Beatrice and the Master landed the TARDIS inside the demonstration room, which appeared to be empty. Beatrice looked around as they stepped out.
"Quiet as the dead," she said softly.
"Hopefully it will stay that way." said the Master as he walked up to the box and began examining it.
"I'm slightly worried about the lack of security," she said glancing towards the door. The Master glanced up.
"The scanners didn't register anybody when we landed. Though I won't deny it is suspicious."
"Perhaps you should have checked more thoroughly," said a snide voice behind them. Both of them whipped around and found themselves faced with Doctor Harold Sommeil and four bodyguards. All with guns pointed at them.
"Hands up please," said Sommeil. They both raised their hands in surrender.
"Search them." The bodyguards stepped forward and removed any weapons the Master and Beatrice had including the Master's laser gun and a short pocket knife belonging to Beatrice. Once they had done so two bodyguards grabbed each of them.
"What do we do?" she asked the Master.
"Cooperate till I think of a plan," came the reply.
"Ah, Master we meet again," said Sommeil.
"I don't remember threatening you," said the Master pleasantly.
"You wouldn't. I doubt you would remember me I was a child when you attacked my planet Albar and assisted the Stenza in causing death and destruction to my planet. I barely escaped. Because of you, I lost the chance to have a childhood or see my parents grow old."
"In my defence, the Stenza did most of the dirty work. I just helped facilitate the chaos," said the Master. This resulted in Sommeil punching him causing his lip to bleed. Beatrice cried out. Sommeil turned his attention to her.
"And who do we have here?" he asked. Beatrice didn't reply and glared at Sommeil.
"I didn't realize the psychopath here began taking on pretty assistants," he took a step forward and reached to stroke her cheek but she managed to kick him in the knee. Sommeil doubled over for a moment but when he straightened he was smirking.
"Back off," Beatrice snapped.
"Fiesty too. You know you really are making a mistake travelling with this man. He'll only get you killed. That's if he doesn't kill you himself." Beatrice could tell that the Master was angry though his face appeared mostly impassive. His eyes burned with anger.
She suspected the only reason he hadn't said anything was to prevent Sommeil from realizing she mattered to him. She tried to think of a way to distract Sommeil from the Master so the Master could come up with a plan.
"So what's the deal with Project Morpheus?" she asked.
"Ah, my pet project. Actually there isn't any evil scheme there. I'm merely a businessman. I just recognized your associate in the crowd earlier today."
"And I suppose now you want to kill us? How typical," said Beatrice sarcastically.
"Eventually. At least for him. You, on the other hand, I'm not sure what to do."
"It really doesn't matter. She's expendable," said the Master who had been tied to a pole with his hands behind him.
"Really? Then why would you bring her with you? See ever since you went and ruined my life I did research into you. You never carry around companions. Certainly not a human one. So there must be something special about her for you to bring her with you." said Sommeil casually. Beatrice internally cursed. It looked like the Master's bluff had been called.
"You know if you were planning on capturing us maybe you should have planned what you were actually going to do," she said.
"Maybe your right. But I've just had a wonderful idea. You were curious about Morpheus. Why don't you try it for yourself?" Sommeil smirked.
"No way!" said Beatrice.
"Or I could shoot the Master right now."
"Why would you want to use Morpheus on me? By your own admission it isn't something to be used for an evil scheme?" asked Beatrice.
"Because I think I can bring you around to my way of thinking when it comes to this bastard," said Sommeil nodding towards the Master.
"Beatrice, don't!" Beatrice looked towards the Master.
"I can't let them kill you."
"Fine," she said staring at Sommeil who smiled and clapped his hands together.
"Excellent!" Beatrice was lead over to the chair and sat down they attached the wires to her temples and she glanced once more over at the Master. Worry was evident in his eyes.
Sommeil pressed a button and everything went white for a moment. Then she was in a hallway of the Master's TARDIS. Beatrice walked to the consul room. The man himself was inside and smiled at her.
"Hello, my dear," he took her hand and drew her closer.
"You're awfully affectionate today," Beatrice said with a smile as he kissed him. They pulled apart slightly though he still held her in his arms. She felt the steady beating of his hearts as she leaned against him and smelt the scent of expensive cigars on him.
"Can't I be happy to see my wife?" Beatrice glanced down at her hand and saw a golden ring inscribed with Gallifreyan symbols. The Master had a matching one on his ring finger.
"Yes I suppose so," she said.
"Have you seen Gemma?" asked the Master.
"I believe our daughter was in the garden room," she said. The pair of them walked down the hallway. Beatrice brushed a lock of her red hair which wasn't quite as vibrant as it had been in her youth, though it had not begun to grey yet.
They entered the garden room where a young girl with red hair and dark brown eyes was sitting on a bench. She looked up and ran towards them.
"Mother! Father!" she ran towards them and Beatrice hugged her daughter.
"Hello, little Gem. What were you reading?"
"A book of Gallifreyan fairytales. I'm on Snow White and the Seven Doomsday Keys." Beatrice glanced at the Master as he smiled down softly at their daughter.
"Would you like to read them with me?" Gemma asked.
"Certainly," said Beatrice as the three of them walked over to a bench with the Master. He pulled Gemma up onto his lap and Beatrice leaned against him as she took the storybook and began to read.
"Once upon a time..."
Beatrice suddenly gasped she opened her eyes and saw she was back in the room with Doctor Sommeil and the others. She couldn't look at the Master.
"See? What did I tell you? It gives you the perfect dream world."
"But what was the point?" she asked.
"I can give you that perfect dream. You can live happily in that reality. Safe and happy. You'll never get what you want in real life. Why not have a dream that's almost reality? You can stay there as long as you want. The machine puts you in stasis so you don't have to worry about food."
The idea of living in that reality was genuinely tempting. She could have a happy ending. The whole thing had felt so real and she didn't remember what happened in the real world when she was under the influence of Project Morpheus. She would never have to deal with heartbreak. It had all been so beautiful and real.
"All you have to do is kill the Master," said Sommeil.
"Why me?" she asked. Her mind felt slightly cloudy.
"Simple, I want to see the look on his face when you betray him. Shot by his own companion. What could be more painful?" Sommeil took his gun and handed it to Beatrice.
"Just kill him. It's a win for everyone, except him. You get your happy ending. I get my revenge, and you do the universe a favour by getting rid of this psychopath. He won't be able to hurt anyone. Including you." Beatrice slowly raised the gun and cocked it.
Author's Note: Well, that's a cliff hanger! I wanted to give Beatrice some real temptation and conflict. The woman at the top is French actress Isabelle Huppert. She is how I imagine Beatrice looking in her later years. Thank you all for reading. Please like and comment. Your comments really let me know that you are enjoying the story and my reader's thoughts are important. I'll update soon. Until next time Whovians!
