Following after Missy, both the Rani and the Doctor winced in sympathy when they heard a surprised shriek and then a muffled groan of pain from ahead of them.
At the Doctor's concerned look, the Rani shook her head quickly, "She'll live. Most of the traps past this point are designed to be dangerous only if something has happened to me, to protect my research. The others can be painful, but none are fatal."
Taking her words on faith for now, he nodded in acknowledgement before continuing on in silence, although the Rani could feel the glances he kept directing at her when he thought she wasn't looking.
Eventually she sighed and drew them to a halt, even as they heard another crash from ahead that indicated Missy had managed to trigger another of her defences, "What is it Doctor? I imagined many reactions if we were ever to meet again. Confusion wasn't one of them."
"You just seem different somehow." He told her softly. "The years seemed to have mellowed you."
Smirking, the Rani shook her head, "Keep believing that if you wish. But I warn you Theta, should you try and interfere with any of my work you will see just how wrong that statement is."
Resuming their walk, the passage they were in soon opened out into a large cavern that had been kitted out with state of the art lab equipment, thousands of years beyond what Earth had.
They found Missy on the floor in the middle of the lab, looking dazed as she stared up at the ceiling but otherwise unharmed.
Sighing, the Rani knelt at her side and snapped her fingers to draw Missy's attention, "You ok Koschei? Maybe this will teach you to think first in the future."
Eyes clearing, Missy cackled, allowing the Rani to pull her to her feet, "Unlikely. I'm insane now dear, hadn't you heard?"
"You've always been insane." The Rani rolled her eyes.
Shaking her head, Missy leaned in, a grin pulling at her lips, "Yes, but now I think I could be good. I have been infected with morality, and I'm concerned that it might be starting to take." Her face twisted in disgust, "You know he made me apologize to a human for trying to make her into a pancake? And the worst part is that, I think if I did it again I might mean it a little bit."
The Rani's eyes snapped to the Doctor's, expecting him to laugh and reveal the joke they were playing, but instead he had eyes only for Missy, and they were burning with a fierce sense of pride at what she'd said.
"What is happening?" The Rani muttered under her breath as she stalked away to her workbench, hurriedly clearing away anything that was immediately dangerous in case any of her guests decided to touch what wasn't theirs. Namely, Missy.
Taking a deep breath, she turned around and fixed them with a stern look of warning, "What is it that you're expecting to happen now you're here?" She demanded, directing her words more to the Doctor than Missy, "I don't know how you managed to pull her back from the cliff edge that she lived her life dancing along, but you can't do the same to me. I don't want to change who I am, I have stopped killing for the most part, because it draws attention, but if I felt it would benefit me I would in an instant. That puts us on opposite sides of whatever this game you're playing is."
Sighing, the Doctor exchanged a look with Missy before shaking his shoulders, "Honestly, the only reason we came, was to see for ourselves if you were still alive. I don't think you're evil Ushas, you never were, you just didn't let something as mundane as morality hinder you when it came to your science. And while I disagreed with your methods, your brilliance was never in doubt."
It was Missy who answered when he stopped talking, as she shook her head in disappointment, "So many words, and you completely failed to answer the question. And to think, Ushas, that you thought it was me who loved the sound of my own voice!"
Grinning, Missy locked eyes with the other Time Lady, who was hurriedly wiping away the small smile that had played across her face before she could stop it. "If you're not hurting anyone with your experiments and research, then I'm sure he'll cope. I expect that we'll catch up with each other and then we will leave you in peace to continue your work. But we'll stay in contact, we're the only three Deca left, that means something, if not to either of you, then to me."
It was the first time that the Rani had ever looked into the Master's eyes since leaving Gallifrey, and seen not only a total lack of insanity, but also, a hint of warmth and affection hiding just beneath the surface.
Frowning, the Rani just stared, struggling to reconcile this version of her former classmates with all the ones that had come before. "Was there a problem during your last regeneration? Was your mind scrambled up even worse than usual?"
The Rani's surprise only deepened when instead of a flippant remark, Missy recoiled with a look on her face that could only read as hurt, leaning closer in to the comforting presence of the Doctor.
"Do you really think so little of me Ushas?" Missy asked softly, "Was I really so bad?" The second question was directed up at the Doctor. Although she needn't have bothered, his mind protectively tangled up with hers.
Shaking his head with a gentle smile, he sighed, "You're forgetting again that other people can't feel what we do. Even at your worst, I could still always feel the affection you held for me, no matter how twisted up that became and how cruel your actions were."
Shrinking backwards, Missy's eyes were downturned as she retreated towards the entrance they had came in through, bumping into Nardole as she went.
Reacting instinctively, she shoved him away in fright, having not expected to feel someone at her back whilst she was distracted.
Recognizing the jittery motions of her hands and the way she had started bouncing on the balls of her feet, the Doctor took a careful step closer, exchanging a look with Nardole who nodded that he was fine.
"Missy, look at me." He coaxed her, as he saw her eyes flicking to everywhere and anywhere except at him.
"How bad do I have to be that even another psychopath is stunned by me showing the slightest bit of sentimentality?" Missy sang out suddenly, the words not matching any discernible tune, but then they never did once she started becoming distressed.
Chancing another step closer, the Doctor shook his head, "How bad did you have to have been." He corrected firmly. "Past tense."
He opened his mouth to speak again, but when he did he felt a jarring pain echo through his skull as the shields between them snapped up, throwing him clear of her mind.
Although he didn't need their link to see the madness that had begun dancing in her eyes, latching on to her doubt and self-loathing.
"Theta?" Came a wary question from behind him, but he waved the other Gallifreyan back.
"It's ok Ushas." He told her quickly, before focusing on his best friend, "Missy don't shut me out, we've talked about this. You know how you're acting right now isn't your normal behaviour. You're hurting, but none of that's you anymore. You're my best friend and I need you to be ok. Let me in Koschei."
Jaw tightening, Missy took in a sharp breath before jerking closer towards him and forcing herself to drop her shields again.
The Doctor was at her side instantly, tangling his hands in her hair as he leaned their foreheads together. Extending the tendrils of his own consciousness to run across hers, attempting to smooth over some of the many jagged edges.
Her shoulders shook as she struggled to push down the squirming ball of anxiety and confusion swirling in her stomach. "Why does this keep happening?" Missy snapped in frustrated as she focused on the positive memories that the Doctor was leading her through.
"Because you've been through a lot of bad things, and they've made it difficult for you to control your actions when a strong unexpected emotion hits you without warning." The Doctor explained gently. "Although in this case, I think I need to apologize, the night we spoke of Gallifrey was a bad night for you. I should have foreseen a similar reaction to seeing Ushas again."
Putting aside her confusion the Rani stepped closer, making sure she was caught in Missy's eyeline, before gently laying a hand on her shoulder, "I am also sorry, for reacting so harshly, of course the two of you matter to me. You are my oldest friends and no matter how much we all fought, I have never forgotten our childhood on Gallifrey together."
The insanity receding for the time being, Missy cracked a smile and turned from the Doctor, gathering up the Rani in her arms and squeezing tightly, uncaring when the Rani made no move to reciprocate the hug.
Shaking his head quickly, the Doctor warned her not to mention the sudden swing back to a good mood.
"We need to go out." Missy told them firmly, "Let's go conq- I mean save a planet." She corrected quickly when she saw the narrowing of the Doctor's eyes. "Or just have some fun, want to have a party Doctor?" She purred mischievously, releasing her grip on the Rani to quirk an eyebrow at him challengingly.
"You and parties are trouble." He sighed, "They always end in a fight and me having to physically carry you away from them."
The Rani chuckled behind them, "I think we should, it reminds me of home. How long did our tutors have us grounded after our fifteenth-year party? Jelpax had to drag Vansell down from the roof twice, and you and I Koschei? Well, wasn't that the night we accidentally released my giant mice?"
Eyes sparking in recognition, Missy nodded, "It was! And Millennia and Rallon tried to help us catch them while Thete distracted our tutors. "
"Which didn't work because you came screaming around the corner to run, and then collapsed against the wall and fell asleep Kos." The Doctor rolled his eyes, "I nearly had them believing me. And because of you we didn't get to go any field trips until the next year."
"Please Thete?" Missy asked him sweetly. "It will be fun."
Amused by the hopeful look on their faces, the Doctor caved, reluctantly nodding, "Fine, but we'll go out on Earth, and no weapons and no Gallifreyan alcohol until we get back to the Tardis and she can lock us all in to a room where we can't break anything too important."
"Fine dad," The Rani quipped playfully, swept up into the nostalgic feeling caused by the three of them being together again. We promise to do it your way."
As the Doctor turned to talk to Nardole, who was growing redder as he struggled to hold in his protests, Missy and the Rani caught each other's eyes and smirked knowingly.