The Lord Mayor eventually went to the Doctor's cell with two guards, both of which waited in the doorway. The Doctor stood up as soon as the Lord Mayor arrived but didn't get the chance to speak before the Lord Mayor said "Don't even think about escaping, Doctor."
"Didn't plan to," the Doctor replied simply. "Just planned to talk. And you, being a reasonable man, would be willing to listen," there was just the faintest hint of sarcasm in the Doctor's voice.
"I don't listen to terrorists."
The Doctor continued as if he hadn't spoken "See, I know about Astria and I know about you. You stopped the war, didn't you?" he didn't wait for an answer to his clearly rhetorical question "History sees you as a hero, but then history gets it wrong quite often. You're-"
"I'm not going to allow you to criticise me, Doctor. Any disagreeable action I have taken can be justified by a quick look around Astria," interrupted the Lord Mayor, clearly irritated "My planet is at peace because of me."
"Do you know much of Time Lords? Just out of curiosity," the Doctor asked, "I don't you do know this but we can see everything. Everything that's fixed and everything that's in flux. Every possible future and past and present. And I can tell you, you're not the hero history paints you as. And the end never justifies the means."
The Lord Mayor's mouth twitched in amusement "So multiple genocide can't be justified by the ending of the suffering?"
The Doctor was taken aback by this and didn't answer for a moment before finally admitting "Well, no, it can't."
"Maybe I'm not the hero people think I am, but neither are you, Doctor." The Lord Mayor met the Doctor's eyes to ask "Which of us is really the monster?"
"I never claimed to be a hero, I just do what I can to help people. Maybe on some level that's because I'm trying to make up for what I did but at least that's better than ruling a planet by fear," the Doctor retorted.
"Get off your high horse, Doctor, and shut up." The Lord Mayor smirked, "Now, I am here for a reason, by the way, it wasn't just a social visit to discuss the universe."
The Doctor sighed, and replied with bitter sarcasm "Oh do tell, I'm fascinated to know."
"We're ready for you, the torture room is prepared."
The Doctor's face fell, "Surely we can talk about this? This is unnecessary."
"I have a strong believe that no action must go unpunished," the Lord Mayor told him.
"Torture is never a necessity just let me go." The Doctor said, a hint of desperation in his voice. "I won't bring any harm to Astria."
The Lord Mayor shook his head "Perhaps not but you already have. So much harm to our plant and that must be punished."
"The Time Lords would never be in agreement of this" the Doctor tried a different tactic but the Lord Mayor was un-phased.
"And yet the Master is," he replied simply, watching the Doctor for a moment.
The Doctor went quiet at that, unable to respond to it.
The Lord Mayor laughed lightly and turned to the guards "Take him." He ordered and watched at the guards grabbed the Doctor.
The Doctor struggled against the guards but they were both bigger and stronger than he was and he knew even if he got out of their grip he wouldn't be able to get anywhere.
FG
The Master watched Hastica carefully when he asked "Speaking hypothetically, if I were to say the Doctor was on Astria and the Lord Mayor had him with the plan of torturing him and I needed to get him out of there, would you be willing to help?"
"No," Hastica answered without so much as a moment's pause.
The Master looked at him challengingly, "Why?"
"Because I value my life."
"And there I was thinking you were a man willing to make a stand, a man with strong opinions who wasn't willing to put up with the way this world was and would be willing to make a difference," the Master said, Hastica was about to interrupt but the Master didn't give him a chance, "Looks like I was wrong, you're just one of those people who claims to have beliefs but when push comes to shove it willing to abandon them and go along with whatever gives you a quiet life."
"I have a son." Hastica replied quietly, pulling Bele closer to him, "My first priority has to be to protect him. I can't protect him if I'm dead."
"Exactly." The Master told him, "That is exactly why you should speak out against it. Do you really what your son growing up with the same level of fear our generation lives in? Could you really live with yourself knowing you could've helped make a difference and didn't?"
"Yes. I could," Hastica was blunt, "because I'd be a coward but I'd be an alive coward."
"Your son deserves better," the Master told him and stormed off.
FG
The Doctor was dragged to a small room which was empty save the chains hanging from the far wall. His hands were cuffed to the end of these chains with his back to the room after his shirt was pulled off. A gag had been put around his mouth stopping anything he may've wanted to say.
He tried to mentally prepare himself for what he knew was coming. He knew the Lord Mayor was behind him with a long whip in his hand. He heard the whip drawn back and thrown forward and waited for the pain to set in. He physically flinched at the sound and wondered why he didn't feel it.
The Lord Mayor let out a laugh, "Next time it won't be the wall."
The Doctor couldn't reply and wouldn't have even if he hadn't been gagged. He knew his whole body was tense but there was no way he could relax. He wasn't afraid of being hit or whipped, during and since the Time War he had dealt with so much pain that adding to it physically made no different to him. It was not knowing that bothered him. Not knowing when the hits would come or how many there would be or when it would end, it reminded him of being in the Time War. Unspeakable horrors were behind every corner, unknowing and uncontrollable.
SNAP!
The Doctor could say one thing about the Lord Mayor and that was what he was an honest man. The whip hit and cut the Doctor's back, his scream was silenced by the gag, which on some level he was grateful for. The whip hit him again and again, each hit coming quickly after the previous until the Doctor lost count of how many times he was hit. His back burnt and stung like fire was racing through every cut. The pain intensified with each hit, previous cuts retargeted and increased until his back was more cuts than skin. The Doctor groaned and winced in pain, little whimpers escaped through the gag not expressing the level of pain he was feeling.
Eventually the Lord Mayor stopped, breathing heavily as if the task had worn him out. He dropped the whip and waited until he had caught his breath before speaking. "Well that was fun," he said brightly, "I'll be back later."
He walked out, allowing the door to slam behind him.
FG
The Master hid in the back streets, sitting in an abandoned doorway. He pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, trying to figure out the basics of how it worked. The technology of it wasn't difficult but he wasn't used to it. It was different to most things he used, it wasn't a weapon, even he struggled to find a way that it could be used as a weapon. He was slightly disappointed by that, hating to be unarmed, but having taken it from the Doctor he wasn't surprised. Still he worked out how to work it pretty quickly.
As soon as he had worked it out he jumped to his feet, and set off. He walked through the streets of Astria as though he was another citizen, knowing that the best way to be unnoticed was to not make yourself noticeable. He headed directly for the Town Hall but this time aimed for the back door.
All around the back the Town Hall was a 6 foot thick red brick wall. Inviting the Master thought bitterly as he jumped to reach the top of the wall and hauled himself onto it. Once he was up he didn't pause before jumping off the other side and heading toward the back door.
It was of no surprise that it was locked, but it was a surprise how quiet and clean the sonic was. The Master was used to noise and destruction, this was so different. It reminded him of just how different the Doctor was to him. And yet his mind added bitterly, it was the Doctor who destroyed Gallifrey. He ignored this and let himself in.
He found himself in an old corridor which looked as though it hadn't been used for many years, it was dark and dirty, giving the Master the chance to find another use of the sonic screwdriver as a torch, guiding him. He also found he was able to use it to alert him if anyone was coming and when he was near the Doctor. He wondered along the corridor what felt aimlessly and turned left at the end.
FG
The Doctor was fighting with himself in an attempt not to cry. The tears were stinging his eyes and he was tempted just to let them fall and be done with it, but he didn't want to. He had cried enough because of the War and everything since. He was fed up with it. But it hurt, his back still felt like it was raging with fire, his hearts were heavy and his mind wouldn't stop replaying the events of the Time War.
He automatically tensed when he heard the door open, the shock of the sound sending a couple stray tears down the Doctor's cheeks. It made him thankful he was facing the wall so he didn't have to face the Lord Mayor laughing at him about it.
"Theta?" the voice and the word weren't the ones he had been expecting. "Dear Rassilon." The Master's tone spoke of his horror at what he saw. The Doctor's back was barely visable for all the blood, there were countless cuts. "I swear if I get my hands on him I will…" the Master fumed but trailed off. Anger coursed through his body. How dare anyone else think they had the right to so much as touch his Doctor, let alone whip his back to strips?
The Master looked past his back and at the Doctor, noting the gag tightly tied around his mouth and moved to untie it, lightly joking as he did so "No wonder you're so quiet, I should've know there'd be something stopping you talking as opposed to it being a choice," he struggled with the knot, trying to avoid looking at the Doctor's back "bloody hell, Astrians sure know how to tie them. Ah ha!" he finally got it undone and pulled it off.
The Doctor stayed quiet and the Master used the sonic to free his hands. As soon as both were free the Doctor slipped and fell to the ground, all strength gone. The Master went to put his arm around him to help him up, but he flinched away, an angry and hurt look on his face.
"Theta?" the Master asked in confusion.
"My name is the Doctor," he replied, placing his hands on the wall to support himself up, before turning back to face the Master "You come in here like a hero and what? I'm supposed to be grateful? What do you want me to say? 'Thank you, Master, thanks for letting this happen'?"
"I didn't-" irritation crept into the Master's voice but the Doctor was too angry to let him speak.
"You called me a traitor to Gallifrey but allowing this? Going against the one thing the Time Lords truly believed in what does that make you?" the Doctor raged, his hands leaning against the wall for support, stopping his back from touching it, "I'll tell you what. It makes you an insult to Gallifrey's memory. I get that you hate me, I get it, you've made it abundantly clear but this? You're a hypocrite, you judge me and let look at you, look at everything you-"
The Master cut him off, only just stopping himself from slapping him in annoyance, "Would you shut up and listen for a moment?" the Doctor stayed quiet and let him continue. "I didn't agree to this. No one but me has the right to hurt you. Ever. I would NEVER agree to this. You stupid idiot, do you really think that little of me? Do you really think I would disgrace Gallifrey's name like that? And if I had agreed to this I wouldn't have bothered coming back. I wouldn't have argued with the Lord Mayor, I wouldn't have tried to convince a terrified native to help me. So don't you dare think you have the right to judge me on the actions I have taken."
The Doctor opened his mouth to apologise but the Master stopped him "And I told you to stop saying sorry," he paused momentarily "Can you walk?"
The Doctor stood up properly and took a step forward before nodding.
"Good, we're getting out of here."