oOo
"Well, well, who have we here?"
Noni looked up, startled, then smiled at the sight of the Doctor leaning against the low wall that meandered through the garden. "Doctor! Welcome back. I thought you were still on the TARDIS?"
The Doctor moved forward to peer down at the baby, a reminiscent smile on his face. She was beautiful, exactly as he remembered her, dark hair curling softly, large brown eyes studying him as intently as he studied her. How could he possibly have forgotten how beautiful she was, how tiny and fragile looking?
When Noni's words penetrated, he frowned abstractedly without looking up, still pondering the fact that he did, indeed, remember seeing Susan as an infant, looking exactly like this. It seemed the gaps in his memory were closing, and he wasn't sure why. "No, I came straight here." He scrubbed a hand across his face, and Noni realized he looked tired. Thinner, too. "I ran into yet another dead end in my research, and rather than subject myself to immediate disappointment, I decided to take a breather and return to see how Ace and Susan were doing."
"Ace calls her Patience," Noni corrected absently, her forehead wrinkled in confusion that had nothing to do with the baby's name. "But the note said you had good news?"
The Doctor froze, then very gently took his hand away from the blanket he'd been about to tuck more firmly around his granddaughter. He straightened, then turned to face Noni, giving her his undivided attention. "Note? What note?"
"Kyris had a note, he said it was from you," she began uncertainly, then stopped as the Doctor stiffened, his face hardening into a cold mask.
"Where did it tell him to go?" His voice remained mild, belying the harshness of his aspect, and Noni realized he was keeping his voice under control for her sake. Or, more likely, so he wouldn't frighten the baby.
"He and Ace, they went to where you left your TARDIS the last time you were here," she replied, her face pale, eyes widened in alarm. "Doctor, what's going on?"
"Get the baby into the house," he replied tersely as he moved away from her at a rapid pace. His last words were thrown over his shoulder as he continued, almost running toward the road. "Contact your parents, tell them to meet me at the Contemplation Colonnade. Then alert the city guard, warn them that there's an intruder. Hurry!" He vanished around a corner, and Noni hastened to obey.
oOo
The Doctor entered the colonnade cautiously. It wasn't large, at least by Gallifreyan standards, but still large enough to hide, oh, the proverbial small army. As its name indicated, it was a place of meditation, with comfortable benches tucked away here and there among the multi-hued columns, but located on the outskirts of the city and therefore less frequented than other such spots. Which was why he'd chosen it as a materialization site in the first place.
It stood empty today, as far as the Doctor could tell. Empty of life and empty of anything resembling a TARDIS. Of course, the Master's chameleon circuit worked perfectly, so it could be disguised as one of the columns.. No, this was a trap, he already knew it. It was just a matter of finding a way to spring it to his own advantage.
He'd got that far in his reasoning when a voice--unpleasant, but not unexpected--rang out. "Hallo, Doctor, surprised to see me?"
The Doctor's face hardened as the Master stepped into view from behind a nearby column. A black one. "Never surprised. Always displeased. What have you done with Ace and Kyris?"
The Master made a brushing motion with one hand. "What, no demands to know how I managed to arrive on Gallifrey undetected?" He made a "tching" noise and shook his head in mock sorrow. "You're sadly off your game, old friend."
"I am not your friend," the Doctor ground out. "Answer the question."
"Not to worry, Doctor, they're quite safe. I have them tucked away on my TARDIS."
The Doctor glanced around pointedly. "Which is where?"
"Which is no longer on Gallifrey." The Master smirked. "I've developed a new remote recall system." He tapped the side of his head. "Telepathic control from outside the TARDIS. It will revolutionize the Gallifreyan way of life. For a price, of course."
"You mean besides the price someone else already paid when you stole this ability or technology from them?" The Doctor's voice was rigid with anger.
"As you will." The Master inclined his head. Before he could continue, however, there came the muffled wail of an infant from somewhere off to the side, hidden from view but sounding close.
The Doctor barely breathed as he stared at his enemy. Who stared right back, unblinking, a smile hovering about his lips. "He knows you're there, no need to keep the brat quiet." The Master gestured the Doctor forward. "Would you care to view my latest acquisitions?"
Unwillingly, the Doctor moved forward as the Master backed up, keeping the distance between them constant. He nodded encouragingly, and the Doctor turned his head, just enough to see exactly the sight he'd feared from the instant that tiny noise caught his attention.
The pram stood next to a bench, to which Noni was chained by one wrist. A bruise darkened one cheek, blood dripped from a gash on her forehead, and she held a squirming Susan in her arms.
"I'm sorry, Doctor, he was already in the house." Noni's voice was steady, but the Doctor could see her lips trembling. "He forced me to bring Patience." Fortunately the other children had still been at school, even Mia. Only she had fallen for an obvious trap. Her mother was bound to be disappointed.
"Why didn't you take the baby when you took her parents?" It was an obvious question, one that had been troubling the Doctor since he'd seen his granddaughter at the house. Why not take all three and vanish?
The Master surprised him by answering. "When a man has lost everything, he is more desperate than when he is left with even the smallest shred of hope. I left you that shred as a distraction."
"And you'd already sent your TARDIS away," the Doctor guessed shrewdly.
"As you will." The Master shrugged. "Shall we continue with the next stage of our negotiations? The threats, the promises?" His voice carried a deeper mockery than usual.
"Right, time to barter for their lives," the Doctor's voice was strained. He moved toward the Master, flexing his hands. "So tell me. What would you like in trade?"
The Master brought his hidden hand forward; the Doctor had been so distracted that he hadn't even noticed the way the Master stood, one hand casually behind his back. A classic pose for someone hiding a gun. As, of course, his enemy was. A pistol-sized weapon, suitably dark and nasty looking. Just like its owner.
"A trade, Doctor?" The Master's smile had bloomed into laughter. "For what? I hold all the cards this time. Make no mistake, you have nothing I want in exchange for their lives." A chill went over the Doctor as the Master paused consideringly. "I take that back. I might consider trading for Romana's disk, if it hasn't actually been destroyed? No?" The Doctor shook his head. "A pity. What else have you to offer, your pathetic self?" He laughed, an ugly, gloating sound. "I intend to leave you with nothing, Doctor, not even your life."
"How very...unoriginal," was the Doctor's only comment as Noni struggled furiously with her bonds, subsiding only when Susan began to fuss in protest of her rough handling.
The Master's lips thinned at the dismissive tone in the other Time Lord's voice. "But what shall I do with my prisoners after you are gone?" he mused. He looked directly at Noni, who froze under that baleful stare but met his eyes defiantly. "Perhaps I'll raise Patience as my own, eh?" Noni flushed with a combination of rage and humiliation as he ran a clinical eye over her body. "Or perhaps I'll simply raise your child to be a servant to my own. Perhaps seeing your domestic circumstances has awoken a longing for family in my own breast." His tone was mocking. "She's young enough to give me as many heirs as I might want, don't you think? And lovely enough to make it a pleasure rather than a chore to break her to my bed."
"Or I will kill you."
The Master only had time to half-turn, the gun poised and ready to fire, before Leela stepped out from behind a blue column several meters away. But close enough to hear; more than close enough to hear his last few threats. She reacted without thinking, without planning, as impulsively as she'd ever acted in her youth; before the words were fully out of her mouth, the knife was in her hand. Before the Master could do anything, the knife was gone, flying through the air. Landing exactly where she'd aimed even as the Doctor and Noni shouted for her to stop, to wait.
The Doctor's face whitened as the knife flew out of her hand, spinning end over end until it reached its target. With a loud "THOCK" the blade embedded itself in the Master's forehead. He pitched to the marble floor without a sound. Dead.
Leela ran to her sobbing daughter as the Doctor sagged against the column, his face a mask of horror. After freeing Noni and checking the baby quickly for signs of damage (and finding none), Leela looked back at her former traveling companion. "He threatened my daughter and your granddaughter, he would have killed us; do not tell me you grieve for him!" Her voice was hard, unforgiving, but her hands were gentle as they traced the injuries to Noni's face and head.
The Doctor raised his eyes from the Master's lifeless form to meet Leela's stony gaze. "He was the only one who knew where Ace and Kyris are," he whispered. Leela's eyes widened in horror as the baby, as if sensing their despair, began to cry.