On the night after winning the election in the largest landslide in living memory, most party members were celebrating with friends and family. The Master smirked as he passed quickly through a hidden underground tunnel that led directly to the old Torchwood base under the Thames Barrier. He was celebrating, just not in the same insipid ways humans celebrated.
His smirk broadened into a triumphant grin when he entered the office-turned-cell and saw the person he had come to see. "Hello, Miss Jones," he said.
Tish raised her head up from her pillow. "I hope you don't expect me to call you Prime Minister now."
The Master chuckled. "I have no need of that title, though it will serve my plans nicely. Soon, humans will be calling me by my true name."
"Oh, and what's that?"
"They call me the Master."
Tish snorted. "I don't know where you come from, Saxon, but you're pretty full of yourself if you think people are going to call you the Master."
All of the Master's lighthearted humour evaporated. He grabbed the bars and leaned against her cell. "Oh, you will learn—you will all learn exactly why that's my name."
But Tish didn't cower away from him like he expected. Instead, she stared up at him, challenge sparking in her dark eyes. "They're going to stop you."
"Oh? Who exactly would they be?" As quickly as it had disappeared, his amusement returned.
"Martha, Rose, and the Doctor. They'll find out what's going on here, and they'll come back and take care of you."
The Master chuckled. "Oh, Letitia Jones, if only you knew. The Doctor already knows that I'm here. Unless I miss my guess, he and his merry band of followers —including your sister—will be here tomorrow."
Tish nodded. "Good. Then things can go back to normal."
"Would you like to hear what will happen when the Doctor arrives in London tomorrow?" The Master leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.
She slowly sat up and looked at him. "Why do I get the feeling that I won't like whatever you're about to say?"
"Because you're a smart girl, for a human." The Master paced in front of her cell. "When I stole the Doctor's TARDIS from him, he managed to lock the coordinates so I couldn't do anything but give it a slight bump—18 months farther back in the past than the place he had been most recently."
Lingering anger seeped out at the memory of that revelation. "I admit, I was furious when I realised that. The whole point of having a time machine is to have the ability to go wherever and whenever you want." He pulled his face into an exaggerated pout, then stretched his mouth into a wide grin and bounced on the balls of his feet. "But then I saw that I had been given a gift—I knew precisely when the Doctor would show up, more or less, and I had a year and a half to lay a trap."
Trepidation crossed finally Tish's face. "What do you mean, a trap?"
"The Doctor's most recent landing had been in Britain on Election Day. He fused the coordinates of his TARDIS so he would know where to find me… which means, by extension, that I know where to find him." He tugged on his ear. "I did expect him today, actually, but his landings have always been a bit haphazard. Tomorrow though, surely…"
"Yeah, but you can't do anything about that. You've got no way of knowing when they actually get here, and there's the whole planet for them to hide on."
The Master smiled. "Except, my dear Miss Jones, I will know exactly when the Doctor and Rose Tyler arrive on Earth, thanks to a handy bit of biology. And of course he'll come here—he's rather fixated on your dreary little island."
As a human, he'd seen the Vortex manipulator on Jack Harkness' wrist, so he knew the Doctor would be able to use that to bring them back to Great Britain. And when they returned, he would be ready for them. The TARDIS, newly converted into a paradox machine, had been transported onto the Valiant a week ago.
He faked a yawn. "Oh dear, I'm feeling a bit tired. I should probably get some rest. After all, tomorrow is a busy day—meeting with the Queen and all that." He waved at Tish and left her alone in her cell.
Tomorrow, he would introduce the Toclafane to the human race, and in just thirty-six hours, the paradox machine would activate. Oh, if only the Doctor and Rose were on the Valiant when it began.
The Master tapped his fingers against his thigh in the same four-beat rhythm he still heard in his head. The Earth would soon cower at the sound of drums.