Chapter Nine

The new arrival pressed some sequence of buttons on the console and a column of light appeared around the Master. The Master was staring in furious astonishment, apparently trapped by the energy of the light.

"How is this possible? The temporal cataclysm caused by your timeline crossing should make this unfeasible."

"You're not going to hurt Adric," said the man with the scarf. He pressed more buttons. A faint humming sound began. Donna started to ask what was happening, but the Doctor shushed her.

"The block transfer construct is destabilising," said the guy with the scarf.

"That's not possible," said the Master. "My temporal essence should sustain the construct."

"Not against a directed attack honed in to the precise calculations used to create you."

"But how could you know those calculations?"

"Because I do," said Adric.

"You gave him the power to destroy you," the Doctor said. "You gave him the power to reshape the universe but you didn't think that Adric's will would be strong enough to create more than just what you ordered him to."

"Then you," the Master turned to the other man, "you're just a construct."

"Just a thing of maths and calculations," he said, smiling broadly. "But the Doctor always comes to Adric's rescue."

"It's not too late," the Doctor said. "Our people are gone, but you can surrender to me and you can live." There were tears on his face. He looked almost like he was pleading.

"I'd rather fade into mathematical oblivion than be your prisoner," the Master snarled.

"Done," said the guy with the scarf. He pressed a button and both he and the Master faded away.

"Um, what just happened?" asked Donna. The Doctor was crying. He wasn't looking at her. He just reached up and wiped his eyes. Then he looked up at Adric and tried to smile.

"You did well, Adric," he said, climbing up, careful not to touch the web-like strands as he pulled the boy free and lifted him gently down. From what Donna could see, the boy was asleep or unconscious, passed out from the strain of whatever it was he'd just been involved in.

"Oi! What's going on?"

"I told Adric that he was the one controlling the block transfer, hoping he would realise he could make his own creations. He no doubt had to fight against the Master's brainwashing, but he was able to create a reconstruction of one of my former regenerations. That creation knew enough about how the Master's, for lack of a better word, copy was formed that he could used the TARDIS's controls to emit a harmonic resonance that was able to destabilise the Master on a sub atomic level."

Donna blinked.

"One day, you're going to have to learn to explain things in a way that actually explains things."

"Adric made someone out of maths to kill the Master. Come on. Let's get out of this place."

"No argument from me."

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Boy was warm. Boy was somewhere soft. More importantly, Boy was alone in his head. There was no pain and no whispering voice of his Master. No one was telling him what to do anymore.

The trap had come. The trap had passed. The Doctor had saved him. The Doctor had defeated the Master and won the day. Boy was safe.

Boy had never calculated this possibility. The Master had planned so carefully. He'd plotted and predicted and left Boy so certain that the Doctor's end would come. Boy hadn't thought he could fight back with the Master's own weapons. Until Doctor had stood there, and believed in Boy despite the pain and the haze of irrational thought. The Doctor trusted Boy, even after Boy had led him into a trap. Doctor was kind and wonderful. Doctor was family.

"Doctor, I think he's awake."

"Adric? Adric, can you hear me? How are you feeling?"

Adric. Yes, Adric. Adric was who Boy had been, before his slavery to the Master. Adric had smiled and laughed and loved and been happy. Boy wanted to be Adric again.

He opened his eyes and blinked at the room in the TARDIS. Boy was scared of the TARDIS because it meant the Doctor's end, but Adric wasn't scared. For Adric, the TARDIS meant safety. For Adric, this was a good place. If Boy could be Adric again, this would be safe again.

He blinked at the man beside the bed and tried to smile, tried to be happy as Adric would have been.

"Doctor," he whispered.

"Yes, Adric. It's me. You're safe now. You're home."

Home. Not quite. But nearly. The Doctor would heal him, make him Adric again. The Doctor always came to his rescue.