Sitting before them with a look on his face, Hamon revealed the truth, that the Master once was his former student at the Academy during his headmaster years.
Catching on that Hamon never referred him by name, led Lila into asking him what the Master did warranting his exile, but the old Time Lord corrected her, that he wasn't exiled.
The Council wanted to execute him, for the untold horrors he done under their noses, and when he escaped, they had no clue where he'd gone.
Multiple attempts at locating at him failed, Hamon attempted to hunt the Master himself, but the Council forbid him, proclaiming that due to his history as the former headmaster, they didn't think he'd be capable of doing it.
Eventually, they tasked the one person to find the Master on their behalf, after hours of deliberations.
"Medikus," Lila summed.
Slowly nodding, Hamon revealed that the two were classmates during the Time War, having both lost their respected parents, it was natural they became friends.
"And Rommy?" Lila brought up.
Nodding, Hamon says that he helped raise her when the Prime led the charge against the Daleks and Raan was helping with the wounded, so she wouldn't be alone, hence why she was close friends with Medikus and in extension the Master.
Theodore, having spent much of the time in silence stewing in his anger, spoke up, asking about Rommy's death as he clutched Lila close to him.
A frown came to Hamon's face as he explained that he always knew, deep inside, that the Master killed her.
There was a cold air about the Master, it became apparent as he grew older, his lavender eyes always having the appearance of something dark inside them, no matter how bright the lights shined into them, only because of his bloodlines the Prime ordered their arranged marriage.
When she died, Hamon tried finding proof that it wasn't an accident like so many claimed, but the Master was swift cleaning up after himself, using his position as Magister to cast doubt on the Time Lord's accusations.
Only when did the fire start in the Master's lab, did they realize the uncomfortable truth of what's hidden among Gallifrey's domes.
Hamon couldn't tell them everything, a lot of was censored the moment the Council gotten their hands on it.
"Does the Prime know?" Lila felt Theodore's gentle hand wrap around her waist, keeping her close to him, as Hamon admitted that he doesn't think the Council wanted to believe the Master capable of such horrible crime.
When the Vanguards raided the burning lab, the Council couldn't deny what the Master could do.
However, they passed a motion suppressing this, believing that it'll cause discourse in the Prime.
As, it was his doing that put Rommy with the Master in the arranged marriage, the sense of guilt risked his unbridled neutrality.
"He has the right to know! So does Raan!" Lila questioned the Council's decision, that it was wrong that Rommy's parents weren't told the truth, and while Hamon agreed with her, he didn't have much in the way going behind the Council's back to thumb their noses.
Hamon believed Raan suspected something wrong, but like him, she didn't have the necessary clout to force the issue, even despite her marriage to the Prime, it didn't matter.
"So, when the Council communicated with Medikus?" Lila broached and Hamon sighed as he tells her that it'd been years at that point, but a scout sent word to the Council of the Master's reappearance.
When the order came to Medikus, he'd already found out what his sworn brother turned into, when the contemptuous Time Lord attempted to do the same thing to Sarah as he did to Lila.
Like Hamon, Medikus rescued her from a fate worse than death, and it cemented his intent on searching for his former sworn brother.
"Why?" Lila wanted answers as to what made the Master the way he is, but Hamon couldn't answer her, saying that he wasn't sure if the Master was always this way and hid it from them all, or the stresses of the Time War, losing his parents, broke something in him, it's hard to know.
Medikus searched for the Time Lord throughout his years, exacerbated by the birth of Hammond.
He knew his former sworn brother would come back into their lives with a vengeance, that when he finally found the Master, he made sure that he could never hurt anyone, again.
And that is why he gave up the title he took upon himself.
The subtle nod from Hamon as Lila silently put it together in her mind cemented what Medikus did to ensure that the universes weren't threatened by the Master anymore and what inevitably led him into giving up everything to live a quiet life as a construction worker.
Hamon took an oath of silence after Medikus told him what happened, swearing never to reveal it to the Smith children.
The machine was programmed by Medikus just before he allowed it to leave, to refuse acknowledgement about the Master, cementing his legacy.
The Council were made aware of the Master's demise hours after the fact, but they didn't get the word from Medikus like they expected, Hamon personally gave it tot hem, as the events took everything out of Medikus.
There's a lull as Lila took everything in, Theodore dutifully beside her, stroking her as he held his contempt in silence, before Lila's able to ask Hamon about the women she encountered while her mind's trapped in the labyrinth of darkness.
"They… talked to me… but," Lila described how she talked to the seemingly dead women and when she trailed at the end, Hamon finished her sentence, "… They started forgetting everything and you."
During her mind's capture, she'd been audibly talking to unseen people periodically, that it was enough for the two men to pick up on what she was experiencing while Hamon worked to free her.
Sighing, Hamon tells Lila that the Master was known for his studious nature, his attentiveness, that when the Vanguards raided his lab, they found forbidden books, scrolls, knowledge that he'd used, that it's likely that he used them to "steal" parts of his victims minds, to keep forever.
To torture.
To do God only knows what.
Something he only reserved for victims that he "liked."
Looking at him as she rubbed her chestnut eyes, Lila asks, "And Bill… why?"
Frowning, Hamon tells her it's just as as the Master told her, she was means to an end for him, and likely rid her mind from the labyrinth right after Hamon rescued her.
It should've sent Lila into a crying fit, that the Master killed her best friend, but her eyes remained dry, something that bothered her, until Hamon told her that it's common.
She cried in the labyrinth, to her body, it's as though she did it externally, so in a way, she already broke down crying over her friend's death.
"Even if you've told her the truth, child, I don't think it would've done good. He would've killed her, one way or another," Hamon plainly tells Lila that he knew from his trespass that Lila had been reeling at her inability telling Bill the truth, but it wouldn't mattered in the end.
It was then Theodore pointedly asked his beloved uncle why he never said anything before until after the fact, had he did, maybe Bill would've survived, she would've never had to die, but Hamon bluntly told his nephew it wasn't as cut as dry as he liked to think it was.
"Your father killed him with his own two hands, nephew, and in his death, the Master lived on, as he'd planned," Hamon summed why.
Even though Medikus brutally slayed the Master, the Master used the intimate knowledge stolen from the Archives to ensure that though his body was destroyed, his mind lived on.
It was then, Theodore was hit with an idea, as he uttered, "Layne."
The Time Lord he and Lila met sometime ago, who'd help him fix the TARDIS, and gave him the schematics needed to fix it in the future.
"Tell me Uncle, where does Layne fall under in this conspiracy?" Theodore pointed towards his uncle as he'd taken a sip of the tea on the coffee table.
As he rested the teacup on the table, Hamon tells him that when the Master lost his parents, Layne took him in, gave him aspirations becoming the Magister for the Council.
Causing Lila to sum, "Layne said he worked for the scrapyard, didn't he?"
Nodding, his wild hair bobbing, Theodore affirmed that Layne told them that he worked for the scrapyard and tasked with the machines.
Releasing his grasp from Lila, Theodore stood up, Hamon asking him what he's thinking.
Pulling on his stitched long coat, Theodore stated, "I'm going to the source."
He's going to Layne and making the Time Lord tell him everything.
Getting up, Lila wanted to come with him, but Theodore gently grasped her hands as he implored her to stay here in the Smith home, she hadn't fully recovered from the attempted murder.
Though she protested, Theodore asserts his decision leaving her with Hamon, though he made it clear that the relationship with his Uncle remained uncertain for the time being, a sharp look in his icy blue eyes as he passed him.
With stolen kisses from Lila and a bear hug, Theodore broke away, heading towards the TARDIS stowed away.
Left with Hamon, Lila watched as the TARDIS disappeared, as she turned her head towards Hamon, asking him, "What happened?"
Clearly, there'd been an argument between the men, and Hamon led her towards the kitchen table, bringing the tea there, as they sat around.
Rightfully, Theodore was angry that Hamon kept everything from him, that he questioned if Hamon was really his uncle, or a general, because of the strategies the old Time Lord used in an attempt at keeping things under wrap.
Unfortunately, things became complicated.
"Why didn't you tell us, sooner?" Lila questioned Hamon's choices as she sat across from the old Time Lord.
Frowning, Hamon says that there's a reason why.
The Master wasn't the atypical villain of the day the pair would deal with and go home.
A chess master at his core, the Time Lord would strategically ensure that he remained superior in every fashion.
Emphasizing his points, fears in his dark eyes, Hamon stated that the Master wasn't someone to take lightly, he was willing to do unethical and illegal means to get what he wanted.
Hamon worried that collision between his nephew and the Master would result in the former's painful demise.
The tone in his voice cemented that this wasn't an ordinary Time Lord, that he will go any lengths necessary for his plans, and that without Hamon's strategies, many more would've died to him.
"How the hell is he doing this?" Lila questioned how a dead man could use only his mind to continue his evil doings and Hamon tells her, the greatest weapon a Time Lord has, was their mind.
Professor X would be mortified at the lengths the Master took to ensure domination.
"What am I supposed to do, now, wait until he kidnaps me, again?" Lila asks Hamon's thoughts on the chance the Master attempted to come after her, again, and the old Time Lord says that the Master wanted to use her to lure out Hamon and Theodore.
He succeeded in luring out Hamon, but make no mistake, he's aware of Theodore, now.
Having gotten what he wanted, it's likely he won't attempt her life again, but that doesn't mean much to the Master.
He's always thinking.
Not comforting Lila, but Hamon told her that for now, she's to recover from the kidnapping.
A tall order, he knows, but the old Time Lord insisted that it's for the best.
Sitting in silence as she's wrapping her mind around the whole thing, Lila heard Hamon say to her that he knew that she and Theodore melded, congratulating them.
"Was that why he went ballistic on you?" Lila asked if the melding caused Theodore to become incensed with Hamon when the Master kidnapped her mind and Hamon confirmed that losing connection with a loved one in that fashion resulted in a panicked state.
But that wasn't the only reason, a catalyst, sure.
"It's still fresh on his mind," Lila summed why Theodore reacted in the way he did.
Not only because of the betrayal by his beloved uncle, but because the fear of losing her was still fresh on his mind, reignited by the Master.
Curious, Hammond asked what she meant, and she explained how Theodore became trapped in some simulation with a hunter who wanted to hunt a dangerous game.
TO BE CONTINUED…
"A Dangerous Game"