Author's Notes: I hemmed and hawed over this chapter for a long, long time. Thanks to Aibhinn for being a great sounding board while I dithered. "Brilliant" doesn't begin to describe her!
This chapter refers to one of my previous stories, found on this site.
Kit and Madhukar are mine; all else belongs to the BBC.
Chapter Three – Doubt
"Doctor, what is it about you that attracts smarmy guys and deadly weapons?" Kit wondered aloud.
A good question, but the Doctor was concerned with more serious ones. What is he doing here? And with these two very deadly weapons?
Two lifetimes ago, he'd seen the Master get sucked into the old Eye of Harmony, right in the Cloisters of the TARDIS. But now, here he was, still in the same body he'd stolen from a paramedic in 1999 San Francisco. The body that should have been crushed in the nucleus of a black hole. Different clothes, though; the Master had been wearing Time Lord robes when he went through the Eye.
His mind was wandering. He pulled it back on track with another serious question. How is this happening? He pondered briefly, then dismissed the thought. Never mind the how. The real question was what his old "friend" was up to. "Megiddo?" he asked in a pleasant voice. "Interesting name."
"What's Megiddo?" Rose asked in a low tone.
"It's the origin of the word 'armageddon,'" Jack answered. "The end of the world."
"A soldier and a scholar! The Doctor's taste in companions is improving." The Master crossed slowly in front of Jack and leered at Kit, making Jack bristle. "Improving a great deal. But I'm afraid I can't allow you to play soldier here." He held his hand out for Jack's blaster. After a quick glance at the Doctor, Jack surrendered the weapon. The Master took it and tucked it away inside his jacket. Then he held his hand out to the Doctor. "I need your little toy as well."
"Megiddo," the Doctor repeated, taking the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and handing it over. "Strange choice. I thought you wanted to rule the universe, not end it."
"The end of the Song is the end of the universe," Madhukar said.
The Master chuckled. Still the same low laugh that had nothing to do with humor. "Do you think so? But we're all still here, aren't we? Makes you wonder. As to the name, Doctor, my business associate came up with it. Seemed to find it amusing."
"I've never known Daleks or Cybermen to find anything amusing," the Doctor said. "I've never known them to be anyone's business associates, either. Nor have I ever known them to just stand there so quietly." He walked toward the Dalek, trying to ignore the sudden, frightened intake of breath from both Rose and Jack as he bent down to look it in the eyestalk. "You can't tell me he hasn't told you who I am. The Doctor? Ka Faraq Gatri? The Oncoming Storm?"
The Dalek didn't respond.
"Oh, come on! Not even one 'exterminate?' For old time's sake?" He straightened up and walked over to the Cyberman. "And what about you, Tin Man? I'm the one who sent all of you to hell. Nothing to say? Has 'delete' been deleted from your programming?"
The Cyberman kept its weapon arm raised, but made no sound.
"You sound miffed," the Master observed. "Disappointed that they aren't trembling in fear before you?"
"Hardly. I leave the egomania to you," the Doctor said coolly. "I am surprised, though. Especially by the Dalek. The last time they saw you, they exterminated you. Now you have one as a bodyguard? I'm sure there's quite a story behind that. Oh, and I still want to know how you got around the fact that extermination is supposed to be permanent, even for a Time Lord."
Another dark, low laugh. "We have a great many things to discuss, Doctor."
"Including your trick for taming Cybermen and Daleks," the Doctor replied.
"In due time. I understand you have some interesting stories to tell as well. Shall we get out of the heat?" The Master smiled and offered Rose his arm. "Lady Rose?"
Rose gripped the Doctor's arm instead, regarding the Master warily. "How d'you know my name?"
"Tremas of Traken knew you as the Lady Rose," the Doctor told her. He narrowed his eyes as he regarded the Master. "I thought his mind was destroyed when you stole his body."
"Mistaken as usual, Doctor." The Master tapped his forehead. "He lives on, right here. Tremas' knowledge has been quite useful over the years."
The Doctor tried not to betray the horror he felt. "You mean you still have his consciousness in your mind?"
"Oh, yes. He's gone quite mad, I'm afraid. He never understood that I was doing him a favor, preserving all that fine scientific knowledge."
"Oh, my God, you're a monster," Rose hissed, tightening her grip on the Doctor's arm.
"Oh, cut me to the quick," the Master said in a mocking tone. He gestured toward a two-story building between the telescopes. "Shall we adjourn to the control center?"
Resistance is futile, the Doctor thought, catching Jack's eye and giving him a barely perceptible nod. They followed the Master across the dry ground, trailed by his associates. "Radio telescopes again?" the Doctor asked conversationally as they approached the building. "Whatever you're doing, you know I'll stop you, just like I did before." Although stopping him before cost me a regeneration. "These schemes of yours never succeed."
"They would if it wasn't for you and those meddling kids," the Master countered as they reached the door. He turned and looked at them expectantly, then said, "Oh, come now! Surely somebody here got the Scooby Doo joke?"
Kit snorted. "Sorry, broke my funnybone. How would a Gallifreyan know about Scooby Doo, anyway?"
"Oh, Tremas has company. Bruce's knowledge isn't quite as useful, but it is amusing," the Master said. He opened the door and ushered them in past several offices and a staircase. He led them into a large room with an oval table in the center. The table was surrounded by rolling leather chairs. Computer banks lined one wall, and some cubicles took up one corner. The Dalek and Cyberman took positions on either side of the door.
The Doctor took in the details of the room while mulling the Master's words over. Bruce. The paramedic. Another trapped consciousness, also probably driven insane. Not only was the Master a maniac himself, he had the Mad Hatter's tea party going on inside his head. That made him even less predictable.
"Please, make yourselves comfortable," the Master said, walking over to a refrigerator across the room. He opened a cabinet next to it and took out a stack of plastic cups, then pulled a champagne bottle from the refrigerator. He turned back to the group, all of whom had silently decided they'd prefer to stand.
"I know plastic is uncouth for champagne, but we'll make do with what we have." He put the cups down on the table, uncorked the champagne and poured a cup for each of them. "A toast, old friend," he said, holding a cup to the Doctor, who took it warily. "Please, all of you. I assure you, it's not poisoned." He took a sip from his own cup to prove it. "See? Now, as I was saying…a toast. To the Doctor. You know, no one ever considered you most likely to succeed at anything back at the good old Prydonian Academy. In fact, everyone despaired of your ever passing." He shook his head in mock sorrow. "What you put your poor father through! And then when you did scrape by, what did you do? Stole a TARDIS to gallivant across space and time, sticking your nose into anything and everything, making messes and then running off without ever looking back to count the casualties. Not only that, but then you had the audacity to drag your granddaughter along, putting her into danger time and time again. And then you decided she wasn't enough! You needed to bring others along to fawn on you, to worship you like some kind of a god. To become addicted to you and the life you lead. You show them the marvels of the universe and then when you're done with them, you leave them to their own little, ordinary, ruined lives."
"Is this a toast or a speech?" Rose asked sharply.
"Oh, have I struck a little too close to home?" The Master smirked. "You know what I'm talking about. The Doctor needs his groupies as much as they need him. It's a sad case of co-dependency."
"You can knock off the pop psychology," Jack growled.
A knowing laugh. "The truth hurts, doesn't it?" The Master's voice dropped low. "Does it hurt as much as knowing he didn't want you as much as you wanted him?" He sneered at Jack's icy blue glare, and then turned back toward the Doctor. "Now, I know I've made mistakes in the past. But nothing I ever did could compare to what you managed! You wiped entire worlds out of space-time! Gallifrey? The Daleks? And all the collateral damage? Your little fan club here doesn't know the half of it! The species who were left homeless were the lucky ones. A stunning solution, Doctor. Destroy the village in order to save it. Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out!"
"There was no other solution," the Doctor gritted out. "You don't think Romana tried? You think I didn't try? It's easy for you to criticize. You weren't there."
"No, I wasn't there. Neither was anyone else in this room, except for you. We only have your word for it. The word of a man who not only broke every rule the Time Lords ever wrote, but who reveled in the breaking of them."
You're no better, the Doctor took a breath to say…but he was interrupted by his student.
"You have told me many times about breaking those laws," Madhukar said slowly. "And you seemed to find the stories amusing, Acarya."
The Master's head snapped around so he could stare at the Seeker. "Acarya? The Chattrakan word for 'honored teacher?'" He snorted. "And you call me an egomaniac! But then, it's a role that suits you, isn't it? You do love to flaunt your knowledge. Never mind that the gaps in it are miles wide. You just let everyone believe that you know the answers to everything. But you don't. You make it up as you go along! Careless." He stood nose to nose with the Doctor. "And when you get careless, worlds and people die. Even your groupies aren't safe!" He stepped back and fixed each of them in turn with a penetrating stare. "Rose's hands are awash in Dalek blood. Your soldier here isn't a choirboy. And even the little angel isn't an innocent, no more than her people who stand back and do nothing in the face of suffering and death in the name of what must be. Surprised? Yes, I know who and what all of you are." He turned his gaze to Madhukar. "Tell me, Seeker, do you believe that suffering must be? How long do you think it will be before you're corrupted? Or killed?"
"You're not buying any of this, are you, Madhukar?" Kit asked in a low voice.
The Seeker looked over at her. "You told me yourself that my people don't have it all right about your people. How wrong were we?" He shook his head. "The Song has been my guide for so long. I don't know what to believe."
The Master walked over to Madhukar and put his hands on the man's thin shoulders. He looked intently into Madhukar's eyes. "You can believe in me," he said.
"He's a killer, Madhukar," the Doctor said in a warning tone.
Madhukar turned to him with sorrow in his eyes. "So are you, Doctor."