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Here we go!

The Master Chronicles 12 - Beyond the Law

Skull Moon, the Last Great Time War…

The chaos of battle was something common to fighting wherever you were in the universe…but at Skull Moon it was more so than anyone would ever believe possible.

The surface was covered with the corpses of the dead, Time Lord and Dalek alike to say nothing of the various pawns used by both species. The War Seeds of the Master had been heavily deployed here and many had marched straight into the heart of the fighting where survival was impossible.

The War Master while he delighted in chaos and pointless death but even, he had his fill here he thought as he looked out at the devastation of the moon. It wasn't even limited to a single death as the time weapons used by both sides would revive you only to kill you again and again and again. The moon had always been known as Skull Moon and no-one knew why since it had no real resemblance to any skull shape. Perhaps it was an echo of this battle going back through time that had given it the name the Master thought with some grim musings.

The Master looked out at the now largely shattered moon, it would eventually break into rubble and all this would have been for nothing although the Time Lords had won by sheer virtue of having lost less trying to take it and would probably find some way to hold it together. This place was excellent for using special time weapons against the enemy and directed towards all points in time, so the Time Lords would be able to use it to devastate the Daleks at several points in history.

At the doorway to his Tardis, Jaime stood beside him with an exhausted look on her face from the intense fighting of all the time they had been here. Her face was smudged with dirt from fighting in the harshest places. Her trademark black leather jacket was battered and torn as were her combat trousers, covered with dirt and tears. Her hair was matted and tangled, and her face tired from endless days of fighting.

"Please sir, can you do a scheme? I don't mind what it is but please…make far from the war." Jaime said to him looking far more grim than usual.

The Master nodded, himself keen to be as far from the war for a little while at least. They had been to a lot of battles recently, just prior to this they had been to the Ulterium and fought in its ruins. That too had been a vicious struggle and it was getting worse as war moved into each new segment.

"Indeed, my dear. My old friend has out done even me in the slaughter stakes this time." The Master said almost bitterly as it had been the Doctor or whatever he called himself these days that had commanded the Time Lords here. This day had left much blood on his hands and he had earnt himself a new name from this the Master thought with some irony, the 'Butcher of Skull Moon'.

"No Doctor could be responsible for this." Jaime said with cold dismissal. "Is he even the Doctor anymore?" She asked him and the Master himself was concerned at the implications not least for himself if the Doctor let go of his morals and decided to give in to the chaos and brutality of the universe and respond in kind.

"Perhaps, he is merely the man stripped of all disguise. He has broken his promise, the one he made when he chose that name. I at least have never broken mine." The Master said thinking back to the days of his youth when they, meaning the young renegades of Deca had chosen their names. How much like children they had been back then he thought with nostalgia, how innocent of how the universe worked. Well, not many of them were around now he thought coldly. The only ones he was certain were still alive were him and the Doctor.

A chirping from the console provided a much-appreciated distraction from mournful topic at hand, the Master eagerly went over and checked it before smiling.

"At last! I have been looking for one of these for a while now. It's a probe I sent out some time ago to look through alternate realities till I could find what I wanted. Now my dear it is time we paid a visit to another reality once again." The Master said brightly and Jaime smiled in relief, keen just to be as far from the Time War as they could get.

"Brilliant sir! Which one are we going too?" She asked him eagerly and the Master frowned a little when he looked at their destination and told her reluctantly.

"Well…it's not pretty. A bit bleak in some ways but a few good points."

"Oh." Jaime said with some wistful sighing before he set the co-ordinates and they took off to visit another universe.

Mega City One, Alternate Earth…2100…

The unbroken concrete landscape of Mega City One stretched from Washington DC to Boston or rather where those two cities had once stood as nothing of them remained now nor of anything that had once been between them.

All of it was now one city, Mega City One. A vast metropolitan city containing over eight hundred million people, all living in the crumbling ruins of the old world and huge Mega Blocks of the new one. Surrounded by an enormous wall that shielded the city from the irradiated wasteland beyond, nothing for miles until you reached one of the other two other Mega Cities in the North American Continent.

Crime was extraordinarily high, in just one day seventeen thousand crimes were reported. The only law enforcement in the city were the Judges, men and women belonging to the Department of Justice. Police officers, judges and executioners all roles into one.

But it was a constant war for them to try and maintain order in a city that was always on the edge of tearing itself apart at the seams. Justice was brutal and swift but it was the only way to maintain order.

And of all of these judges, none were as feared as Judge Dredd.

- x -

Dredd had only been on call for an hour and already he was on his third incident of the day.

He weaved his Lawmaster bike, its machine guns firing as he chased down some perps that had just committed an armed robbery. They shot back at him but that mattered little to Dredd, all he cared about was taking these perps down before anyone else died.

Finally, his machine guns managed to shred one of the tires on their stolen vehicle, it was enough to make the driver lose control and slam hard into a nearby support for the overhead train line. Thankfully the pillar was made of highly reinforced concrete and steel, meaning it resisted the impact quite well but that didn't mean Dredd didn't make note of it as he stopped the bike.

"Bike. Activate Crowd Control. Control, perps crashed their vehicle into railway support pillar at my present location. Alert city maintenance for inspection." Dredd said as he dismounted with his Lawbringer sidearm already in hand. The impressively sophisticated vehicle did immediately as he commanded and started a recorded message to the people who gathered around the crash site.

Dredd walked up to the crashed vehicle as the sole remaining occupant crawled out of the damaged vehicle and grabbed a nearby woman to use as a hostage. He had one leg in a twisted position and blood running from at least two places on his head but still managed to stand up and hold his gun at the head of the terrified citizen.

"Let's talk." Dredd said as he assessed the scene. The perp had the sense to hide his head behind the woman so he couldn't get a clear shot but looking around him he already an alternate option but he would try to offer the perp one chance to live to reduce the risk to the civilian. "Drop the weapon and release the hostage unharmed and I will guarantee you a sentence of life imprisonment in an isocube without parole."

"That? That is the best deal you got?" The perp said almost with scorn but Dredd was unmoved.

"Only if you comply." Dredd warned him, meanwhile preparing for when he rejected the deal.

"No chance you mother fucker!" The perp said, almost spitting the words out.

"Very well. Ricochet." Dredd said, aiming his Lawbringer as he spoke. The gun responded to his command immediately and then Dredd pulled the trigger. A rubber-titanium round shot out and bounced off the nearby wall and then tore through the perp's head.

Like a puppet with its strings cut he fell to the ground, the woman who had been in tears with fear looked over and told him.

"Thank you Judge."

Dredd didn't even acknowledge her; he just turned and went back to his bike while making a report.

"Dredd to control. Alert clean-up for corpse recycling."

- x -

Sector House, Sector 13…An Hour Later…

After a few less eventful incidents, Dredd returned to the Sector House. He saw the Chief Judge standing there looking as unruffled as ever but more to his surprise he saw Anderson standing next to her. Anderson had come a long way from the innocent little rookie he had taken out on assessment and it had only been just a year. Dredd thought, admitting that Anderson belonged in that uniform.

"Good, I want you two with me. The Judges might have a new asset to help take back the city. I want you two there to hear what they have to say." The Chief said before turning on her heel and walking off in the direction one of storage areas. Dredd shared a brief look with Anderson before following her.

He saw immediately that the space had been converted, now filled with various pieces of lab equipment. At one of them they saw a tall woman with dark hair tied back, wearing a white lab coat over a blue shirt, sensible grey pants and black shoes.

"Miss Waters." The Chief Judge said shortly to get her attention and the woman jumped slightly as she had clearly been caught up in what she was doing and not heard them approach. If she had been a judge, she wouldn't last a day being that easily distracted Dredd thought dismissively. But the woman however wasn't embarrassed at all. She just smiled brightly before telling them.

"Sorry, I was just trying out some new improvements on an experiment I've been working on. Anyway, the Professor will see you now." Miss Waters told them. And led them over to the other side of the lab where a much older man was busy working. Dredd nor Anderson missed that he was working on a disassembled Lawbringer and wondered just what the Chief wanted their opinion on. The old man looked up and smiled warmly at them, seeming almost dotty in the way he looked around and dressed in an old-fashioned tweet suit but Dredd knew people well enough to see an intelligence behind those eyes and a cunning mind too. The small details such as how he stood or sat, ready to move at a moment's notice and took everything in that he saw and gave nothing back.

He was no foolish absentminded professor; Dredd reasoned and felt a little on edge around the man.

"Greetings, you must be Judges Dredd and Anderson. A pleasure to meet you. I am Professor Yana." The Old Man said, holding out his hand for them to shake which they did although in Dredd's case it was a little reluctant. "Now what was it you wanted to talk to me about again?" The man said, playing the part of the dotty old man to perfection even if Dredd already suspected it was all an act.

"You were giving us a run down on the new technologies you are bringing to Mega City One, Professor." The Chief Judge said calmly and with a bit of impatience.

"Oh yes of course." The Professor said with a slightly dazed smile before gesturing towards the screen which had several schematics moving across it. He picked up a pad and started moving his fingers across it.

"Well, firstly I have created some improvements and new toys for your good selves to use. I have made some upgrades to the Lawbringer sidearms you use. I have managed to shrink the existing ammunition down so more can be fitted into a clip. Reinforced your body armour with a new polymer that is far more resistant to gunfire and bladed weapons. And to allow you Judges an edge against crowds I developed the Sonic Drones as I call them." The Professor said, pointing to a specially modified drone with a strange cannon mounted underneath the body.

"Equipped with a sonic cannon that creates vibrations sufficient to render an adult human unconscious within thirty seconds. Useful for crowd control." The Professor explained and then turned to Anderson and pulled out a Judge's helmet from below the desk. "I do believe you are a psychic young lady. Would I be correct?" The Professor asked and Anderson despite being annoyed at being talked to like she was five nodded with a frown on her face.

"A normal helmet interferes with your psychic abilities I understand. So, I created this, it's made of slightly different material and will not only allow you to use your powers properly even with the helmet on, but actually enhance them." The Professor said, smiling as he handed Anderson the special helmet and with a look from the Chief Judge and a slight twitch of Dredd's that let her know he didn't approve, she put the new helmet on.

"Whoa." Anderson said as she was flooded with more feelings and thoughts than normal. Her powers now reaching out further than usual.

"It will take some getting used to." Miss Waters said kindly.

"Indeed, and will hopefully prove to be a great asset to you." The Professor said with a kind look in his eyes. Dredd however saw a slight twitch of the lips that made him wonder if it was just another trick and whether he should tell Anderson to ditch the helmet immediately.

"The Professor and I have been travelling to all the Mega Cities in the world to share these upgrades with all the judges but he has also been building clean fusion power plants to give the cities all the energy they need. He's been making key upgrades to the infrastructure of each Mega City to make it run efficiently and has been building air scrubber platforms that float around the skies to clean up air and automated drones to purify and clean up the oceans." Miss Waters said, almost gushing at all the old man had done.

The Professor seemed almost embarrassed by all the praise and told her with a gentle laugh.

"Miss Waters! I am sure the Judges don't want to hear about that! I am merely doing what I can to ensure the world we leave behind is a better one." The Professor said with a mournful smile at how the world had been ruined.

"But it's true sir. And you even created those radiation converters, set up the collector panels and towers outside the city to store up all that radiation before converting it into safe clean energy while reducing the radiation outside the city walls to a much safer level." Miss Waters said, still in awe of the Professor and all he had achieved.

Even the Judges were impressed at this point, they had been silently watching for now as the two spoke. Assessing them to see if they were on the level.

"Well Professor, Miss Waters duty calls." The Chief Judge said before leading Dredd and Anderson out of the lab and turned to them both with Anderson still wearing her special helmet.

"Well, do you think they're on the level?" The Chief Judge asked, she trusted Dredd's instincts and Anderson's powers and wanted their opinion before she allowed them to operate in Mega City One.

"No." Dredd said coldly. "Something is off about the old man. He's not all he seems and neither is the woman."

"I didn't sense anything like that." Anderson said with confusion at her and Dredd being so far apart in their estimations. "The desire to help the city is real."

The Chief Judge was torn, not sure just what to do in the face of such opposing opinions. Dredd and Anderson shared a look, making the Chief wonder just what was going through their minds. Eventually she came to decision.

"We let them operate but we keep a very close eye on what they do. Any sign of law breaking or trouble of any kind you bring it to me immediately." The Chief told them and Anderson nodded easily while Dredd was reluctant.

Something was off, and he didn't like it one bit.

Six Months Later…

Mega City One was still as chaotic as ever since the arrival of the Professor and his creations but clean free energy for the city was solving a lot of headaches people had and the drones had been an excellent deterrent against mobs and gangs gathering in large numbers which made dealing with them a lot easier.

The radiation that made the wastelands outside the city unliveable was falling every day, now it was almost background level. The change astonished people as they had no idea just what was going on but it still impressed them. It was still a barren wasteland where nothing grew but now, they could safely move around it and even expand the city if they wanted too. Not only that but the air quality was improving too every day and the oceans, so contaminated and full of waste were now starting to look more like they used too…before the war devastated the planet.

The Professor had been very busy throughout the last six months working hard, developing his various inventions and monitoring all the projects they had going on. But he was widely celebrated for his great work and so when the city council were requested to meet with him, they agreed on the spot.

The Professor was getting ready to leave, making sure his suit was clean and he looked professional while Miss Waters had left her white lab coat behind for a nice and elegant three-piece suit. Black jacket and trousers with green blouse and shoes with a slight heel.

"Right Anderson you are on protective detail." The Chief Judge said as they were preparing to leave and Anderson, who had just gotten back in from a long patrol and was tired but nevertheless did as she was told. Dredd, who himself had just come in after a long day walked up to her and said quietly.

"Be careful. I still don't trust those two."

Anderson frowned, she had not sensed anything even remotely threatening from the two but sighed and told Dredd as she put on her helmet.

"Will do." She told him with a somewhat exhausted tone.

Dredd stepped back as Anderson got on her bike while the other two got into their car and all left for City Hall.

- x -

"Greetings my friends." Professor Yana said to the gathered city council members, on screens around the room, Anderson was amazed to see other council members from the other Mega Cities around the world. It was insane to think they had all agreed to meet even like this, Anderson thought with slight awe that the Professor had managed to achieve this!

"Now, the purifiers in the water and the air are doing their part, the same as the radiation collectors on all the walls of all the cities around the wall. Soaking up all the radiation and storing it for the grand project." The Professor said and Anderson was confused, not sure what he meant by a 'grand project'.

"The Fusion reactors will power the cities for the future, but it is the collectors that will give the planet life again." The Professor said in almost an operatic way, like an actor performing on stage and was loving the attention she thought with amusement. "They will give the devices I constructed the power they need to breathe new life in the planet. It is time to reveal the true purpose of these machines, they are terraforming devices, highly advanced ones that will make the soil fertile, the oceans too and seed the entire planet with life again. Make it beautiful again, at least until you people wreck it again." The Professor said with a slight bite to his word that incensed some of those watching and made Anderson wonder if he was mad to say that to the most powerful people in the world.

"Each of you has the activator key to enable the terraformers, to let them rise up in the atmosphere and seed the planet. I have shown you all the proof that the technology works. All that is needed is for me to unlock the controls, and for that you all know the price. You all know what I want." The Professor said, getting closer to the height of his performance.

Anderson was now wondering if he was extorting the world leaders and if she should step in but Miss Waters stepped between them and shook her head which made Anderson stop and ponder just what game the Professor was playing.

"You want the girl over there, right?" One of the council members from Mega City One said, nodding towards Anderson who blinked in surprise at the statement and thinking for a moment that she couldn't have heard that right.

"Indeed, in exchange for your new and restored world…Judge Cassandra Anderson will become my property." The Professor said, his manner now changing becoming colder and almost demonic. "I have need of a human psychic for a future plan of mine and she is perfect for my purpose. I could search another hundred years and not find one so suitable. But if you want your new world, it will be bought with her, the enslavement of another human being. Tainted by her blood and loss of freedom. If you agree to my terms…please enable the terraforming device within each of your cities. I have allowed you that much control." The Professor said and Anderson now realising her life was in danger raised her Lawbringer and pointed it at the two.

The Professor and Miss Waters were not worried at all and in fact seemed amused at her actions. The Professor pulled a device out of his pocket and told her.

"Now my dear, that is no way to treat your future Master. In fact, that is my name, The Master." The Professor/Master said with a cruel smirk and what troubled her was that she hadn't sensed any of this from them in the past. He and Miss Waters lifted up their right arm and indicated a bracelet on each of their arms. "Psychic Camouflage Units, useful little gadget my people created to confuse and misinform those species with psychic powers. They were quite useful in keeping you in the dark. I could have just kidnapped you but where is the fun in that? When I can hold an entire world hostage and act against their own better instincts." The Master said before pressing a button on his device. "And it was so nice of you to wear your new helmet my dear, it is so useful in many ways."

Anderson despite not fully understanding what he meant realised he had done something to her helmet and went to take it off but before she could she felt an intense buzzing sensation in her head and it painfully filled her mind and left her paralysed before she fell into unconsciousness.

- x -

Unknown to the City Council Members, the events taking place in the city hall chamber were being broadcast to every screen in all of the Mega Cities. Everyone looked on as their future was being debated and confused at what was going on. Many of them were actually hoping that they voted no as they realised that while they would have a new world but one stained forever by how they got it.

At the Sector House, Dredd watched what was happening too with the rest of the judges there. The Chief Judge herself looking alarmed and she turned to Dredd who didn't need to be told what she wanted as he was already running for the door. Judges Volt, Guthrie, Hershey and Francisco were right behind him as they went to their bikes and ran them at full speed towards City Hall, hoping to get there in time.

- x -

Anderson was now standing upright, still upright but effectively out cold. The Master turned to the City Council Members, some of whom looked very uncomfortable with this and reassured them.

"Oh, she's not dead. Just a temporary suppression of her higher brain functions, I can of course wake her but whether I do or not depends on whether I get what I want. The Terraforming devices won't work unless all of them are armed. So, make your decision." The Master said with a cruel smirk already knowing the position he had put them in.

The conflict was beautiful the Master thought as they all strained with the weight of the decision that he had forced them into. They all knew the world needed to be healed for the human race to survive, but at the cost of a young woman's life.

Slowly on his device, one by one the terraforming devices activated as the Councils agreed to his terms. Only those in Mega City One remained and they talked fiercely before finally, reluctantly they did as he wanted and armed their device.

"Good choice." The Master said with a smirk of triumph and Jaime now casting aside her Miss Waters persona guided the still unconscious if standing Anderson into his Tardis, now disguised as a decorative column again he thought with amusement, wondering if his Tardis enjoy that shape since it had chosen it before.

The Master then pressed the big red button on his controller and in each of the cities, a rocket launched. The people who had been watching looked on, some of them in disgust for what had been chosen for them but all turned their attention to the rockets which raced high into the sky before exploding in a dazzling array of colours.

For a moment they all thought they had duped by the Master, that hadn't a terraforming device but then suddenly out of nowhere dark clouds formed. Lightning crackled amongst them and they were thicker than any of them had ever seen. The winds picked up and everyone all over the world was astonished as it began to rain.

Rain wasn't unknown to them but not like this, huge droplets splattered all over the place as everyone ran for cover. Everyone looked out of windows at the sight in amazement, not sure what was happening but it was frightening.

The judges on their bikes that were hurrying their way to the City Hall building had to fight hard against the wind that was threatening to push them off their bikes. Francisco ended up crashing into a car and Volt went to help him while the others carried on. Dredd fought the hardest, pushing himself to the limit to keep going as City Hall came into sight.

- x -

The Master smirked and looked on with pride as he told them.

"Those storms will rage for five days but when they are done, the world outside will be a lush and verdant earth teaming with life as will the oceans. I put a lot of work into that one." The Master said proudly before walking over to the column and told them with a smirk of victory. "Oh, by the way, I took the liberty of transmitting this little discussion of ours to all of the Mega Cities, I suspect you will all have some explaining to do." He told them with a vicious smirk, seeing the door to the chamber burst open and a soaking wet Judge Dredd enter the room.

The Master just gave him a wave farewell as he raised his Lawbringer, stepping inside the Tardis and shutting the door. Dredd fired but his rounds only bounced off the Tardis's outer shell. The chamber was filled with the groaning and wheezing sound of a Tardis dematerialising into thin air right before their eyes.

Dredd stood there, almost helpless in that moment as he realised the perps had gotten away and kidnapped Anderson. He had no idea just how they had disappeared but he was fairly certain he wasn't going to be able to follow.

His anger mounting at what had happened to one of the best of the good judges in the city he turned to the City Council Members, in the screens the feeds to other cities cut off one by one as the judges in their own cities arrived.

Hershey and Guthrie arrived and Dredd raised his Lawbringer at the city council members who all started talking to stop him but Dredd just growled out.

"You are charged with aiding in a kidnapping, fraud and human trafficking. Also, the unlawful imprisonment of a judge. The sentence is death." Dredd said and without wasting another moment he fired. Hershey and Guthrie at his side did the same.

The Council Members were cut down on the spot, none of them had armour and even if they had the Judges were determined to see them dead for what they had done. A scene that was mirrored in most if not all of the Mega Cities.

- x -

The Master, whatever comfort it brought to those on that world had at least not lied.

The storms lashed the Mega Cities for five days, unlike any they had seen before or would likely ever see again, but at the end of it was something they had never dreamed of.

Like a dream, beyond the walls of the city was fields of grass, trees and abundant plant life. Insects that seemed to come out of nowhere buzzed around and beneath the surface of the ocean, coral reefs had grown along with all manner of underwater plant life.

The Master had given them a new world, but as the people gingerly examined their surroundings it was always at the back of their minds…what had been the cost of this.

The new leaders who took power afterwards worked to ensure they took care of the planet this time and enjoyed the fresh new start they had been given, but they too had to deal with the knowledge of what had happened.

However, it had happened, the Human race had been given a fresh start on this planet and they didn't intend to waste.

Villengard, The Master's Tardis, Original Universe…51st Century…

The Master was settling Cassandra into her stasis pod, next to Nyssa she looked a picture he thought with a smirk. She would be kept here till she was useful to him but that was sometime in the future.

Jaime walked in with a smirk on her face as she told him.

"I managed to get us some good stockpiles of weapons from the factories, a fair few of these sonic blasters." Jaime said holding up a sonic blaster pistol she had 'liberated'. "Before the Doctor destroyed them all." She added with annoyance. The Master nodded and told her.

"Then by all means keep that one for your collection. But unless I missed my guess, right now it is new year on this planet. So how about some fireworks?" The Master said with a smile on his face.

Jaime nodded excitedly, knowing if he considered it proper fireworks then it must be something pretty special.

The Master and her returned to the Console Room, he quickly adjusted the controls and the central column moved a few times before they both walked over to the doors. The Master opened them and Jaime's face lit up with wonder as she saw what was beyond.

The Tardis was hovering in space, but in front of them was an incredible sight.

"Cosmic fireworks." The Master said, staring at them with enjoyment at the stellar display in front of him, smiling at the wonder on Jaime's face as she watched the incredible sight before her eyes.

The Master however later when Jaime had gone to store away the Villengard weapons they'd managed to steal, frowned in worry. He rarely made trips for fun, it was always about getting things he wanted but these days he was doing it so often and much to his concern enjoying it far too much.

Jaime, he thought with annoyance. He liked showing her all the incredible wonders the universe had to offer as well as all the schemes they could get up to together. She was his perfect little soldier and he was starting to get worried that not only was he getting dependant on her which would never do he thought to himself but also that he was going soft and that was worse.

It was clear something had to be done, he thought coldly, Jaime was a powerful weapon in his arsenal. Very useful and perhaps the best servant he had ever taken but he was the Master, he thought with determination. Not the Doctor and he would need to make sure it stayed that way.

There we are, hope you liked it and please leave a review to let me know what you thought.

Next Chapter - On a mission for the Timelords the Master and Jaime return to Earth to seek out a young woman with incredible powers that are of great interest to the Timelords. Crossover with Carrie.