"Well they wouldn't have been able to create a body print of you if you had died," the Doctor commented cynically.

"I do realise that," Olljo replied as if it were obvious. "But it doesn't make me any less grateful. So after they healed my wounds and dis-dis-im-fek-fected my missing finger they took me back here. After establishing my past as a broker they decided to put me to work as the Quartermaster's assistant. After the previous attack by the Shadow Proclamation the Quartermaster was killed so I took his place."

"Was it their idea to cut your hair?" The Doctor queried.

"Not sure why," Olljo nodded. "They were certainly very relieved when it was finally removed."

"Yeah I bet you were locked in a room all on your own for a few weeks before they would allow you free roam of the base as well," the Doctor commented.

"Yes actually," Olljo nodded suspiciously. "How did you know?"

The Doctor punched the air in triumph but just about resisted a rendition of 'The Winner Takes It All' or 'We Are The Champions'. "Standard procedure I believe," he answered. "Is that right Alkrad?"

"Yes, new arrivals get put in quarantine for as long as a month in some cases, most are out within a few days," the Plasmavore replied between sips of blood. "They don't want any nasty illnesses spreading through the base."

"Illnesses?" Both Broxa and Olljo said in unison.

"You know what illnesses are Broxa," the Doctor said calmly. "That's what the Craxas was spreading in Alnwick."

"Oh yeah..."

"So you have been here the entire time?" The Doctor returned to questioning Olljo. "It never occurred to you to go somewhere else?"

"Well I don't have access to any transport of any kind," Olljo justified. "And they did save my life, I didn't even realise you were involved until a few days ago."

"Why what happened a few days ago?"

"Some informant told a Superior that you would be coming, and you wouldn't be alone," Olljo replied.

The Doctor's eyes widened in shock. "Did this informant have a name?" He questioned.

Olljo shrugged. "Didn't hear anyone mention it, the porters were treating him strangely though and he mentioned something about being out of his time."

"So he was a time traveller," the Doctor exclaimed.

"So what?" Alkrad cried. "There are always informants flying around with seemingly obscure and unhelpful pieces of information, that's not important." He moaned as he tried to stand up again. "The important question is if you are on the Doctor's side why were you trying so hard to beat us."

"I did apologise," Olljo sniffed. "How was I to know that you were with the Doctor?"

"Surely this informant must have given you a bit of a clue," Alkrad responded wryly.

Olljo nodded. "To be fair I had expected you to arrive with the initial attack, didn't expect anyone to bother with me and the Quartermaster. That all changed when those brutish creatures attacked us, sort of lost my sympathy towards you lot after that."

"Fair enough," the Doctor commented, he turned to the Plasmavore. "How do you plan to get us into Master Quanchi's quarters?"

"The idea was to lead you down a back route and hope that Quanchi is not there," Alkrad said through gritted teeth. "But I'm not going to be able to do that now."

"Well just tell us the route, we can get there without you."

"You won't be able to deal with Quanchi alone," Alkrad warned him. "Even the Superiors are scared of him."

"Well I'm not your average run of the mill assassin," the Doctor said with a grin. "I'm a Time Lord."

"I'm an average run of the mill assassin," he reminded him. "And I've killed a Time Lord."

"Well you took him by surprise, wasn't much of a fair fight," the Doctor countered. "Doesn't matter how good you are if you allow someone to sneak up on you like that, and I thought we were hoping that he's not there when we turn up."

"Yes but in the worst case scenario you would need me by your side," Alkrad persisted.

"With the Shadow Proclamation launching another attack when Sundew have barely recovered from the previous one there is a chance he will be distracted and may not be in his quarters," the Doctor said. "The chances of him staying in his quarters, playing the violin, while his guild burns is about the same as England winning the next world cup. But having said that Capello has left so they may have a better chance. But that's provided they get Harry Redknapp to replace him. Who am I kidding, I know they don't get him and that's why they go out in the first round. Losing 8 - nil to both Trinidad & Tobago and Australia, laughed my head off, though the fact they ended up doing it again against South Africa was just weird. Sorry I'm rambling again aren't I."

"What happened next?" Broxa asked in interest.

"Well I immediately went off to investigate... Never mind, I'll tell you later. Alkrad, it won't matter, I won't be alone. Kabrok and Broxa will be with me."

"Not me?" Olljo questioned.

"You incapacitated Alkrad, you can make sure that he doesn't remain helpless while in this state," the Doctor said matter-of-factly.

After a moment's thought on this Olljo conceded the point. The Doctor noticed that Broxa seemed slightly disappointed which was slightly odd, normally she always jumped at the opportunity to go on any adventure with him. But then he realised.

"You can stay here if you want though," he offered.

She was slightly taken aback by this. "What? No you heard him you will need me."

"Maybe," he shrugged. "But it would be a bit selfish of me to force you to come along when you wanted to stay." When she looked like arguing further he added: "I would probably choose to stay behind if it was a Time Lord."

With Broxa deciding to stay the Doctor turned back to Alkrad to obtain the route to Master Quanchi's quarters, with that established he and Kabrok turned to leave. They checked that the corridor outside was clear before disappearing once again into the catacomb of corridors that was the Sundew base; and this time they did not have Alkrad to guide them.

Caprinite stomped into Quanchi's quarters with great purpose, he was slightly surprised to find that the Master did not immediately start dancing around him, pretending to think he was someone trying to kill him, but these were desperate times.

"Quanchi!" he rumbled. "The base is under attack! The Shadow Proclamation have launched a huge secondary attack."

"I am well aware of that, Superior," Quanchi drawled. "I am sure that with your vast wealth of training and experience you shall be able to repel them. Again."

"It's different this time," Caprinite insisted. "Our defences barely withstood their original attack, and they have been mostly disabled since then."

"And," Quanchi cut him off. "What do you want me to do about it?"

Caprinite shifted about uncomfortably. "The Superiors were wondering whether this would be a good opportunity for you to show off your skills to those assassins that need a little inspiring."

Quanchi twisted his head towards him. Caprinite could not see his face but was sure that it was probably screwed up in confusion. "When you say the Superiors does that include all the Superiors?"

"Most of them," the silicon based alien said indistinctly.

"Including you?"

The giant once again uncharacteristically shifted about uncomfortably, causing sand to tumble off him like an avalanche. "I was merely in favour of asking whether you were considering taking part in the battle," he said eventually.

"Even you," the Master said in despair. "Was no one willing to be blunt? No don't answer that I already know. The last time I looked Sundew was a guild of assassins, and not just any assassins, the most fearsome killers that the universe has seen. I didn't realise it had degenerated into a band of frightened old women!"

"To be fair you do kill Superiors who dare to suggest ideas that you don't agree with," Caprinite pointed out.

"That as maybe," Master Quanchi said, "you are all killers, why should you be afraid of an impending invasion? You should relish this as an opportunity to test your skills in the most competitive environment. So the mechanical defences are breached, this does not mean that we are defenceless."

"So you won't join the battle?" Caprinite asked, slightly lost.

"Of course not!" Quanchi exclaimed. "Especially when most of the Superiors will be hiding behind the sofas themselves. It's at times like this that I really miss Jarion and Petris; the new Zygon Superior is useless."

"Although he did bring us that Mondasian," Caprinite pointed out. "There aren't many who can take down a squad of Ogrons on their own."

"He shouldn't get credit for that!" Quanchi exclaimed. "It was Petris who found him, he was more interested in the out of date Cyberman."

"There was a Cyberman?"

"Very early model," Quanchi explained. "Emotions were still instilled and he panicked. Mr. Garix had to eject the entire time vortex analysis section."

Caprinite stared back at him blankly. "How did I miss all that?"

"What do you mean you missed it?" Quanchi demanded. "We lost an entire wing and a key part of our defence system. That sort of thing is quite hard to miss."

"Oh I knew about losing the time vortex analyser," the giant Superior clarified. "I just didn't know it had been caused by an unstable potential. Anyway, I'll just tell the Superiors that they need to get ready for battle."

"By all means, but I will need you here," Quanchi said.

Caprinite looked at him questionably. "I don't understand," he said.

"The Doctor is here," Quanchi explained. "And he shall be coming here to access my records, so I shall be waiting for him."

"Oh so you want me to stay with you to help you destroy him," Caprinite realised.

"No," the Master stated. "I have to face him alone."

"What?" Caprinite exclaimed.

"It is very simple. The Doctor has been my enemy for too long, when I end it, it has to be through single combat between me and him."

Caprinite cocked his head in a confused manner. "So what do you want with me then?" He asked.

"You are to ensure he returns the favour," Quanchi replied, "and that no one disturbs us."

"So I am to act as guard dog now am I?" The Superior growled.

"Correct," Quanchi nodded. "You must ensure that no one, other than the Doctor enters my chamber. You may kill anyone else."

Caprinite knew better than to argue any further so grudgingly traipsed out of the room, trailing sand as he went. Master Quanchi turned back to the window he had been staring out of and resumed his admiration of the spaceships firing off powerful weapons and others exploding after taking too much damage; it was such a long time since he had been able to truly admire a proper battle. He allowed a metal rod to extend out of the arm of his robes. Very soon he would face the Doctor once again, and this time it would be him who came out on top.

The Doctor came to a halt once more and looked up and down the alternative routes. Kabrok came to a stop behind him.

"What is it now?" the Judoon complained.

"I don't know where we are," the Doctor said slowly. "All these corridors look the same."

"How can we be lost?" Kabrok questioned. "We have followed Alkrad's instructions to the letter."

"Yes," the Doctor agreed, "but maybe we should have gone left at a different pillar."

"Eh?"

"Well lots of the corridors have pillars in them," the Doctor clarified. "Alkrad wasn't very specific."

Kabrok frowned. "What do we do then? Retrace our steps?"

"Considering how identical looking the corridors are that would probably just confuse us even more," the Doctor replied.

"What is the problem then?"

"This intersection looks almost identical to one we passed through earlier," the Doctor started to grin through amusement. "We could be going round in circles for all we know."

"You may be enjoying yourself, but I don't want to spend my time running round in circles in enemy territory," Kabrok growled in annoyance.

"Ok," the Doctor nodded. He pointed his finger at one of the corridors. "Eeny meeny miny moe," he recited alternating his pointing between the two corridors with each new word, "catch a Dalek by its toe... no hold on Daleks don't have toes. Catch a Cyberman by its... no they don't have toes either, just boots. Do Zygons have toes? Yes I think they do-"

Kabrok rolled his eye and stomped down the left hand corridor. "Let's go this way," he boomed. The Doctor stared after him for a few seconds, slightly miffed at being cut off like that, before nodding and rushing after him. They sprinted down the corridor just like before not stopping for anything, the Doctor looking back over his shoulder occasionally because old habits die hard. They came to another intersection and skidded to a halt.

"You're right!" Kabrok exclaimed. "We are going round in circles."

On the face of it the intersection did indeed look exactly like the one they had just used. "Not quite," the Doctor said. "I know it may look exactly the same as the intersection we just passed, but I can assure you it is a different one."

"How can you tell?"

"This wall has no scratch in it," the Doctor pointed. "This same wall at the other intersection did, therefore we are not at the same intersection as before."

"Yet we are no less lost than before," Kabrok added.

The Doctor nodded enthusiastically. "Twelve out of ten." He beckoned the Judoon down the right hand fork this time. "Let's try this way."

"You two! What are you doing down here?" the two porters turned to the source of the voice. They briefly forgot that they were cuffed together so crashed into one another and became slightly entangled when they tried the first time. Eventually they were facing the new individual.

"Oh hello Mr. Garix, what are you doing here?" shorty said casually.

"You shouldn't be here," the stocky humanoid hissed. "We are in turmoil and you are sitting here playing some stupid kinky game with one another!"

"And what do you expect us to do?" lofty queried. "We aren't fighters."

"Neither am I," Garix said. "But I'm still doing my bit."

"Well get on with it then, allow us to do what we need to do," lofty responded.

"Where has that Groske got to?" a gruff voice shouted from somewhere behind the porters. Garix raised his eyebrows as the porters both winced. Another shouted that they should go and find them.

A short blue alien came out from behind a box and sighed. "Sorry about this Mr. Garix," Colsok said, "but the Shadow Proclamation has arrived." He lifted up his pistol and fired a blast of red energy at the stocky humanoid. Just before it hit its target the energy suddenly dissipated into a blue force field that suddenly appeared, once the energy was absorbed the force field became invisible again; Colsok knew better than to fire any more shots.

The porters shared looks of confusion as several Judoon piled into the corridor. They saw Garix standing at the other end of the corridor from them and immediately cocked their weapons. "Sentence: execution!" the leader shouted.

"No don't bother," Colsok sighed. "He has a force field rigged up in front of him."

The leader looked at him in confusion. "Force field? There are no force fields are there?"

"Apparently the Plasmavore forgot to mention them," Colsok said through gritted teeth.

"No no no, I am the architect," Garix sneered. "I am not about to reveal all the base's secrets now am I?" He pressed a few more buttons on his wrist. "And I am sorry Judoon but I promised my clients that this base would be impregnable, and I do not intend to disappoint them while I am alive."

Several panels in the walls slide aside and the laser cannons that only normally retracted when the sensors picked up someone teleporting in retracted. The Judoon turned and fired their blasters at the closest turret, destroying it, but the others had also retracted by this time and they immediately began to fire upon the Judoon. Three were hit and killed before the others could sufficiently dive for cover. As chaos, destruction and confusion littered the Judoon ranks Colsok peered out from behind the box that he was hiding behind at the smirking architect.

He had seen those sorts of force fields before, perfect for absorbing any sort of energy projection that was hurled at it, yet less good for stopping any physical objects. You still wouldn't want to try and walk through it, unless you wanted your skin burnt off, but certain metals would be able to get through without any problem; conveniently Colsok's snare cable was made of such material. He pointed the snare at Garix and fired. The cable caused the force field to glow but otherwise went through without any trouble and latched onto Garix's chest, he only had enough time to look down at it in surprise before disappearing in a blue glow.

Colsok turned and pointed his snare gun at a point in the corridor and fired once more. There was a blue glow as Garix reappeared in the spot that Colsok was pointing to. Before he could react the laser cannon behind him continued firing at its selected Judoon target and unknowingly fired its lasers straight through the very man that had ordered it to attack. He grunted in shock and pain before slowly collapsing, Colsok immediately leaped over to him and attacked the control pad on his wrist with his blue stubby fingers. After a few attempts the laser cannons eventually ceased firing and stowed themselves away.

"That was very devious of you," one of the Judoon said as he stood up. "Are you sure you are not a Graske?"

Colsok turned to the speaker and started to shake. After a second he stopped and seemed to deflate. "I don't know," he said with brutal honesty.

"What?" lofty questioned, sitting up and holding his hand over his pale colleague's bleeding shoulder. "Surely you know your own species."

"My father was Graske," the Groske said miserably. "What does that make me? I am blue like mother but no Groske would have been able to do that." He slowly sat down and stared at his hands.

"We need to move out!" the Judoon leader said obliviously. He gave the order and the Judoon moved out leaving the porters and Colsok sitting there alone.

Shorty moaned in pain as lofty began to wrap a strip of cloth, that he had ripped off his shirt, around his wounded shoulder. "I told you to go left," lofty tutted.

"Well why did you go right then?" shorty exclaimed through gritted teeth.

"I thought it would be better for us to split up," lofty justified, "make it more difficult for the turrets to get us."

"We're handcuffed together you idiot!" shorty shouted. "How else did you think it would turn out?"

They continued to bicker in this manner. Colsok envied them, at least they had each other. What hope was there in the world for a creature that looked like a Groske but acted like a Graske.

Kabrok slowed when he heard it. "We are approaching the lines of battle," he observed.

"Yes I hear it too," the Doctor agreed. "Well we were bound to run into them at some point. They might be able to give us a clue."

They sprinted on towards the noise of the battle and eventually found themselves at an intersection that was being fought over vehemently by both sides. On one side was the Shadow Proclamation's army: squads of Judoon, Ogrons and a mismatch of Albinos and Anurans mixed in amongst them. They fought like an organised unit, ducking and firing in waves; not allowing the assassins the chance to pick them off one at a time.

Sundew by comparison were a rabble, completely ill-disciplined and with no continuity between each fighter. Each assassin had a different weapons, and when two were the same they had completely different styles. Individually they were clearly superior to the Shadows, but in this situation they could not match their discipline.

But their improvisation was to be applauded. Several that held energy shields were knelt down at front, acting as a makeshift barricade for the ones with ranged weaponry to take cover behind. In this way they had forced the Shadows into a stalemate.

"Which way now?" Kabrok asked.

"It must be close," the Doctor said. "I have this feeling in my bones, and my bones a rarely wrong. In fact," he grinned and started to sing, "these bones are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do, one of these days these bones..." He trailed off. "No that's not right, it should be boots not bones what am I thinking?"

"Do you know which way we need to go?" Kabrok asked, bringing him back to reality.

"Not sure," the Doctor shrugged. "Let's ask them." And with that, before Kabrok had realised what he was doing, he had walked out right into the middle of ensuing fire fight.

He strolled across casually as if nothing unusual was happening and stood in the middle of the intersection. "Excuse me," he said politely, "but could you tell me which way it is to Master Quanchi's quarters, please?"

One of the assassins stopped firing his rifle. "Straight down that corridor, first door on the right," he said helpfully, pointing as he said it.

"Thank you very much," he turned and proceeded towards the indicated corridor. He paused briefly to beckon Kabrok to follow him, thus avoiding several blasts of energy that flew through the area he was about to walk into. Kabrok cautiously stuck his head out only to pull it back as several energy blasts ricocheted off the wall.

The Doctor reached the other side and was very surprised when he realised that Kabrok was still on the other side. "Go on without me," the Judoon said valiantly.

"Why what's wrong?" The Doctor queried.

Kabrok gestured to the fire fight in between them, the Doctor blinked as if he were seeing it for the first time. "Just go on without me," Kabrok repeated.

The Doctor was about to reply but stopped himself when he caught a different sort of movement out of the corner of his eye. He peered down the Sundew end of the battle and spied several panels opening up in the walls to reveal several laser cannons. The assassins stopped what they were doing and stared at them in confusion, and then all hell broke loose.

"That's lucky," the Doctor commented with raised eyebrows.

Even the Shadows seemed surprised by Sundew's defence system turning against them and stopped firing. Kabrok took the opportunity to sprint across. "What happened there?"

"No idea," the Doctor replied, "let's go."

They continued down the corridor and took the first door on the right as instructed. The room was very basic, but that was probably because it was only an antechamber before the main room. Caprinite pulled himself up to his full height and stomped across the front of the door to the main chamber barring the way.

"Master Quanchi?" the Doctor questioned.

"You wish," Caprinite boomed.

"Oh well that's a relief," the Doctor sighed. "Unless you are going to try to kill us because in my many encounters with your species I have yet to discover an easily exploitable weakness for this sort of situation."

"You have met the Arekorns before?" Caprinite queried.

"Of course, there are few evil alien species that I haven't."

"You are the Doctor then," Caprinite correctly guessed. "Please enter, the Master is expecting you."

"Oh, thank you very much..."

"But your friend stays here," the Arekorn snarled.

Kabrok quickly unholstered his pistol but it was knocked out of his hand by a surprising turn of speed from the stone Arekorn. Caprinite then followed through by slogging the Judoon in the chest; it was quite a strange sight to see a Judoon being sent flying backwards like that. Kabrok pulled himself to his feet and cracked his knuckles with a snarl.

"I'll deal with him, Doctor," he said.

The Doctor paused halfway through the door to look back at the Judoon Colonel. "It was nice knowing you Kabrok," he said casually before disappearing into Master Quanchi's quarters at last.

The room was once again surprisingly plain, almost as if the owner did not require any creature comforts at all. Stood in front of a great window, admiring the ensuing space battle, was a figure wearing a black hooded cloak. Thinking that he hadn't noticed him, the Doctor strolled directly towards the computer at the back of the room.

"Doctor, I have been expecting you."

The Doctor paused and turned to the figure. "Always a pleasure to meet a homicidal maniac," he said pleasantly. "Though as they go you are rather disappointing really. You should be sitting on a swivel chair and spinning round to reveal that you are stroking a white cat, whilst twirling a ridiculously long, thin, black moustache and with an eye patch over one eye. You haven't really got the hang of this villain lark really, though I do like that whole talking to me while continuing to stare out of the window, that's quite cool."

"I have waited such a long time for this," Quanchi said with glee.

"Yes well done, classic line that one too," the Doctor complimented. "Now just reveal that you are my father as well and then you'll pass."

"You mean you do not recognise me? After all the battles we have fought, the species we have encountered together."

The Doctor frowned. "Can't say that I recognise you, though the cloak probably doesn't help."

"A lot has changed since our last encounter, only my hatred of you has allowed me to continue when I should have died," Quanchi explained eloquently. "Just like before."

"What are you saying?" the Doctor questioned. "Who are you? And don't say Master Quanchi, who are you really?"

And finally Master Quanchi turned round to face the Doctor. "I am the greatest friend who transformed into the ultimate foe, the drummer boy hell bent on universal domination. Even the last Great Time War could not end our long running feud. I am," and at this point he paused for dramatic effect, "the Master!"

Author's note: DUN DUN DUUUN!