Interlude
Not for the first time in his long and complex life, the Master found himself in something of a quandary.
He'd had a plan. It had been a fine plan, a plan with infinite possibilities, a plan that had hit the Doctor where it hurt most.
A plan that included killing Ace. But the original plan (wonderful, intricate, and satisfying though it had been) took into account neither Kyris' tempting abilities nor Ace's pregnancy. Pregnant with the Doctor's grand-daughter, no less. There were almost too many possibilities for revenge available to him: kill them all and know that the Doctor would suffer the most over their deaths. Kill only the parents after the baby's birth, keep the child and raise her as the Doctor's enemy. Use Ace and the baby as leverage to force Kyris to use his abilities as he'd originally bargained, a bargain he no doubt considered null and void by the mere fact of Ace's capture. Use the two (three!) of them to force the Doctor to surrender himself, then kill them all anyway. Or just kill the Doctor. Lovely, endless permutations...
The Master felt positively giddy at the embarrassment of riches Fate had handed him. Nothing he'd dreamed up in the past had come close. Not even when he'd conceived his original plan of killing one companion for each regeneration, nor when he'd stumbled across the Gallifreyan miniaturization genius (regrettably deceased, of course) who'd unwittingly revealed the existence of Romana's little gadget to one of her greatest enemies.
The Master frowned. He'd wanted that cursed toy, that and the power it represented. With it in his possession, revenge against the Doctor would be unnecessary. But still worth having, of course; his days of believing a Universe without the Doctor unthinkable were long past him. But the power of the Matrix at his disposal...now that was a goal well worth pursuing Romana into E-Space for, putting his own plans on hold until he possessed it.
A pity it was destroyed. With power once again slipping through his grasp, he would happily return to vengeance against the one man who stood, time and again, firmly in his way. Tripping him up. Spoiling things.
The Doctor.
He paused in his pacing, nodding as he reached at least an initial decision. He'd leave Kyris and Ace alive, for now. No doubt the Doctor would find them again, sooner or later. When he did, the Master knew he'd have to have a more concrete idea as to how he wanted to use his fortuitous hostages against his old school-mate. He wasn't worried; something would come to him. It always did.
For now, he was content to leave them locked separately in their rooms, forbidden even the comfort of each other's presence. Let Kyris stew over the existence of his newly discovered unborn child; let Ace fret over her lover's continued absence. And above all, let the Doctor worry himself into a state over how he'd managed to lose two more hostages to his greatest adversary.
When they met again, the Master knew, it would be for the last time.
And he had no intention of being the loser.