Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained herein, I merely make them dance in what I hope is true to their rhythm.

Chapter 10

Rescued?

The Doctor had sat at the desk for some time, making a rubber band ball out of some rubber bands he had found in a drawer. He had made it quite sizable, and nearly used all of the rubber bands he had found before looked back at the progress bar. It was still only 68 per cent complete.

"Ugh," he said grumpily. "I hate when time moves like this. Slowly, and in the right order." He leaned back and tossed the rubber band ball up in the air and caught it. He did this two or three times before it got caught again, but it wasn't by his hand.

The hand that caught it darted into his vision quickly and snagged the ball just after it had reached the apex of its arc. The hand was delicate, with thin fingers, and long fingernails that were painted a deep shade of crimson. The fingernails themselves were pointy, as though they had been filed into claws.

"Hello there," said the Doctor, turning around in the chair. He liked the chair. It had wheels and it swiveled. Rolly, swivelly chairs were cool. "John Smith, Health and Safety," he said, but then he saw the face that the hand belonged to. "But you know that's not true," he said slowly. "You don't care about anyone's health or safety. You murdered a pizza boy just because he was there."

Lust smiled. "You have me at a disadvantage, Doctor," she said. "You know my past misdeeds, but I don't know any of yours. Come on," she said in an enticing voice. She leaned forward, exposing her ample cleavage. "Tell me how you've been a bad boy."

The Doctor's face was hardened. He wasn't going to say anything to her, no matter what she looked like. "You can't use your feminine wiles with me, Lust," he said in a low voice. "I have a wife. Well, I've had several wives. Well, they were all at different times, and they never lived during the same period of time. Queen Elizabeth now..." but he trailed off. "I'm sorry, listen to me go on about my past. You were saying something about having me trapped here?"

Lust raised her eyebrows. "I don't think I said anything of the sort," she said. "Although yes, we do have you trapped here." She looked over his shoulders, to his left, then his right. "We have you surrounded, in fact."

The Doctor didn't look concerned. "And what about my friends?" he asked. "I assume that your Master took the shape of Mr. Gates?"

Lust smiled at him. "You're too clever for your own good sometimes, Doctor," she said. "Yes, you are right, of course. Bill Gates rarely ever comes to the headquarters. When he works, he works from home. Just to ensure he wouldn't interfere today though by actually showing up, our friend Sloth was sent to keep an eye on him."

The Doctor frowned. "Do you think your friend Sloth can lay a finger on Bill Gates, the richest man on Earth?" he asked.

Lust smirked. "Sloth doesn't have to," she said. "Sloth just happens to be Mr. Gates's head of security. Fortunately, nobody thinks that attacking the richest man on Earth is a wise decision, because that would mean Sloth having to actually work. He ever so hates work, you know."

The Doctor was close to sneering, which was very unlike him. "You didn't answer my question," he said.

"Oh yes," said Lust. "Your friends. Yes, they are with my Master. They are quite safe as long as you don't try anything stupid."

The Doctor smirked. "You really don't know me, do you?" he asked. "Because 'try anything stupid' is my middle name!" he shouted, leaping out of the chair and pulling out his sonic screwdriver.

He had kept one eye on the progress bar on the computer during his chat with Lust, and it had finally uploaded the full program. The second it had done that, he made his move.

He aimed the sonic screwdriver at the fire alarm near the door. It instantly went off, blaring at a high volume. He then aimed the screwdriver at the sprinkler system, which apparently had a flood mode, as it immediately started spraying a large volume of water everywhere.

"Get him!" cried a voice. The Doctor realized that voice belonged to Envy.

The Doctor was not a person that intended to be gotten, of course. He snatched the flash drive out of the computer now that it had done its job, pushed his increasingly wet hair out of his eyes, and sprinted towards the stairwell. He bowled over Lust on his way there, and caught her claw nails on the cheek as he went by.

"Sorry!" he called back over his shoulder. "It's not you, it's me!"

He got to the stairwell and threw open the door. He knew that Martha and Sean would be upstairs, and the elevator would be shut down with the fire alarm going off. They would have to get out quickly to avoid the fire department and police when they showed up to respond to the alarm going off.

He couldn't think about that now though, as he had to get his friends back. He sprinted up the staircase, taking three steps at a time.

"I really do get a lot of cardio done," he said out loud, breathing heavily. "Who needs a personal trainer when you're always running for your life?"

After four or five more levels, he was near the top floor. As he reached the final landing before the stairs went up to the roof, the roof door opened, and in walked two people.

One of the people he had seen before, and one of them he knew of, but had never met.

"Hello, Greed," said the Doctor casually. "Hello, Pandora. It's a great pleasure and an honor to meet you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to save my friends."

"We're here to help," said Greed quickly. "Just tell us what we need to do."

The Doctor stopped and stared. He hadn't expected that. "What do you want in return?" he asked slowly.

Greed looked insulted. "It's always something, isn't it?" he asked in a hurt voice. "Can't a guy just want to help somebody out that needs it without having some ulterior motive?"

"Not if the guy is you," said the Doctor shortly. He made a quick decision. "Fine, you can help, just stay behind me and follow my lead." He walked through the door at the top floor, and Greed and Pandora followed close behind him.

Not far in front of him, still standing at the elevator, were Sean, Martha, and the Master.

The Doctor calmly walked forward. "Hello, dear," he said, and the Master looked up. He shook his head.

"Now, Doctor," he said. "I would have thought you knew better than to try something stupid like rescue your friends. You know what I have to do now." The Master smiled widely.

"No," said the Doctor. "That's not going to happen. I'm here, and I'm going to rescue my friends. Ready to go, chaps?" he said to Martha and Sean.

Martha nodded. "Absolutely," she said.

Sean gulped. He didn't know what the Doctor was playing at, but they were still standing right next to the Master, who could probably kill them without a second thought. He didn't know why Martha was so eager to die, and the Doctor was ready to let it happen. "Doctor," he said. "Go on, get out of here. You don't have to try to save me, I'll be fine."

The Doctor frowned. "Sean, has something gone wrong in your head?" he asked. "Of course I'm going to save you, and do you really think you'll be okay if I just walk away?" He nodded at the Master. "He won't care whether it hurts me or not that you die. It would be a plus for him if it did, of course, but me being apathetic about your death won't stop him from doing it."

The Master looked bored. "He's right, you know," he said to Sean. "You and Miss Jones here were both going to die anyway. By coming here, the Doctor only succeeded in quickening the process."

Before he knew what was happening, Sean felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Looking down, he saw the handle of a dagger sticking out of his belly. He looked back up and saw the Master smiling at him.

Luckily, Martha thought a little more quickly than he did. He saw a dark fist swim quickly into his slowly clouding vision and strike the Master at his temple. The last thing Sean remembered was seeing the Master fall to the ground as he himself went to his knees and collapsed. Then everything went black.