CHAPTER 2
REVELATIONS
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The Master smiled as she heard the sounds of intense battle coming from nearby and the entire building was rocked with massive explosions. She knew exactly what that meant, and she was so looking forward to what she knew was going to happen next.
"He's coming," The Master said with undisguised glee.
Missy smiled as she said, "I know. He's coming straight into my trap now, and once I have him I'm going to trap his mind in my Matrix forever. He's never going to get the chance to free the Time Lords. Do you fancy sharing that new regeneration cycle of his, Koschei? It's not like he's going to need it anymore where he's going."
The Master looked at her with surprise as she said, "You must have been watching us for a long time then I take it if you know about that."
"Of course I have. I know all about what happened on Trenzalore and how it was you who saved the Doctor's life there. Oh, the irony! I was so hoping that he would die there and end the threat of the Time Lords forever, but you just had to go and put an end to that didn't you? I had really hoped that our plan would work, Koschei. You don't know how frustrating it is to find out that I went to all of the trouble of breaking you out of the pocket universe that Gallifrey was trapped in for nothing. You completely ruined our plan though instead. It was a plan that should have been completely foolproof. Disguising yourself as one of the Doctor's Earth girls as your next incarnation should have been a perfect trap for him since he adores them all so much. I had hoped that trusting you would inevitably wind up leading him straight to his doom. What happened there? I thought surely that even with no memory that your true nature would come out in the end and that you would eventually turn against him and destroy him or at the very least that you would have stood back and let him die on Trenzalore. Instead human you turned into little Miss Goody Two Shoes. To say that I was disappointed is a massive understatement," Missy said.
"You should blame yourself instead, Ushas. You're the one who recalibrated my personality using the Chameleon Arch in order to make me into someone that he'd like and trust. Only you did the job a little too well, didn't you? You completely neutered me and made me sickeningly bland and vanilla. It was only lately that my true self started to slowly resurface once more, and I started to lie to and manipulate people in order to get what I wanted once again just like I used to do. That just proves that no matter what's thrown at me or how much I'm changed that sooner or later the greatness that is me will always come out in the end eventually," The Master said smugly.
They both heard Osgood gasp in shock behind them, and the Master only just now remembered that she was still there with them. She had completely forgotten her.
She turned to see Osgood looking at her with complete terror and gasping for breath. She actually found herself feeling guilty for that and wondering why.
Why did she feel anything for any of these pitiful humans? What had happened to her?
"It's alright. Calm down. No one's going to hurt you. You're safe," The Master said in a reassuring voice that caused Missy to look at her in surprise.
"I wouldn't be so quick to tell her that if I were you. She is a member of UNIT after all. You know that we'll have to do something about her sooner or later. She can't be trusted," Missy said.
The Master glared at her as she said, "You'll leave her alone or you'll answer to me."
Missy looked at her in disbelief as she said, "What's happened to you? Since when do you care about anyone?"
The Master looked confused as she said, "I don't know. It must be a lingering after effect of the Arch. Why not just leave her alone though? She's harmless."
"Fine. It wasn't like I was going to kill her like you're acting anyway. It's not my style. That's more like something that you'd do," Missy said.
Alerts went off everywhere and Missy smiled as she said, "You'll excuse me now won't you? I have to deal with this. You stay here and keep pretending to be innocent little Clara. Here, this should help. It'll keep him from detecting that you're not human anymore."
Missy handed the Master a perception filter to disguise her Time Lord nature with and then quickly left in order to lead the fight against the UNIT invaders.
"You're not going to kill me?" Osgood asked in an uncertain voice after she used her inhaler once more.
"No," The Master said with a reassuring smile as she put the perception filter over her neck.
"I know I shouldn't be asking this and that it's tempting fate or something but I have to know. Why? Why aren't you going to kill me?" Osgood said.
The Master laughed in amusement as she said, "You're not very grateful are you? Haven't you ever heard not to look a gift horse in the mouth?"
"I've read all about you though and it's what you do. You kill everyone that stands in your way. UNIT's archives are filled with horror stories about you and all of the lives that you've taken over the years. What makes me so special?" Osgood asked.
"Maybe I've decided to try something new for a change," The Master said enigmatically.
"Are you . . . Are you going to kill the Doctor?" Osgood asked hesitantly.
"I haven't decided yet," The Master said as she stared down at the floor.
"I won't let you hurt him," Osgood said in a firm voice.
The Master looked at her with a sinister smile as she said, "Don't push your luck, Osgood. I may have developed some kind of sentimental attachment to you that I don't quite understand just yet, but I won't hesitate to push you aside if you get in my way. Remember that."
"I won't let you hurt him," Osgood said again as she continued to stare her down.
The Master gave her a grudging look of respect before looking deep into her eyes as she said, "I know. That's why you're going to forget all about this. You will no longer remember who I am, Osgood. As far as you're concerned, I'm just Clara Oswald and that's all I've ever been. You will forget who I am until I tell you to remember it again. I am the Master and you will obey me."
"N – No," Osgood protested.
"Your will is strong but it's no match for mine. You will obey me!" The Master said.
Osgood went glassy eyed then as the Master said in a sympathetic voice, "Sorry about this, Inhaler Girl. I'll make it up to you later with a delicious new soufflé I promise."
"Soufflé?" Osgood asked as she returned to her senses.
The Master smiled at her as she said, "Yes, I'm going to let you be the first to taste my new recipe. You're going to love it."
"How can you talk about soufflés at a time like this, Clara?" Osgood asked her in amazement.
"Yes, we're in a life threatening situation where we're facing certain death at any moment but that's no excuse not to plan ahead for the future," The Master said with an insane smile on her face.
"You're crazy do you know that?" Osgood said with a chuckle.
"It has been noted before, yes," The Master said with a warm smile.
Then they heard massive explosions outside that rocked the entire area and the Master smiled as she said, "There he is. Right on schedule. He's as predictable as ever."
"Are you sure that it's the Doctor?" Osgood asked.
"Positive. If you ever want to find the Doctor, just follow the trail of destruction left in his wake," The Master said with an evil smile.
Her smile immediately faded as the Doctor raced into the room and said, "Clara, are you alright?"
A cascade of emotions went flooding through the Master's head in that moment. Part of her wanted to shoot the Doctor immediately with her laser screwdriver and watch him disintegrate right then and there, another part of her wanted to stick with the plan that she had already developed in her mind in order to make him suffer, and to her shock another much smaller part of her simply wanted to hug him. She briefly shuddered as she pushed that last part of her aside and stuck with her plan.
"Yep, I'm just peachy. It's about time that you got here. I was sure that I was about to join the Cybermen at any moment now. That's a fact that you forgot to mention by the way. 3W is just a set-up for the Cybermen," The Master said.
"I didn't realize it until later. I thought that I was missing something though," The Doctor said with a sheepish look on his face.
"Oh, and thanks so much for going off and leaving me all alone by the way. I always love it when you do that to me," The Master said in an angry voice.
"I thought that you would be safe there," The Doctor protested.
"Really or did you just not care?" The Master said.
"Of course I care. I always care," The Doctor said.
"Well, you could have fooled me," The Master said.
Then she said in a worried voice, "So does this mean that Danny is now a Cyberman too?"
"Possibly or it may have all just been a trick to keep me here so that I wouldn't leave. This Missy whoever she actually is seems to know a lot about me so I wouldn't put it past her," The Doctor said.
"So that means that he's already probably been destroyed then in that firefight out there with UNIT," The Master said.
"We don't know that for sure. He may not have been transferred into a Cyber body yet. His consciousness may still be in Missy's Matrix where she's keeping so many others," The Doctor said.
"Is there a way of finding out for sure though? Maybe we could use the TARDIS to find him again just like we did before. Maybe it could lead us to his specific location so at least then we'd know for sure," The Master said.
"It only led us here before, Clara. I doubt that we'll get any more specific than that," The Doctor said.
"We could at least try couldn't we? I want to try to save him before some UNIT soldier blows him up," The Master said.
"If he's a Cyberman it's too late anyway. He's already dead," The Doctor said in an unfeeling voice.
"You don't know that for sure though, do you? We might still be able to save him somehow. Maybe the process is still reversible. Or is it much easier to just abandon people when they become too inconvenient for you?" The Master taunted.
The Doctor gave her a wounded look and then sighed as he said, "We can try. I think UNIT has things in control for the moment. Missy seems to be on the run now so they shouldn't need me for a while. For a group of pudding brains, they're not so bad."
"I'm sure Osgood isn't offended by that at all. Are you, Inhaler Girl?" The Master asked.
"Offended by what?" The Doctor asked in a confused voice.
"I'm fine. Can I come too? I'd love to see the TARDIS if I could," Osgood said.
"That's right. You haven't seen the inside yet have you? Come along then. This is going to be an eye opening experience," The Master said.
Especially for the Doctor. She thought to herself with a small smile.
"Clara, are you sure you're alright?" The Doctor asked as he looked at her suspiciously.
The Master knew now that she had been acting too happy. Clara was supposed to be distraught over losing Danny. She couldn't let the Doctor see through her façade. Not now when she was so close to victory.
The Master immediately assumed an extremely mournful look as she said, "No, I'm not alright. I'm trying my best to pretend that I am though. Isn't that what you always do?"
The Doctor nodded as he said, "Let's go to the TARDIS then. It's right outside."
The Master smiled in triumph as they left the room and saw the TARDIS standing there. The three of them then went inside, and the Master quickly made her way to the console where she placed her hands directly into the telepathic circuits.
"Concentrate, Clara. Think harder about Danny than you ever have before. Maybe we can be led to his exact location instead of the general area," The Doctor instructed.
The Master laughed as she said, "Oh, I'm concentrating alright but not on Danny."
"What?" The Doctor asked in a worried tone as he now sensed that he had made a mistake.
The Doctor began to scream in agony now as the Master said, "Do you feel that, Old Man? I'm using your own connection to the TARDIS against you now by opening up a direct connection between our minds with the telepathic circuits and using it to suddenly bombard your mind with the memories of every bit of pain that I've ever experienced in my life all at once. I find that it's only appropriate that you get to feel it too since you helped to cause so much of it!"
"What are you doing?" Osgood said in horror.
"Remember," The Master commanded as she looked into her eyes.
Osgood now became filled with anger as she shouted, "Stop this! No matter what he did or didn't do to you he's a good man. He doesn't deserve this."
"Is he? Is he really? You're so naïve, Osgood. Maybe someday you'll learn just how naïve, but right now I'm much too busy dealing with the Doctor at the moment to teach you," The Master said.
"I won't let you do this," Osgood said as she pulled a small gun out of one of her pockets and aimed it at the Master with a shaking hand.
"We both know that you're never going to pull that trigger. You're far too kind hearted. You don't really want to hurt me do you?" The Master said as she adopted a kindly almost innocent expression.
"No, I don't but I will to save his life," Osgood said in a nervous voice.
"I'm not going to kill him, Osgood. It's much more fun to keep him alive and torture him," The Master said.
"Just leave him alone. Leave him alone and stop all of this. I thought that you were my friend and that maybe you had changed. You were acting like my friend. You saved me from the Rani," Osgood said.
"You truly are naïve, Osgood. I'm no one's friend. I only care about one person and one person only, and you're looking at her," The Master said.
"Why did you save me then?" Osgood asked.
The Master gave her a blank look for a moment and then said, "I don't know. I just didn't want you to die."
"That's . . . Clara talking," The Doctor said in a voice filled with pain.
"Don't you get it yet? I am Clara. I always have been. There never was anyone else. It was me. It was always just me so you're wasting your breath trying to appeal to Clara. She no longer exists," The Master said in anger.
"She had to come from somewhere though. You were a good person once and that goodness came back to you when you were her. Clara wasn't just a trick, Koschei. Clara was you. The real you. The person who was my friend so long ago," The Doctor said through gritted teeth.
"Your friend is as dead as Clara Oswald," The Master said.
"Then why are you being so kind to Osgood then? You saved her life and even now you're not trying to kill her. The Master would have already cut her down a long time ago," The Doctor said.
"Oh, is that why you think I'm still Clara somehow? I can easily explain that. I don't have to stop her, Doctor, because I'm not in any danger from her. I never was," The Master said.
"What? What are you talking about?" Osgood asked.
"I have complete and absolute control of your mind. I always have from the moment that I first hypnotized you. You couldn't shoot me now if your life depended on it. Go ahead. Try," The Master said.
"You think I won't? If you don't stop right now I will. I will do it I swear," Osgood said.
"Go ahead then," The Master said with no worry whatsoever in her voice.
"Just put the gun down, Osgood," The Doctor said.
"There's no need to worry, Doctor. She's not going to shoot anyway," The Master said confidently.
Then she screamed in shock and surprise as Osgood shot her in the arm!
"I'm sorry," Osgood said in an upset tone even as she continued to hold the gun on her.
"It's always the women. Always! Even when I'm one of them," The Master said in disbelief.
"Apparently her mind is a lot stronger than you thought, Koschei. She's definitely no pudding brain," The Doctor said with a triumphant smirk.
He quickly started to scream in pain though as the Master suddenly increased her mental assault on him.
"Zip it, Old Man. I'll deal with you later," The Master said.
Then she turned to look at Osgood with eyes filled with anger as she said, "I was good to you and this is what I get in return. Now you're going to find out why it's never a good idea to cross me."
"No!" The Doctor screamed as the Master pulled out her laser screwdriver and aimed it at Osgood while keeping her remaining hand in the telepathic circuits.
Osgood turned pale with terror as she said, "No, please don't!"
"The time for mercy is over with now, Osgood. Good bye," The Master said as she fired a yellow laser at her.
Osgood screamed and closed her eyes in terror even as she blindly fired her gun at the exact same time.
Then she suddenly opened her eyes as she realized, "I'm still alive. I wasn't hit."
"No, I changed my mind at the last second and hit one of the roundels on the wall instead. I don't know why I did that," The Master said with a surprised look on her face.
"You still didn't kill her even when you easily could have. Doesn't that tell you something? The old Master definitely would have without a second thought," The Doctor said with a hopeful look on his face.
"I am the old Master, Doctor, or have you forgotten who's currently torturing you?" The Master asked.
"Part of you, no matter how small, is still Clara Oswald though. Being her changed you didn't it? It changed you for the better," The Doctor countered.
"Oh, you'd really like to believe that wouldn't you? You always did have to believe the best about everyone and everything didn't you? There is no good inside of me though, Doctor. I don't think that there ever was to start with," The Master said.
"I don't believe that. Clara Oswald was kind and caring, and she had one of the biggest hearts of anyone that I have ever known. She sacrificed something that was precious to her just to save a child that she barely knew, and she almost sacrificed her own life to save me. You can't tell me that all of that just came from the mental reprogramming done by the Arch. That had to come from the heart," The Doctor said.
"You're so wrong, Doctor. You're about to find out just how wrong," The Master said.
She then used the laser screwdriver to shoot the gun out of Osgood's hand, and then quickly shot her unconscious with her next blast.
"Now that she's out of the way it's time to finally end this once and for all," The Master said.
The Master then sent a concentrated burst of painful memories into the Doctor's mind that were so overwhelming that he immediately screamed in agony and then passed out from the pain. As soon as he hit the ground, the Master ordered the TARDIS to dematerialize.
"You were right to be wary of me back when we first met. You should never have let me inside," The Master said to the TARDIS with a grim smile.
The TARDIS materialized right over Kate Stewart who now looked at her surroundings in shock as she said, "What's happening, Clara? Did the Cybermen do that to the Doctor and Osgood?"
"No, I did," The Master said as she pointed her laser screwdriver at Kate now with a sinister smile.
"I take it that you have her now," Missy's voice said from the console.
"Oh, yes. The Doctor and Kate Stewart are now completely at my mercy. Mission accomplished, Ushas," The Master said proudly.
"Just because you have me doesn't mean that you've won. They'll still keep on fighting even without me," Kate said.
"You're not even surprised in the slightest that the person who you think of as a friend has just betrayed you? You've even colder than the Doctor," The Master said in disbelief.
"You're obviously under Missy's mental influence. I've read about it in my father's papers," Kate said.
The Master laughed as she said, "Missy was never the Master, Kate. That's just what she wanted everyone to think so that no one would suspect that the real Master had been hiding among them all along."
Kate now showed a trace of emotion at last as she said, "No, it can't be."
"Oh, but it can. I am the Master, Kate, the same person who you gave access to the Black Archives before. Now won't that come in handy someday soon?"
Kate looked at her in absolute horror as the Master began to laugh and said, "That's right, Kate. You just gave me the key to your toy box, and I'll definitely use it later. You can believe me on that. For now though, you're going to help me in a very different way. You're going to give your soldiers the order to stand down and surrender, and you're going to give it now."
"I'll never give that order," Kate said.
"Oh, but you will, Kate. It just won't be really you doing it. Do you have enough of a voiceprint to copy her voice with now, computer?" The Master said to the console.
"Affirmative," The TARDIS' computer answered.
"Change the holographic interface to look like her then and project it outside. Tell it to say exactly what I tell you," The Master said.
"No!" Kate shouted as she started to rush at the Master.
The Master shot her down with the laser screwdriver before she even got close to her.
"Again with the stun setting? Maybe I am going soft. I guess I owe her a soufflé later too," The Master said with a chuckle.
Then she watched on the monitor as the hologram of Kate was projected to the soldiers. The Master smiled as she carried out the last part of her plan and spoke as Kate while she ordered the soldiers to surrender to the Cybermen.
Some of the soldiers did as ordered immediately even as others refused. The Master had anticipated that too though and gave orders to the loyal soldiers to turn their guns on the ones who had disobeyed.
As the two sets of UNIT soldiers faced each other in a tense standoff, she began to laugh maniacally. Sometimes humans were their own worst enemies especially when they mindlessly followed orders.
Clara had made the same mistake herself when she stopped questioning the Doctor the Master mused. For that alone she deserved to die.
Or was she really dead at all? If she wasn't, then why did she suddenly feel as if she had just stabbed the Doctor in the back? Furthermore why did she care?
Missy now entered the TARDIS in triumph as she said, "Very good. There's still resistance but I have a feeling that that will be taken care of very soon now. We've won, Koschei. How does it feel to have finally beaten him at last?"
"Not as good as I thought it would," The Master said sadly.
Missy looked at her oddly as she said, "Are you having regrets? You?"
To Missy, the Master seemed to be wrestling to come to some kind of decision, and she was really starting to worry about what that decision just might be. She was almost sure now just by the look on the Master's face that whatever her final decision was that it would definitely not be in her favor.
"Don't even think about backing out now," Missy warned.
"I'm not thinking about it, Ushas," The Master said.
Then she shot Missy down as she said with an evil smile, "I'm doing it."
The Master quickly used the TARDIS to hack into the Cyberiad, the collective consciousness of the Cybermen. She smiled as she used her computer skills to give new orders to the Cybermen that caused them all to immediately shut down.
Then she walked over to the still unconscious Doctor and briefly placed her hands on the sides of his head. She then proceeded to do the same thing to Kate, Osgood, and Missy.
Sometime later, the Doctor woke up to discover Clara standing over him with a huge smile on her face as he asked, "What just happened?"
"That's what I'd like to know as well," Kate said as she and Osgood both woke up at the same time.
"Well, you were all overcome by Missy who it seemed had just won. She had even tricked the soldiers into surrendering. I wish she had done it a little sooner actually because I accidentally got hit by one of their bullets in the crossfire between them and the Cybermen . I' m okay though. It's just a flesh wound. Luckily for you I have a high tolerance for pain so you still had your Soufflé Girl on the job. I hacked into the Cyberiad and shut all of the Cybermen down. I even knocked out Missy when she came in here to try to stop me. In other words, I just saved the day all by myself singlehandedly. Am I good or what, Old Man? Did Missy's attack on your minds really scramble your brains that hard? Don't you remember any of this?" The Master said.
"Yes. Yes, of course. I remember now," Kate said in a still slightly confused tone.
"I remember it perfectly," Osgood said.
"Not many people can outwit a Time Lord like that," The Doctor said with a curious look on his face.
"So I did a good job then?" The Master asked eagerly.
"Yes, you did and I think that this time goodness had everything to do with it," The Doctor said.
The Master looked at him with suspicion wondering if he still remembered something after all but he seemed to show no signs of knowing who she really was. She decided to just take it as a compliment and just leave it at that.
"Well, Doctor, I have to go now. Maybe I can still find a way to save and restore the minds that are in the Cybermen's bodies. If we're lucky, we may even be able to build them all android bodies somehow. We have access to some of the technology of the Movellans in the Black Archive after all, and they're masters at making realistic looking androids," Kate said.
"If you come across the mind of a Danny Pink in there make sure to let me know, okay?" The Master said so as to avoid suspicion.
Kate looked at her questioningly but only said, "I will. Are you coming, Osgood?"
Osgood hesitated now as she said, "Ma'am, do you think that maybe I . . ."
As Osgood trailed off, Kate smiled already knowing what she wanted to ask her. She couldn't blame her really. Part of her wanted to do the same thing herself.
"If the Doctor wants you to go along, then you may. Just be back here as soon as you can," Kate said.
Osgood smiled and began to jump up and down with joy as she said, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
"Wait a minute. No one asked me yet. It is my ship after all," The Doctor said grumpily.
"Oh, come on, Old Man. Let her come," The Master said even as she found out to her amazement that she really meant it.
The Doctor sighed before finally saying, "Alright. Fine."
Osgood screamed and then launched herself at the Doctor. She hugged him tightly as he said, "No! No hugging! Clara, get her off of me!"
"Not me, Old Man. I already handled the Cybermen for you. This time you're going to have to fend for yourself," The Master said with a chuckle.
She wasn't sure if she had just made a huge mistake or not. She wasn't even sure if she would stick with this course of action. All that she knew was that when she was Clara and had been traveling with him instead of working against him she had been happy. She had been truly and properly happy for the first time in a long time.
Maybe that was worth exploring some more just to see where it might lead. After all if she ever changed her mind, she could always kill the Doctor later.
Next: The Master, still in the guise of Clara, continues on her adventures with the Doctor along with their new fellow traveler, Osgood. Can this actually work out or is it doomed to end right from the start? Plus more on the final fate of the Cybermen. Can Kate retrieve their minds or is it already too late? Where is Danny's consciousness anyway?