In the few weeks of the reveal, things haven't been the same, the knowledge that a madman who escaped death, killed their best friend, tried trapping Lila's mind like he done to the other women in his labyrinth, the betrayal that Hamon knew everything, but never told Theodore a thing stung him.
Now, with the truth out in the open, it was only a matter of planning on dealing with a threat that seemingly only makes an appearance on a whim.
Theodore found out through Hamon that the medical journal he'd taken so many adventures ago had tidbits of the forbidden knowledge, but the writer didn't realize what he was writing when he listened to the Master.
It's difficult to understand the man's thought process, if he chose to teach a human the forbidden knowledge to see what would happen, if he wanted to test theories without doing it himself, regardless Hamon didn't believe he used the teachings himself.
The disavowed professor that had his mind blown, literary, no doubt the Master finished the job, wanting to clean up after himself, and that he experimented on the professor for his own purposes.
The artificial telepathy was a side effect, there'd be no way the Master would let the professor continue having it, even if Theodore neutered his mind in retribution for what he done to his students and Lila, that killing him was the only way of keeping him from telling all what happened.
Why he gave the disavowed professor defunct currency in the first place, Hamon suggested it's a hidden insult by the Master, that he's given someone coins that have no inherent value anymore, that the professor has no value, at all.
Though, only the Master would know for certain.
One thing stood among the questions and it was the strange ticking sound that besieged the circuits of the Cybermen and Daleks, where they finally got their answer, that the Master's machine produced the sound, as a means of counting down when the Master would return.
Hamon confirmed this, despite Theodore's distrust in him, he swore that the machine knew the day would come when the Master would return to it, that the ticking noise was not only a countdown timer, but a beacon.
It was difficult getting everything the Master was implicated and or involved with in a neat order, he'd been working tirelessly on his plans since the day Medikus killed him to the day he took the body of somebody else.
He'd systematically rid anyone who'd remotely had a connection with him, that collaborating was near impossible, and part of his plans of ensuring nobody would connect the dots, until now.
The biggest discovery yet's the realization that a cabal of Cybermen worked with Medikus to guard and hide the Master's machine, in fear of it falling into someone's hand, though with what happened, it proved moot.
Even the Cybermen feared the Master, not surprising, as though Medikus gave them enough headaches to last several upgrades, nothing paled to what the Master's capable of doing.
Regardless, the Cybermen realized a threat greater than their nemesis, that they willingly worked with him to hide the machine of the formerly dead Master.
Knowing the Master, he would never allow the machine to fall into anyone's hands except his, that he must've found out what Medikus done, gone after the Cybermen that attempted to eradicate the knowledge after the fact, and found the data in the decapitated head of the Cyberman after scouring for it.
Where the Master's hiding, that's a different story all-together, knowing him, he wouldn't risk going far as hiding on Earth, that much Hamon knows, but he wouldn't deny that the Master knew how much the planet meant for Medikus and the others.
The scope of the dangers provoked a response from the intrepid Theodore, who used the console in the TARDIS, already Pete wanted revenge against the Master, but Theodore wanted to know who else held similar feelings towards the disavowed Time Lord.
One blip on the radar showed that there was a young Doctor, about as old as Pete was when he first started, who lost his mother to the Master, who also stolen her wedding ring from her body.
Overhearing the chatter in the console room in some distant world, David threw his hat into the plan, proclaiming he wanted to avenge his father, bring his mother peace, and avenge the death of Bill.
Other Doctors corresponded, but neither had any run-ins with the Master, the ones Theodore found, anyway, since Al said there've been deaths, the causes unknown.
However, despite that they weren't directly affected by the Master, the other Doctors wanted to help in the plan destroying the Master once and for all, seeing him as a clear threat, and knew inaction would result in horrifying consequences that will ripple throughout the known universes.
While it's dangerous, they risked dying horribly, it didn't deter the Doctors from working together, attempting to charter a way to destroy the Master.
Their varied life experiences proved useful, that they managed to come up with a dozen ways of getting the Master trapped.
Everything's still early, though Theodore hoped they find a conclusive plan that works, and soon.
Sitting on the plush couch in her flat, Lila studied the photograph of the Master and Rommy during their wedding, wandering how the Prime could've allowed his only daughter to marry someone like the Master.
What she dealt with before the Master gotten her killed, it's nothing short of horrifying, and they'll never truly know what her brief marriage to him was like behind closed doors.
Holding the photograph in her hand, Lila tried to come up with an answer what Layne meant when he told Theodore their answer was in it, couldn't been Rommy, obviously.
Blinking, Lila continued studying the black and white photograph, before she felt Theodore's presence, even before he appeared in her kitchen, with food from the Diner.
Sitting down the photograph on her coffee table, Lila gets up, greeting Theodore as he sat the containers of their orders across from the kitchen island.
"Sorry for the wait — graduation party," Theodore apologized for the delay, the kitchen gotten backed up with orders from a graduation party taking place at the Diner, almost a hundred thousand graduates ordered at the same time, some with restrictions, the usuals.
Shrugging, Lila tells him that it's fine, as she sat across from him while he rummaged through the bag with his free hand as he dug out their utensils, sauce packets, whatever was left inside the bag.
Over dinner, the two talked, Lila telling Theodore that she didn't figure out the riddle of the ages, though Theodore comforted her, reminding her that it wasn't like Layne was clear with his answer.
A look on her face, Lila asks, "He's dead, isn't he?"
Aiding and abetting a known killer and criminal, all that.
Nodding, Theodore tells her it was likely that Layne was executed shortly after he left, when the Vanguards heard their voices.
Fitting end, for an elective enigmatic.
"That'd explain why he gave you the stuff for the TARDIS, he knew his clock was ticking down," Lila noted that they should've realized Layne wasn't helping them out of self-interest the first time they met.
Hearing how he adopted the Master when his father was killed during the Time War, couldn't been easy realizing that the child wasn't turning out the way he'd hoped, though what happened to Rommy, well, it cemented a long of things.
"We'll never know why he killed her, my dear," Theodore tells her as he reached out to touch her hand, a soft look in his icy blue eyes as he squeezed her hand.
It could be any number of reasons why the man killed her, his sociopathic tendencies got the better of him, or she found out something about him that he didn't want anyone else knowing.
A mixture of the two, potentially, but they'll never truly know for sure.
"Herman gets the short-end of the stick and this sick bastard managed to kill the Prime's daughter and squeak out without retribution," Lila decried the Council willingly exiling Herman for the accidental deaths caused when he encased Gallifrey in the domes, but sat on their hands until the Master made it apparent, he wasn't the Magister they thought he was.
However, as Theodore pointed out, once they work out the plan, the Master will get his comeuppance.
"What if it fails, again?" Lila brought up as she stuck her fork into the steaming garlic Parmesan fries, the parsley and shredded Parmesan cascading down as she lifted the forked fries from the pile.
The Master's capable of surviving being killed, smarter than Einstein, who knows what he's capable of doing, especially when he knows everyone wants a piece of him, rightfully so, and Theodore tells her that they'll find a way to stop him, again.
Stubborn's the Doctor way, persistence, and perseverance, doubly so, they'll keep at it if they must until the Master finally ceases existence.
"And his machine?" Lila says mid-chew as she reached for her drink.
She heard Theodore, "Layne gave me the schematics, there's bound to be someway of destroying it."
Of course, destroying the machine wouldn't be easy, that much Theodore's aware, in fact the impact of the explosion risks annihilating life as they know it, should the Master tamper the machine.
Theodore then insists they not talk more about their situation, encouraging Lila to eat, before the food goes cold, and she does, at the end of their dinner, cleaning the kitchen island, the two relocated to the couch.
Her head against his chest, hearing his two heartbeats, Lila's chestnut eyes glistened in the light from the Tv as they watched a show of theirs, hailing from Japan, there's an obstacle course done up to look like an outing, made of cardboard, and contestants riding on bikes through the narrow paths, attempting to reach the very end.
One arm resting on Lila's side, another under his head, Theodore watched the Telly with her, deep in his thoughts.
The Master didn't survive this long just to be outwitted by a group of madmen in a blue box, he'd have contingency plans for everything under the sun, and then some.
Elsewhere on his mind, Theodore thought about the events leading up the Master's murder, how it broke something in his father, affected him so badly, he gave up being the Doctor because of it.
While it was for the good of humanity at the time, it was the mere fact this was his former friend, someone he considered a brother, and this is what he became in life, always been this way and hid it from them all, how his father kept this from Theodore and his siblings, no wonder his father became the way he was until his death.
Beginning to stroke Lila, Theodore slowly closed his eyes, until he began softly snoring, instinctively he pulled Lila closer to him, while she remained awake, watching the Telly.
Seeing the umpteenth contender fail at the challenge, Lila noticed the gleam from the light coming off the television screen hitting the photograph she left on the coffee table.
Slowly, with her free hand, mindful of her movements, hearing the soft snoring coming from Theodore, Lila reached out to grab the photograph.
Bringing it close to her, Lila looked at it closely, again, seeing the Master and Rommy together, her chestnut eyes focused on the photograph, Lila noticed something unusual.
It might've been the lighting in her living room, but Lila swore seeing a third figure in the photograph that wasn't there before when she looked at the photograph earlier.
Standing in the background, far from the camera, it looked like someone peering out, looking at the couple from behind.
Almost out of focused, Lila couldn't see clearly, but there, she saw what looked like a man peeking from the corner of the elegant curtains.
The flash of the camera illuminated his eyes.
When the scene changed on the show, the lighting briefly changed, once it came around again, Lila noticed the man gone from the photograph.
He was there, she saw him with her own two eyes, but as she looked over the photograph, he wasn't there.
Blinking, Lila sat the photograph back on the coffee table, carefully readjusting herself as she nestled her head against Theodore's chest, his heartbeats like white noise, put Lila at ease.
Her eyes grew heavy as she watched the next contestant, wearing a chicken costume, attempt the challenge, he's getting farther than the others, the narrow path he had to take on the bike getting increasingly difficult, until he tripped over an inflatable obstacle that suddenly jutted out of the side of the fake wall.
His chances tumbling down as he did, he landed in an inflatable pool of water cushioning his fall below the obstacle course, complete with rubber duckies.
Lila's chestnut eyes closed as she too started softly snoring, Theodore pulling her closer as they slept soundly to the tune of the announcer detailing the next contestant for the near unbeatable course.
As they slept, there's stirring in Lila's kitchen, subtle, but a shadow walked through out into the living room, stopping short of the couch, looking down at the sleeping couple.
When the bright light came from the scene shifting to a localized Japanese commercial, the shadow's illuminated blue eyes shined brightly.
THE END