CHAPTER 24
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ENTERING THE STORM
As The Master silently waited in his TARDIS outside of Tish's house for her to return home, he began to have more and more of a feeling of being watched the longer that he was there. The feeling eventually became so intense that he was tempted to just open the front door with his laser screwdriver (he wanted it to be able to do whatever the sonic screwdriver could do after all) in order to get away from whoever it was.
He refused to do that however because Tish might not appreciate him just inviting himself inside without her permission. He was also wary of being inside in case she returned with her mother. He shuddered every time he even thought of running across her again.
So he continued to stay outside even as his general sense of foreboding increased by the moment. He began to wonder if he was just being overly paranoid or if UNIT had finally found him at last. He had been doing his best to avoid crossing paths with Kate Stewart and her flunkies for some time now, but he knew that if she was even half as good as her father was that she would eventually find him no matter how well hidden that he was.
And yet somehow he just had a feeling that UNIT had nothing to do with this whatsoever. This felt like someone very familiar to him instead even though he couldn't quite place who they were. He really hoped that it wasn't the Rani. He was fond of Ushas but he really wasn't in the mood to have to explain his past relationship with her to Tish or his present one with Tish to Ushas.
Even then he knew that it wasn't the Rani though. His subconscious knew exactly who it was. He just didn't want to admit it to himself.
Then he was forced to have to face the truth whether he liked it or not when his TARDIS' doors suddenly were forced open. He immediately aimed his laser screwdriver at the doorway as a woman dressed like an old-fashioned nanny and carrying an umbrella came walking into the Console Room with a huge grin on her face.
"Now we both know that you're not going to use that thing, dear. Not on me anyway. You're far too fond of yourself even versions of yourself from other realities," The woman said with a chuckle.
"So how did this come about then, and what are you calling yourself now? You can't really call yourself the Master anymore can you? The Mistress sounds all wrong too for that matter. No one's going to be afraid of that name are they? Harkness would have a field day with it," The Master said with a smirk even as he continued to keep his screwdriver trained on this version of him from another reality.
"I call myself Missy actually. That name's caught on rather well surprisingly enough. Do you know that I actually think that people are more afraid of me in this form than they ever were in any of our previous incarnations? Maybe it has to do with the fact that I'm actually crazier than ever now. You only thought that you were mad, but you weren't even close. I'm the whole package," Missy said with an evil grin.
The Master quickly became annoyed with her and finally said in a threatening tone, "Why are you here? I'm sure it's not to drop by and say hello."
Missy laughed as she said, "Well, I could lie and say I came to wish you happy birthday, but you know me far too well to fall for that, don't you?"
"I honestly don't care what you're up to as long as you stay out of my way," The Master admitted.
"That's not quite true though is it? You like so many of the other mes that I've come across in other dimensions lately have gone just a teensy bit soft haven't you? You may not be as bad as some of the other versions of us that I've met, but you still care about someone other than yourself don't you? Don't try lying to me about it either because I can see through your lies too. I've been watching you and I know that in your universe Romana is Tish Jones. I also know that she's your wife. That's a shocker on so many levels isn't it? I mean Romana . . . and Tish Jones? I mean she's very cute, but she's so not my type. She's far too sweet for my taste, but you seem to think very differently about her, don't you? Who knew that any of me had a thing for the good girls, eh?" Missy said with a chuckle.
"You leave her alone," The Master said as his face filled with pure anger now.
"Oh, look at you! You just proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt didn't you? You're madly in love with her. Both her and someone else. How could you ever fall for Clara Oswald in any form even if she is a Time Lady?" Missy said as she playfully twirled her umbrella around without her sinister smile ever leaving her face for a single moment.
"I don't care what you do to anyone else especially the Doctor but those two, Jenny, and Merry are off limits. If you so much as look at any of them funny, I'll rip that smile from your face," The Master threatened.
Missy's smile actually deepened at that comment as she said, "Oh, I'd so love to see you try. Unfortunately for you though you're never going to get the chance. You see I came here to ask you to join me in my plan to take over everything everywhere, but obviously you're not going to so there's no longer any point in even asking is there? No, I'm afraid that I'm just going to have to get you out of my way instead."
"How do you propose to do that exactly? Are you going to use that ridiculous outfit of yours to make me pass out in disgust?" The Master scoffed.
"Something like that, yes," Missy said with a giggle as gas started to pour out of her umbrella and quickly covered the entire room.
The Master tried to fire on her with his screwdriver even as he tried to pass out, but his shot went wild and missed Missy by a wide margin. Then before he could get off another one, the Master was already lying out cold on the floor.
"Now that I've taken you out of the equation your Doctor and his precious little family won't even realize what's coming until it's far too late to stop me. It's almost embarrassing actually just how many of me have gone wrong and actually sided or started to side with . . . him," Missy said with a disgusted look on her face.
"So do we finally move against them now at last?" The woman known as Nightshade, whose body was covered in a glowing aura of Vortex energy, said as she suddenly appeared in the room.
"Yes, it will be soon now. Very soon. We have someone else to collect first though. We must not leave any of them behind," Missy said as she closed the doors to the Master's TARDIS and began to wait.
At that very moment, Tish, Martha, and Francine were traveling through the Vortex in her TARDIS as mother and daughter had a long overdue heart to heart talk with one another. To Martha's immense relief, they were both talking things through in calm, quiet voices for once that weren't raised in a heated shouting match. She was staying out of their current conversation completely as she slowly walked through Tish's TARDIS and noted all of the differences between it and the Doctor's in order to keep herself occupied.
"So do you think that you can finally begin to start accepting Koschei a little more now that I've explained just how much that he really has changed lately to you, Mum?" Tish asked.
"I accept that he cares about certain people now, Martha, but that's still not the same thing as no longer being a dangerous psychopath towards all of the rest of us," Francine said in the least judgmental tone that she could manage.
"Mum," Tish said with a sigh.
"Tish, can you honestly tell me that if someone got in his way and he could kill them without you finding out about it that he wouldn't do that?" Francine asked in a pointed tone.
Tish reminded silent because she knew that she couldn't say that with absolute certainty. He had come a long way, but she still got the underlying feeling that if it wasn't for her and Clara that the Master would probably still slip up at some point. She wanted to have faith in him that he wouldn't, and even though part of her hated herself for not believing in him she knew better than to have blind trust in him about anything. He had proven over and over again both to her and the universe that that would be a huge mistake.
"I believe that one day he could change . . . with my help," She finally said after a long pause.
Francine couldn't help but smile at her because there was her daughter's boundless optimism on full display. She had always wanted to believe the best about everyone ever since she was a child, and sometimes she had come to deeply regret that belief.
That was why she had been so strongly against their relationship from the start because she really didn't want her daughter to wind up regretting this too. She knew full well that if the Master ever did turn on her for some reason that it would lead to a whole lot more than just hurt feelings.
She had already gotten a long look at what it might lead to.
"I know what you're thinking, Mum, and you're right. I am too optimistic about things at times. I don't know where I got that from either. I was never like that in my previous incarnations. I think it's your fault honestly," Tish said with a grin.
"My fault?" Francine asked with amusement.
"Yeah, you were such a great role model to me growing up that I just naturally assumed that everyone else was just as wonderful as you are. It's a habit that I'm still trying to break it seems," Tish said.
"You're so full of it," Martha said in a low voice from the corner of the room.
"Shut up before I leave you back with Shakespeare," Tish said in an irritated voice.
"That wouldn't be so bad actually. He absolutely adored me. Mickey might not like it though," Martha said with a chuckle.
"Tish, stop threatening to strand your sister in the past," Francine said with a frown and then she began to laugh.
"I never thought I'd ever be saying that," She admitted.
Tish laughed with her for a moment and then said in a quiet voice, "You're never going to approve of him are you?"
"Tish, if you were me would you?" Francine asked.
Tish looked down in defeat and admitted, "No, I wouldn't. I can't leave him though. I honestly love him and I want to help him be the person who he used to be so long ago once again. Can you understand that?"
Francine sighed as she said, "I'm going to try to, Tish, for your sake. I promise. I can't ever completely set aside my fears about this though. I just can't. If I do this however, then I want you to make me a promise. If you ever suspect that he's becoming dangerous again or is lying to you for any reason, I want you to leave him right away."
Tish nodded as she said, "I will. Don't worry about that. My time on the Valiant is not something that I ever want to repeat, Mum. I want to believe that's he actually changing, but I won't fool myself. If he's not then I'll leave. I won't let him put me through that again. Ever."
"Good. That's all that I can ask then," Francine said as she hugged her.
"Finally," Martha said in a relieved voice.
"Will you pipe down over there?" Tish said in a frustrated voice.
"You might as well send me to Will, Tish, because that is definitely not going to happen," Martha said in a mischievous voice.
Then an alert went off on the console and Tish and Martha both instantly became serious as Tish said, "There's another TARDIS parked outside my house. It's the Master's."
Francine became upset as she said, "Please don't land there, Tish. I don't want to see him again even if I have come to an agreement about him with you. Not this soon anyway."
"I understand. I'll take you and Martha home first, okay?" Tish said.
Before she could change the coordinates though, a woman's voice came over her console and said, "Oh, no, Romana. I'm afraid that you're not about to cheat me out of your presence that easily. I'm not about to leave you behind while I gather all of the others up. No one will be here to help that woman in her darkest hour. Absolutely no one."
"What woman? Who are you and how are you doing this?" Tish asked as she realized to her horror that someone had just taken over her TARDIS' controls.
"What's she done?" Martha asked even though she was sure that she could guess from the look on her sister's face.
"She's forcing the TARDIS to land back at my house whether I want it to or not. She's completely taken over the whole ship somehow," Tish said in disbelief.
"You know you really should have listened to your mother, Romana. You never should have trusted any version of the Master especially with the command codes to your TARDIS. I mean he hid them in his TARDIS' computer well enough, but it was quite easy for me to find them. I know all of his hiding places so well after all . . . since I am him," Missy said with mocking laughter.
"What?" Francine asked in complete confusion.
"She's a Koschei from another universe where he regenerated into a woman," Tish explained.
"That is correct, Romana, and don't even start to think for an instant that I feel the same way about you that he does. That would be the last mistake that you'll ever make if you do," Missy warned.
"What are we going to do? Is there any way to break free from her control before we land there?" Martha asked.
"No, I don't have enough time to undo it. There's only one thing to do. Both of you are going to have to hide in the maze of corridors inside the TARDIS and hope that she doesn't find you there," Tish said in a resigned voice.
"I'm not leaving you at the mercy of another Master again!" Francine protested.
"We have no other choice," Tish protested.
"Yeah, there is actually. You could just not be here at all when the ship lands. That would certainly solve the problem wouldn't it, yeah?" Rose Tyler said as she suddenly appeared next to them.
"Marion?" Martha asked in confusion.
"Nope, I'm afraid not. Like the other Master, I'm not from this universe either. I'm definitely on your side though, and I don't want her getting anywhere near any of you if that makes you feel any better. It's a long story and I'll be glad to explain it later. Right now I need to get you out of here first. Any objections to that?" Rose asked.
"Not from me," Martha said as she eagerly grabbed Rose's hand.
"Somehow I didn't think that there would be. Don't worry. I'm going to reunite you with the others very soon now because Missy's going after them next," Rose said.
"You have to warn them then. She already has the Master," Tish said.
"Don't worry. I've got it covered," Rose said with an optimistic smile.
"I hope," She then added in a much lower voice just as she used the power of the Vortex to teleport herself and the others out of the TARDIS just before it landed.
Missy's screams of anguish could be heard a mile away as she opened the TARDIS to find it completely empty not long afterward.
Back on Pete's World and completely unaware of any of this, Clara, the Metacrisis, and this universe's Rose were being examined by the Doctor on the TARDIS. He really had meant it when he had told them that he wanted to make absolutely sure that the recent changes that they had gone through hadn't harmed them in any way.
That went triple for Clara it seemed as he ran the most tests on her of any of them. After spending over an hour having to lie completely still while he poked and prodded her with every instrument in the medical bay, she had finally had it at last.
"Doctor, if you do one more test on me I swear that I will ram each and every one of those instruments of yours where the sun doesn't shine. Got it? Now tell me what they all say. I think I deserve to know after having gone through about a hundred different tests in just over an hour," Clara finally said in an extremely angry voice.
"It wasn't that many," The Doctor protested.
"Just tell me," Clara demanded.
"They all say that you're fine. Your brain is perfectly normal except for the fact that you now have incredible mental powers once again. Other than that you're just like you always were," The Doctor finally admitted.
Clara began to smile with relief as she said, "Well, I'm certainly glad to know that, Chin Boy. Why were you doing so many tests then?"
The Doctor looked at her in frustration now as he said, "It's because they can't be right. That's why. You can't have that much psychic power and not have it do something to you. It should be driving you mad again but every test says that it's not. They all show that you have all of it perfectly under control."
"So you're actually disappointed that I'm not trying to kill all of you again?" Clara asked in disbelief.
"Well, I'm certainly not. I've had more than enough of that lately," Jenny quickly added.
"I'm not disappointed. I just don't want to have overlooked something and have it come back to haunt us later. I just need to make certain that you really are alright. I need to know for sure," The Doctor admitted in an extremely worried voice.
Clara began to smile as she said, "I already told you before. I'm fine now. Everything's okay now. I'm finally the person that I was always supposed to be, Doctor. The other me got it right at last and gave me complete control of my powers. Now I can do most of the things that I used to be able to before but at a much lower level where I can actually control them this time. I'm back to being a master telekinetic and telepath once more. I can manipulate and control people's minds again. I won't but I can if I have to. I can even see the future again. Only this time it isn't the absolute future anymore. It seems to be more like the most likely future instead. You certainly won't hear me complaining about it though. Best of all I can't alter fixed points anymore. I never needed that kind of temptation anyway believe me."
The Doctor nodded but still looked worried even as Clara tried to change the subject by saying, "Never mind me right now. What about Rose and the Metacrisis Doctor? Are they okay too?"
The Doctor began to brighten up now a little as he said, "Yes, they're both just fine. Handy's able to regenerate and everything, and Rose's powers don't seem to be harming her any either. They're both in perfect health."
"Good to know isn't it, Doctor? We're finally going to get to stay together forever just like I said that we would," Rose said in an elated voice.
"I'm not really sure about living forever, Rose, but I guess if you're there I won't get too bored," The Metacrisis said with a grin.
Rose pretended to be angry as she lightly punched him in the shoulder and said, "That'll be enough of that, Mister, or I might just start regretting going to all of that trouble."
"I don't regret it. Not for a moment. I love you, Rose Tyler," The Metacrisis said making Rose light up with joy.
"I love you too," Rose said as she kissed him.
"So what are you going to do next? Would you fancy a trip in the TARDIS again?" Clara asked curiously after they pulled away from the kiss.
Rose and the Metacrisis both shook their heads as Rose said with a smile, "No, we've actually gotten used to a nice normal life if you can believe that. I finally have a Doctor who actually does do domestics."
"That's hard to believe," Ten said automatically.
"Really? Is it that hard to believe that you would ever want a normal life?" Marion asked him honestly.
Ten looked at her with a intent look on his face as he asked, "Is that what you want?"
Marion smiled and shook her head as she said, "To be honest, no it isn't. I want to keep traveling, Doctor. I don't care where we go or who we meet as long as it's being done with you. I know that this version of you can't settle down like Handy did, and I'm perfectly okay with that because I can't either. After being trapped on Gallifrey inside of the Moment for so long, I never want to stay in one place ever again."
"I would have done it for you though," Ten admitted.
"I know and I love you so much for that. You don't have to though. I'm afraid that you're stuck with me on your trips through time and space, Doctor, whether you like it or not," Marion said.
"You certainly won't hear me complaining," Ten said as he gave her a passionate kiss.
The Doctor couldn't help but smile at this as he watched them. He was so glad that Marion finally had the happy life that she had always deserved to have.
As he looked at Rose who was still kissing Handy, he realized that Rose had actually gotten that happy life twice over but in very different ways. It was almost as if the two different sides of Rose's personality were both being allowed to live out their dreams now as Rose had her nice, quiet domestic life and Marion had a life of action and adventure awaiting her with her version of the Doctor.
He had finally gotten his wish too by getting his Alura back, and he didn't want anything to ruin it this time.
"It won't, Doctor. I promise," Clara said not even having to read his mind to know what he was thinking.
"I assume that Rose and Handy are going to stay here on Pete's World but what about you two?" Jenny asked Marion and Ten.
They both looked at one another in silence for a brief moment and then Marion said with a slightly nervous expression on her face, "If it's okay with all of you, I'd like to leave the group. I think that I can finally trust all of you to take care of yourselves now that Clara's brain is fixed and the Master is on the straight and narrow more or less thanks to Tish. I really would like to do something for myself now. I want to use my powers to travel through time and space with my Doctor while we continue to have adventures together. It'll be just like it always was except without the TARDIS."
The Doctor smiled at her and said, "If that's what you want, then go ahead, Marion. I'll miss you but I'll also be so happy for you."
"Thank you, Doctor. Promise me that you and Clara will be happy too, okay? Otherwise I might have to come back and give you a slap upside the head to knock some sense into you!" Marion said with a huge grin covering her face as she gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
"Oi!" Ten said indignantly.
"Oh, shut up. That was like the kind of kiss I'd give my Mum," Marion said with a warm smile.
"I know but I still don't have to like it," Ten admitted.
"Well, I hope that you like this much better," Marion said as she gave him a deep passionate kiss.
As they pulled away from the kiss, Ten stared at her in silence for a moment and then said, "Yeeeah, I definitely liked that."
"I thought you might," Marion said with a grin as she kissed him again.
"Well, I guess it's time for the rest of us to go home then now that that's been settled, Mr. Chin," Clara said in an awkward tone after a few moments when the two of them would not stop kissing.
"Now you know how I feel whenever you two start going at it," Jenny whispered to her with a chuckle.
"We're nowhere near that bad," Clara whispered back.
"Yeah, right. Sometimes I actually lose count of exactly how long that you've been sucking face. That's how long you two kiss sometimes," Jenny shot back.
Then their happy mood was suddenly broken as the other Rose, Tish, Martha, and Francine appeared next to them in a burst of golden energy. This Rose knew that she didn't have long to get them out of there before Missy and Nightshade showed up to kidnap them too so she had to do a little bit of kidnapping herself.
"What's going on? Who are you? Are you the past me again?" The Rose of Pete's World asked the Rose of the other universe.
"No, I'm from another reality altogether, and I've come to keep you from captured. I really don't have time to explain. I just need to get you all out of here now, and then I'll talk about it later. I'm sorry that you're not going to get to go traveling just yet, Marion. You will soon though if I have anything to say about it," The other Rose said.
"How do you know about that?" Marion asked suspiciously.
"I know a lot of things, Marion. I'm both the White Guardian in my universe and the Bad Wolf. That's quite a combination I'll tell you. It means that there really isn't much that I don't know about when I really want to know it. Trust me. I'm on your side. I'm trying to save you," The White Guardian Rose pleaded.
"It's another Master, Doctor, a female one. She's from another universe too, and she's already captured Koschei," Tish explained.
The Doctor looked at the White Guardian Rose intently for a moment and then said with a smile, "Alright, let's go. I always trust and believe in Rose Tyler no matter what universe that she's from."
"Okay, now I'm jealous," Clara admitted with a frown.
"I always trust my Clara too," The Doctor quickly added.
"That's better, Chin Man," Clara said as she kissed him.
White Guardian Rose couldn't help but look away at that. He wasn't her Doctor but the idea of anyone else kissing any Doctor bothered her even if it was someone that she loved and trusted in her own universe.
She supposed that she never would completely get over her jealousy of him.
"It's okay, Rose. I often feel the exact same way," Clara admitted as she saw the look on her face.
White Guardian Rose's smile at that quickly faded as she said, "They're coming. We have to go now."
"Go where?" Clara asked.
"My universe. Right now it needs all the help that it can get because I'm the only Guardian left there. That's why I'm recruiting all of the different versions of the people that I trust the most from other realities. Missy is after all of the Doctors of your universes too after all which is why she's taking all of you. She wants to kill all of them and their friends. Well, she and Nightshade both do actually," White Guardian Rose admitted.
"Who's Nightshade?" The Doctor asked.
"She is," White Guardian Rose said with a frightened look as the glowing woman who had been with Missy before appeared before them.
"Three Roses! There are three of you!" Nightshade screamed in pure anger.
"Did I mention that she really, really hates me, and that's why she wants to kill all of the Doctors everywhere?" White Guardian Rose said.
"We kind of got that idea already, Guardian Rose," Clara said.
"Guardian Rose?" White Guardian Rose said in surprise.
"Well, I have to have some way of telling you apart from the other two Roses. Is it Rosii or Roses? Whatever," Clara said with a shrug.
"There will be no way of telling them apart soon because they will all be dead!" Nightshade promised as she began to glow with energy.
"We've got to go! Now!" White Guardian Rose shouted as she snapped her fingers and they all vanished in a burst of golden energy leaving Nightshade all alone now.
"That won't save them from me, Rose. Nothing will. In the end, you're always going to wind up facing me alone no matter what you do," Nightshade promised her before she too finally disappeared.
Next: A Storm is coming soon as our cast becomes a part of a huge event crossing over all of my universes that's coming soon as the greatest heroes of all of my universes must face down Missy and Nightshade for the future of the entire multiverse. Then our cast will return back here next time (with a full explanation of what happened for those of you who don't want to read any other stories) to celebrate their 25th chapter as they deal with the fallout of the horrible events that they will have witnessed in the Guardian Who Universe. Will all of this make them change their minds about how their lives have been going up until now? Some of our cast may just make monumental life-changing decisions as a result of what happens there.