The Master's POV:
I freeze, shooting one more glance towards the door before turning. I'm met with the sight of two burly men hefting guns. Well, my day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?
"Who are you?" the one not poking me in the stomach with a gun asks.
"Me? I'm nobody… just passing through, so to speak." God! I even sound like him. I quickly change tack. "I picked up a distress signal. I came here to…" Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick. "…help."
The gunman's eyes narrow, which just makes him look silly. "How did you get past the Keraf?"
"I ran." I am speaking to a pair of idiots. "Now… I really need to get my… friend, yeah?" I turn back to the door, only to find myself tugged away from it by two strong arms. "Hey!" I continue to struggle until they release me, then I look at them automatically with wounded pride, forgetting that they aren't the Doctor, and therefore it won't work.
One of them chuckles. "Well, look at that. A right little pretty boy."
I don't know whether to be flattered or offended. I settle for trying to explain myself again. "You don't understand. I have to get the man I was with through that door." Otherwise I'll get fried when he has to start running again, I think.
"We're not opening the door," the gunman shakes his head. "The Keraf could get through."
"What the hell is a Keraf?" I ask. "Last time I checked this place was Judoon High Command."
The two men glance at each other. "What's it to you?"
I bite my lip, considering my options. I never like taking sides when not in possession of all the facts. It makes choosing the right one a lot harder than it normally would be.
Looking the two men up and down, they aren't wearing anything that could be construed as police-like, which is all the Judoon and their employees wear. They're dressed in plain grey overalls, with a small black box over their left bicep. It looks oddly familiar.
"I'm…" I make my decision quickly, because if it's wrong, it's going to be wrong whichever way I say it. "I'm a prisoner of the Judoon. I escaped when the… alarms went off. Been running around since then."
The two men glance at each other again, and then, too slowly for my liking, lower their guns. Could humanoids be any stupider?
The bigger of the two nods slightly. "So are we." His eyes move in a way that screams 'liar', but this definitely isn't the best time to provoke people, so I grin at them.
"Can I get my friend now?"
"No." The other shakes his head. "The Keraf might get through."
There's a yelp from beyond the door. I inhale sharply, trying not to look bothered. I can hear the splintering of wood. Then the Doctor yells. Then there's silence.
"Turn on the CCTV cameras of the Plaza."
Toshiko jumped. The order had come from Owen, who hadn't talked to her since she'd taken Gwen's side over who should be leader months ago. Turning, she took in all three of her colleagues, gathered around her desk. "Why?"
Owen sighed theatrically. "Ianto just came in and saw the Captain talking to some guy. Go on, bring it up." He reached towards her keyboard.
She slapped his hands away. "Fine." Quickly minimizing the coding she had been working on, she brought up the Plaza. At the foot of the water tower stood Jack and the man who Ianto had seen. The second man was balding, wearing a military uniform, and shaking his head.
"Search face-recognition."
"Already doing it," Tosh replied.
Jack watched the Brigadier shake his head, and inwardly sighed.
"No," the Brigadier said. "Don't call the Doctor."
"But--"
"No!" The Brigadier voice became more forceful. "He won't let you have the Master, will he?"
Jack shook his head unhappily. "No."
"Then calling him will just alert him that we mean the Master harm."
"The Doctor's not the enemy."
"He's hiding the enemy. The difference is the same in my book."
Jack was about to reply that the difference certainly wasn't the same, and Earth should be bloody grateful to the Doctor for all he's done in the past, when there was a shout from the other side of the Plaza.
"Jack!"
Jack whipped round. Ianto! He could see the younger man standing next to the alley that led to the Tourist Office. He began to run over, ignoring the Brigadier's attempts to keep up. Ianto mattered right now.
"Are you all right?" Jack reached out a hand to Ianto before a pointed look from the other man stopped him.
"I'm fine, Jack. Tosh wanted you." He glanced briefly at the Brigadier, who arrived panting, before continuing. "Something about breaking the codes."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "She couldn't have."
A smirk appeared on Ianto's lips. "I'll tell her you said that." He retreated into the Office.
"What? No." Jack started forward, only to remember the Brigadier, and turn back round.
"Come on! You want to find the Master, don't you?"
The Brigadier nodded, as that was all he could do without breath in his body, and followed.
The Doctor was not having a good day. Now, he knew that now he had the Master as a… now that he had the Master travelling with him, nothing would ever be easy. He would have to keep one eye on the oncoming danger, and the other on the Master, making sure that the danger wasn't added to by an escaped Time Lord.
He'd had it all planned out: the month spent aboard the TARDIS, which would hopefully calm the Master down, and stop him killing the first thing he saw when he got planet side again, the answering of a distress signal that he'd received weeks ago, and the fact that this was a nice, busy planet, with a lot of people to ask where the Master was if they got separated.
He could understand the Master's frustrations at being held prisoner only too well. But the universe would always come first. It maybe hadn't been the brightest thing to answer a distress signal that had been flashing on and off for weeks, but what are time machines for, if not to go back in time and sort things out?
Landing just two hours after the signal had been sent hadn't been hard, as he'd never actually been to Judoon High Command before. Too many police people. The Doctor didn't like police people. They made him nervous.
And he thought he'd hit gold with Jack's bracelets. They'd just been sitting on top of his dresser when he'd got up this morning.
The Doctor yawned, hauling himself out of bed, glad at being able to get a good, undisturbed-by-Master night's sleep. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he crossed the room to the bathroom.
Before going in, however, he caught a glimpse of something shiny sitting on top of his dresser. Please don't let it be a bomb, he thought.
When he got to his dresser and saw the two bracelets sitting there though, he chewed the inside on his mouth. "I thought you didn't like the Master," he spoke aloud.
*I don't* came the reply.
"Then why?" He picked up the bracelets, weighing up his options.
*If he's off with you somewhere, he's not here*
The Doctor grimaced at the memory. Why couldn't they just get along? It was like having children… again.
He twisted round, peering cautiously over the top of the table. The door the Master had gone through wouldn't open again, and neither would the one opposite it. They looked as if they were deadlocked. He hated deadlocks!
He could hear the beast roaring as it searched for him. He glanced back down the corridor. There was no way he could start running again, not with the Master on the other side of that door, ready to be fried if the Doctor so much as moved.
Why did he have to leave the controls for the bracelets in the TARDIS? It was all very well and good that the Master couldn't get to them there but, incidentally, neither could he.
The wolf-creature rounded the corner, and the Doctor tugged his head back down. Think, he commanded himself. Think!
There was another roar, and he could hear the wolf's claws start to skitter across the floor as it began to run again. Then everything seemed to happen at once, even though the Doctor knew that it couldn't happen all at once, according to the laws of time.
A huge paw appeared over his head, coming to rest on the table. He yelped and scrambled backwards, away from it, pressing himself against the door the Master had disappeared through. On the paw, claws suddenly appeared, extending downward through the table, shattering it, which was rather impressive, thought the Doctor.
The wolf's head appeared through the wreckage of the table, growling. It turned slowly towards the Doctor, its second paw coming to rest on the floor. It seemed to be sizing him up.
The Doctor smiled disarmingly. "Hello."
The wolf hissed at him, raising its still clawed paw. The Doctor yelled automatically at that paw came slashing through the air towards him.