Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. This is not intended for profit.
Hello again, this is the chapter that brings the story up to the modern Doctor Who starting with the Christmas Invasion.
The Master Chronicles 16 - Reunion
The Doctor's Tardis, Time Vortex…
"No…no you don't." The Master said harshly as he hammered the controls of the Doctor's pathetic old crock of a Tardis. The damn thing was doing all it could to resist him and thanks to the Doctor's sabotage! He thought with anger, he was hurtling towards Twenty First Century Earth!
Oh, what he wouldn't give for his own Tardis again! The freshly regenerated Master thought with manic energy as he moved around the console, hammering the controls hard to force the ship back further and towards a specific place in London! He bashed harder and harder, the machine screaming in pain as he did so but he didn't care about what an old and ridiculously out-dated Tardis wanted or felt.
The Master finally managed to get what he wanted though, the right location in London and had managed to force the time window to move backwards, managing as the Tardis came to a hard and rocky landing to arrive not in 2008 when it had last taken off but at Christmas 2006!
"Christmas." The Master thought with an excited smile. Lots of delicious food and a perfect time to create some misery he thought with childish glee. He eagerly left the Doctor's ridiculous Tardis after making sure he had a key to let himself back in should he want too and emerged into a familiar room in London.
Scoundrels! The Master thought with relief, the best gentleman's club in London. A hive of the most greedy, selfish, arrogant and generally bad people that Britain had ever produced! A place where it didn't matter if you had killed or stolen as long as you were a member you could find a good chair here.
And speaking of chairs, the Master thought with some glee there it was…his chair. Just as he remembered it from the days when he had been all old and white haired fighting the Time War.
"My chair!" The Master said, plonking himself down in it and relaxing as he felt the after effects of his regeneration lessen as he gathered his wits.
He looked out at St James Park, the warmth from the nearby lit fire was soothing and when he rang the bell, a butler appeared almost from nowhere and the Master turned to him with his eyes burning with an almost overwhelming personality.
"Tea, six sugars and cream." The Master commanded and the butler to his credit was so scared of the Master that he didn't hesitate to obey which made the new man almost giggle with childish excitement.
Oh, this new body had so much energy! He thought as he commanded a butler to kneel on all fours in front of him so he could put his feet up on his back. As the tea came, he caught sight of himself in the silver tea tray and started laughing madly again which only made the butlers who were used to dealing with all sorts here tremble in fear which of course the Master liked a lot.
He was so much younger now, he thought, appearing in his early thirties and with short dark brown hair. True he was still stuck in the old Edwardian clothes of his past incarnation but that could be fixed the Master thought with excitement.
He was so eager and full of drive now, the Master thought but then heard the sound that had haunted him all his life…ever since he had looked into the Untempered Schism and it had chosen him…the drumming…the call…to war! He thought and noticed to his own discomfort that the drumming was even louder now than it had been before he regenerated. Closer and closer he thought to himself and was now certain it had a much greater purpose that he didn't yet understand.
Drinking his very sweet tea the Master was able to relax and sighed with relief as his neurons came into order and he gathered his wits. He watched as the humans were faced with the Sycorax and he was eager to see them throw themselves off the roof. But he knew that wasn't going to happen as Blood Control was just a bit of pointless showmanship, so regretfully no one leapt to their doom.
He could just imagine the Doctor up there on the spaceship and knew full well the ridiculous do-gooder that he was, he would be doing his best to save these miserable stunted little apes! The Master thought with amusement.
He was a bit surprised when he saw the ship explode thanks to a green energy weapon and wondered just where that had come from? He would have to look into that, the Master thought before the realisation sunk in.
He was stuck!
That wiped the smile off his face and he stormed out his chair, kicking the kneeling butler hard on the way for good measure. The Doctor had locked the controls! He couldn't unlock them himself so the Tardis was limited to either the End of the Universe or early 21st Century Earth!
He stormed around the room infuriated, trapped like a rat in this miserable point in time on one pathetic little planet! The Master thought, moving around the room kicking chairs over, throwing anything that came to hand including one of the butlers into the wall hard enough to crack his skull not to mention the wall.
The Doctor would pay for this! The Master thought with anger, knowing his old rival/friend well enough to know he would escape that situation with the Futurekind. He had been in far worse and gotten out of it so the Master was under no illusions that he would get out of that one, then he would come looking for him here.
The Master was in no way afraid of the Doctor, no chance the Master thought with disgust at such weakness. But was stuck here with no resources or means, he was the Master and he would always find a way to acquire them but still, the Master pondered on what to do before an old plan of his resurfaced in his chaotic brain. One created by old white hair but he had never acted on.
He smirked, walking out of the now wrecked room, members made sure to move as they saw him coming. Arriving in the TV room the only member present ran from the room as he entered and the Master saw the telephone right in front of him. He picked up the receiver and dialled the number for Blackfield.
The number rang briefly but was soon picked up, a familiar voice on the other end.
"Blackfield." She said and the Master smirked, he remembered her voice like it had been yesterday when he and her had been running across the universe, conquering and pillaging all they wanted. Oh, for that freedom again the Master thought before saying.
"A companion, at last." He said with a slight theatrical tone to his voice, wondering if he could mess with her a little but to his slight disappointment, Jaime immediately got it and replied with a breathless whisper.
"Master!" She said, rallying herself before she said the obvious. "You've regenerated."
"Just the once." The Master said, so his little puppet had managed to survive all this time without him. Good, hopefully she'll be as useful as she was before as he would have need of her again. "I need a pick up from my club in London. As soon as possible."
"Yes sir, I'll be there in a couple of hours." Jaime said quickly and the Master pouted at it taking a couple of hours but then looked at the huge television and smirked as he realised, he had the perfect way to distract himself.
"Oh, and by the way…arrange for a truck to come and remove something from the club to Blackfield. Immediately." The Master said and Jaime to her credit did tell him fast.
"Yes sir, I know a firm that will do it, just get them to move it to the foyer and they'll take it from there."
"Excellent." The Master said before abruptly hanging up. He settled himself on the sofa, stretching himself out length ways across it and switched the big TV on.
- x -
Two Hours Later…
"Truly amazing." The Master said as he enjoyed some Christmas TV, there wasn't anything really interesting but some of the specials that were on had given him a few laughs. Regretfully though he then had to switch it off and went down to the foyer when he realised the time. The Tardis was already being loaded into a van parked outside by some movers and a very nice luxury car was parked there waiting for him.
Sitting in the driving seat was Jaime, she looked every bit as beautiful as when he had last seen her. Her antrocytes he recalled wouldn't let her age, though she did look older in her eyes but as he walked over and climbed in the back seat, he marvelled at the luxurious car and how expensive it was likely to be. She told him abruptly as the car drove off at high speed.
"Laptop in the back, you have full internet. Welcome back sir." Jaime said with a clipped voice. She'd lost her American accent he noticed and the coldness of her voice made him wonder if she might be mad at him.
"Thank you. Now…are you upset with me?" He asked her straight out and Jaime's face which he could just see in the mirror twisted with rage.
"What possibly might give you that idea? It's not as if you left me here for a hundred and eighty years!" Jaime said with anger creeping into her voice. She drove even faster now, it was good that it was Christmas as the roads at this time of day were quiet, allowing her to go much faster than would be normal. The Master was glad he was still within the first fifteen hours of his regeneration as a crash was likely the way Jaime was driving. She of course was still talking, now letting her anger out. "Do you have any idea what it was like having to live through most of the nineteenth century, all of the twentieth century and the first few years of the twenty-first? How boring it can be?" She snarled at him and he was forced hold himself carefully into his seat and make sure the seat belt was done up.
"But I bet you found ways to entertain yourself?" The Master said, actually wondering himself for a moment what sort of things she had gotten up too over the years. Jaime's mouth did twitch a little at that so he was certain she had gotten up to a little mischief of her own and she asked him.
"So, what's the plan sir?" She said now apparently calm, seeming to have gotten the anger out of her system and was now giving him that nasty little smirk of hers that he honestly could say he had missed. She was the perfect companion for him, he thought with glee. Beautiful, deadly, cunning, vicious, no morals at all and completely loyal to him.
He had to take his hat off if he had one to his previous self for taste, the Master thought with a smirk of his own and just wished she'd been with him so she could have awoken him earlier rather than having to wait for 'Martha Jones' as he now knew her the Doctor's simpering companion to wake him up. Gods he only wished he could have tortured the other one, the one who'd been just as simpering around his human persona more for losing him years. He couldn't even be bothered to remember her name and was just glad she was dead.
"Why do you think I have a plan?" He asked her with a sinister look in his eyes which was echoed in hers.
"You're the Master. You always have a plan." Jaime said with complete confidence.
The Master liked having his ego stroked and Jaime was quite right, he did have a plan. One that 'old angry grandpa' him had come up with but never carried out, one that would hurt the Doctor a great deal he thought as an added bonus.
Oh, he thought with glee, rubbing his hands together in excitement. This was going to be so much fun! He thought with eagerness to get started.
That was when he noticed they were being followed.
He saw Jaime had noticed too and asked him.
"Want to lose them?" She said with her hand moving to the gear stick instinctively. But the Master was curious and told her.
"No, let's just see who they are first. Oh, we are going to have so much fun!" The Master said with excitement and started laughing his mad almost, insane laugh which Jaime echoed by laughing in much the same way.
- x -
Scoundrels Club, Two Hours Earlier…
Simon Hathaway was not enjoying the stuffy air of Scoundrels; he had inherited his position here from his father who had inherited it from his father and so on. The place honestly felt like one of those really strict old style English boarding schools from over a century ago, he thought with annoyance at having to come here but Isabelle Ardent, his direct superior at Astergo and more importantly in the Templar Order had told him too in case information came their way through those rooms. As a woman she couldn't get in but he could and so he did however much he hated it.
But at last, something had him excited, he had finally gotten sight of a man the Templars had been looking into for over two hundred years! He could hardly believe it but once he had joined the club, he had learned the Master was a member, even had a seat here.
So, he had kept watch, until today when he had at last shown up.
He had hardly been expecting the overly aggressive man child that had appeared but still if he was the Master and it seemed certain he was…then Simon was excited as the man had such great knowledge that could benefit the Order. Not just in victory over the Assassins or whatever remained of them but also in taking the world to the next stage.
So, the moment he had been able he had the Master tailed when he was collected by an unknown woman and informed Isabelle, who had immediately called a meeting of the Inner Sanctum to take advantage of this remarkable opportunity, Simon just hoped they were able to get him before he disappeared again.
- x -
Astergo Headquarters, Thirty Minutes Later…
Despite it being Christmas, the members of the Inner Sanctum met anyway given the situation and the opportunity that their eyes inside Scoundrels Club had found.
"So, it is him. The Master." Isabelle Ardant said, looking over the files they had of him and surveillance photos taken by those who were following him. They all had copies of the old missive left by Haytham Kenway, one of their most accomplished members who had instructed future templars to find any trace of him and if possible, eliminate him as a threat. However, flush from their great success against the Assassins a few years prior the current Templars had different ideas.
"Indeed, an alien from a far more advanced civilisation. Capable of time travel and a vast array of other sciences. If we can gain access to all that knowledge it would benefit us immensely in a great number of ways, not to mention the advances we'd make from studying his biology. According to the UNIT files he has a binary vascular system. That is something I would like to see." Doctor Warren Vidic said as he read through the different papers the Templars puppets had brought them from the taskforce that kept a lid on alien activity. He would dearly like to capture some of these species and dissect them to see what they could learn, Vidic thought with anger that UNIT had been so foolish as to not acquire live creatures for study.
"He would be of use to us. Send in Sigma Team to capture him." Alan Rikkin said, skipping dinner with his daughter for this so it had better be worth their time. Daniel Cross, himself not having anyone to celebrate Christmas with had no problem with that and was himself interested in actually seeing an actual alien with his own eyes.
"Our surveillance unit has tracked them to a large manor in the Home Counties." Alfred Sterns, the Head of Operations said, pulling out some pictures they'd taken of the rather expansive and extravagant manor. "The name of the listing has it owned by…ahem Lord Victor Magister." He said with a shake of his head.
"Latin for Master. How…childish." Alan Rikkin said wondering if he would be of any use to them with an attitude like that. "Still, taking him should be relatively easy and I'll see to it that the manor is turned over to us. I am sure we can find some use for it."
"Will do." Daniel said with a grin, eager for some easy work after chasing down the last of the Assassins. "I mean, how dangerous can one man and a woman be?" He said with a dismissive voice. He had all of Sigma Team at his back, over thirty well trained soldiers, what danger could these two possible be to them?
Blackfield, Home Counties…Later that Night…
"Decorated for Christmas! Perfect! We only need eggnog around an open fire! What is eggnog anyway?" The Master asked as he threw himself onto the sofa next to the lit fire and relaxed, stretching out with an excited smile on his face. Jaime herself had the armchair next to him smiling as she handed him a mug.
"Kind of like milk punch. But I think hot chocolate with whipped cream and tiny sweets are better." Jaime said and the Master took the hot chocolate and took a deep drink, sighing in pleasure at the sweet treat and leaving a cream moustache on his face. Jaime smirked and moved her finger around her own mouth to clue him in. He realised what she meant and eagerly cleaned his face.
"So, when they come…I put something together for you." Jaime said, passing him a small cylinder-shaped object wrapped in colourful and cheerful wrapping paper. The Master actually grinned widely before tearing the paper off, like an overly eager child and saw a small rod-shaped device in steel and gold. "Since you seem to have lost your last one, I thought you might like a new laser screwdriver. I made some improvements."
"Awesome!" The Master said with barely contained excitement and shot a yellow-coloured beam out at nearby vase, blowing it to pieces. Laughing he gestured around with it like a child playing with a toy while Jaime got him some more hot chocolate. She honestly wasn't sure what to make of this new master, she thought, hiding her frown beneath a carefree mask. He was far less controlled than the previous Master had been and almost like a child in his lack of control and excitement with things.
She didn't know if she liked it or not but after feeling so listless for so long, she was eager to get back into some schemes of his and of course he was her master and she would obey him, her eyes glazing over slightly as she thought that.
Then a frantic beeping made both of them stop, him from playing with his new laser screwdriver, her from making more hot chocolate. They both knew that was the intruder alarm, both abandoned what they were doing immediately and got to work. Jaime used the tablet she'd use to monitor the systems to access the sensors and see just what they were dealing with. The Night vision cameras dotted around the estate showed thirty or so armed soldiers all creeping in from multiple directions.
"I'll deal with the North, you deal with the south, east and west." The Master said, suddenly becoming serious. Jaime nodded and smirked before running off to deal with the enemy.
The Master meanwhile was inside deeply looking forward to this fight, he hadn't killed anything in this life yet and was eager to get started. He ran with excitement towards the approaching soldiers, eager to get some killing in before he had his Christmas dinner!
His senses were all so sharp and crystal clear, far more than he could ever remember them being before. He saw them coming in and they were destroying his rose garden, treading all over the delicate roses!
That made him angry, he loved that rose garden! It had the prettiest roses from all across the universe, some of which were extinct now…and these arseholes he thought were just stomping all over them!
For that, he would kill them all.
He pulled out his laser screwdriver and adjusted it to setting 19, a painful blast that would slowly disintegrate people from the inside. He saw one of the soldiers and fired. His combat suit did nothing to protect him as he received a full hit. He screamed in agony as he fell, an orange hue spreading slowly out from the impact point consuming him whole before he was rendered into dust. The whole process took two minutes and the Master was fully enjoying his torment. He laughed loudly and with the full insanity of his condition, the drumming thundering inside his head as he kept on shooting and hearing their screams of pain was like music to his ears.
He was only upset that he finally ran out of targets and hoped Jaime left him some to keep killing.
- x -
Jaime was enjoying herself immensely, she hadn't had a real fight in years and while this was hardly a challenge for her it at least let her blow off some steam.
With a combat knife in hand, she moved around so fast she was almost a blur, slicing open throats or stabbing people in the chest, laughing hysterically at how bad they were at this. She even took one of them and used him as a club against his fellows.
She noticed the apparent leader calling for a retreat and smirked as she thought about how pathetic they were, she ran and grabbed him. Slapping him hard, not enough to kill him but enough to knock him unconscious before continuing on to make sure there were no survivors. She found the jeeps that had brought them parked on the lawn and they had left some rather awful marks in the earth.
That annoyed her, after taking care of the place for nearly two centuries and keeping it as pristine as possible so to see any of it ruined by these clowns, it was just infuriating she thought to see any of it ruined.
Checking the tablet, she saw to her annoyance that apart from the one she had spared the intruders were all dead. She sighed with frustration that it had been over before she could even work up a sweat. Flipping over a body with her foot she saw a symbol on the helmet and shook her head, those assholes again? She thought to herself before walking off, grabbing the unconscious one by the lapels and dragged him over to the main hall where she found the Master, playing dominos with the extra ammo clips.
"Hoped they'd be a bit tougher. Know who they are?" The Master asked her as he pushed one over and it knocked another one over and another one and so on till it formed a skull pattern on the floor. Jaime just smirked before tossing the one she'd left alive on the floor and telling him.
"Astergo Industries, front for the Templars. Honestly didn't expect to see those bastards again." Jaime said. "They must have a man inside Scoundrels. Want to interrogate him?" She asked gesturing to the man she'd brought him.
"Hmm, I think, just nope." The Master said before shooting the unconscious man with another setting on his screwdriver, it was enough to wake him, he screamed as the Master slowly and carefully burned out his insides. Jaime impassively watched with a raised eyebrow before asking.
"They piss you off?" She asked him and he told her.
"They ruined the rose garden." He told her crossly over the man screaming, Jaime's expression turned into a distressed one.
"Probably not a good time to tell you they ruined the front lawn too. About the garden? Completely? Beyond all hope?" She asked him, wondering if they could fix it. The Master fumed at them ruining his lawn too turned up the setting slightly before he shrugged.
"No, the auto gardener will fix it all in a week. But…it's my rose garden and my lawn. Just for that, I'm going to kill them all. The entire organisation." The Master said with a pout and then an excited smile. "Get me a laptop and I should know everything we need to know within an hour. Wake the actives and procure weapons and equipment. We are going to war!" He ordered her and as the man screamed Jaime just smiled brightly.
"I've missed you sir." Jaime told him with an almost genuine look of joy in her eyes, but also hungry expectation.
Hungry for action, the Master thought with a smirk of his own and the same look in his own eyes.
"And I you, time to do some killing!" The Master said with a bloodthirsty look in his eyes, laughing for all he was worth and Jaime was doing it right alongside him, their insane laughter filling the manor and echoing around it.
- x -
The following morning was Boxing Day, when people were enjoying their presents from the previous day and tucking into their dinner, the Actives were for the first time since their upgrades walking around.
They all sat down to a large dinner Jaime had spent all night preparing, tucking in with relish with the Master sitting at the head of the table and all wearing stupid paper party hats and chatting as they all pulled crackers as the Master had ordered them too. The Master smirked as he rose and spoke.
"My little minions." The Master said with a smirk as he saw them towards him, some annoyed at the way he referred to them but no-one said anything. "Merry Christmas, I know you've all had a long sleep and many of you have never met each other before. So, we are going to have a little bonding exercise." He told them with a grin.
There was a collective moan of despair as they heard that, imagining some pathetic teaming building exercise like stupid games and word tests but the Master just ignored that and told them something that immediately improved the mood.
"We are going to get some killing down!" The Master said with excitement.
That made a difference he noticed as they all started cheering and looking excited, making him laugh as he saw they had all taken to the programming better than he'd hoped. They had all had their guilt and morals removed, coded to enjoy violence and being bad in general almost as much as him but like Jaime they were all programmed to be completely loyal to him.
He saw the one named Echo sitting with the other dolls from the Los Angeles house and as he looked around saw that to his amusement, each dollhouse seemed to be sticking in their own little group. Even the Doctor's old companions were in a small little group of their own with Lila and had bloodthirsty looks in their eyes just like the rest of them, but devotion whenever they looked at him.
Once they had been the Doctor's friends, the Master thought with sick amusement. People determined to do the 'right thing', kind, generous and brave as the Doctor which the Master found completely sickening.
Now though, not only had he removed all that supposed good the Doctor so prized but he had replaced it with viciousness and greed. A love for destruction and violence.
His kind of people, he thought with satisfaction. Oh, he was going to love rubbing this in the face of the Doctor when he finally managed to trap the man! The Master though with glee. Jaime meanwhile had used her own companies to acquire weapons, equipment and transportation for them all.
Astergo Facility London, Britain...Later that Day…
The Inner Sanctum was growing concerned, they had heard nothing from Sigma Team or Daniel Cross since they had gone to take the Master, Doctor Vidic himself had complete faith in his creation and adopted son but even he was starting to get worried as there had been no contact at all from any member of the team.
Alan Rikkin was considering sending in Omega Team, his own personal unit to see what was going on when in the blink of an eye, the whole situation changed.
The doors of the board room where they were meeting were blown in, sending huge clouds of dust and debris flying through the air. Those who were inside were immediately thrown from their seats and the security guards thrown to the floor. But out of the haze came figures clad head to toe in advanced looking body armour with futuristic looking guns in their hands. The security guards staggered but the intruders shot them down with ruthless efficiency, the Inner Sanctum members were restrained and forced to their knees.
"WHO!" Doctor Vidic started demanding wanting to know just who they were, only to receive a slap for it. Stunned that someone actually hit him, Vidic fell silent as he looked up at their assailants who now as the dust settled, they could all see for themselves just who was attacking them.
They all wore advanced combat suits, one single suit with thicker sections made of a material they couldn't identify but clearly nothing like they had, this was far more advanced. One of their security men had managed to fire a shot before being taken down and the shot had effectively bounced off, they couldn't even see their faces as they were wearing helmets that completely covered their heads and revealed no features at all. All they could tell was roughly the height of each one and that would only be a rough guess since they had no idea just how much the boots and helmet added.
Alfred Sterns in what would prove to be a fatal error dived from one of the guns laying on the floor, he pointed it and fired straight at the head of a nearby intruder. The helmet however was just as tough as the body armour, the bullet deflecting off as the soldiers all looked at him like he was a complete fool. The soldier who had been his intended victim, raised up their gun and they fully prepared to watch Alfred get shot only for what they got to be far worse.
"Incendiary." The voice said, muffled by the mask and coming out so distorted they couldn't even tell their sex. The gun made a strange sound like it was reloading on its own before a single glowing white-hot bullet came out. The bullet hit Alfred but didn't kill him straight away, instead he was left burning alive right before their eyes, his screaming impossible to block out as he was there burning to death right before their eyes. Some of the supposed hardened Templars couldn't look and had to turn away only for their captors to force them to watch.
When Alfred finally succumbed to his injuries and died the one that shot him just said.
"What a prick." In a distorted voice but the dismissiveness of it was hard for the Templars to understand.
"Who are you? What gives you the right to execute one of us?" Isabelle said in a fury but the soldiers were unmoved as they looked up to the security boards while a couple used the laptops on the centre desk. The big display board changed to show the various security cameras around the building, the Inner Sanctum's hearts sank as did their hopes of rescue as they saw others in combat suits just like the ones holding them were systematically moving through the facility, killing all of the people in their path. They showed no mercy at all, killing anyone that they saw and yet the few who tried to hide weren't able to escape either as the soldiers seemed to sense them and dragged them out of hiding before killing them as well.
Alan Rikkin was impassive as he watched this, his people were being decimated but whoever these people were, they were clearly well-armed and equipped. If they wanted to live through this then they needed to keep a cool head till they could find out more and turn the situation around.
"Do you hear them? The Children of the Master. What music they make." A voice said from the side, sounding far too juvenile and carefree to be present in such a situation. They looked over and saw a man in an expensive suit walk in with the most demented grin any of them could imagine on his face. The face they recognised from the pictures their surveillance unit had taken while observing the man leaving Scoundrels Club.
"Are you enjoying yourself with pointless paraphrasing? It is a complete waste of time." Alan Rikkin said with a frown on his face. The Master was a bit put off by that and frowned, pouting like a child before telling him.
"Well, look who's a moaning old misery guts. Still, nice command centre! Love the Chairs!" The Master said with a look of annoyance before suddenly brightening up and sitting in one of the big swivel chairs and spinning around making stupid noises with his mouth. The Templars despite their helplessness were too confused as the Master they had read about was not only an amoral genius but a serious plotter.
This man was just insane!
He turned to a small woman, only 5'2 with pixie like features and dark hair in a bob cut who was wearing the same kind of equipment as the others minus the helmet. He told her. "Zoe. Get their laptops and drain the accounts, I'll have use for the money later."
"Yes Master." She said with a smirk on her face and much to the horror of the Inner Sanctum went over to each laptop and checked each one until she reached Agneta Reider's. As head of the Astergo Finance Group, she had access to all of their financial information and Zoe said in a singsong voice.
"Bingo. Oh, we are hoarders, aren't we? So much wealth and now…it's his." She said with a mocking pout of her own before hitting the necessary keys to drain Astergo dry. The Inner Sanctum was completely astonished at this turn of events. The Master started laughing as he spun his chair around again.
"All of this? For money?" Warren Vidic said in disgust before the Master got to his feet and quick as a flash was in front of Vidic, smiling like a lunatic as he grabbed the man by the cheeks, pinching them painfully to make Vidic look him in the eyes. Vidic honestly was so angry he struggled but the Master just told him.
"No, you stupid stunted little ape." The Master told them, his eyes suddenly going into sharp focus and his voice becoming far colder as he held Vidic's cheeks so hard that he was starting to draw blood. "The money is just compensation, after all you ruined my rose garden and my lawn! And it will be useful in the next part of my schemes. Schemes that will finally put this miserable rock on the galactic map. But since you ruined my favourite garden and I won't having a rival…I mean it just wouldn't do." The Master said, finally letting go of Vidic's now blood covered cheeks to drum his fingers against his chin. "Where was I? Oh yes, well since I won't have you interfering in my plans and you ruined my garden, well I think I am going to destroy your entire organisation." The Master said with an excited energy making him smile viciously.
"Our order is eternal!" Isabelle started saying before the soldier holding her took a firm hold of her jaw and held it painfully shut so she couldn't say anymore.
"Oh, eternal order? Easy, you see I made these soldiers and more like them for a war far greater than your miserable little brains could ever comprehend. A war that encompassed all of time and space, compared to the miserable little order you have, they can do this in their sleep especially with me to lead them." The Master taunted them before a call came in on the main line, the Inner Sanctum hoped it might be a chance of rescue only to have their hopes dashed as the image on the screen was not one of their own but the unknown associate of the Master.
"Jaime! Is it done?" The Master asked her with an excited grin and she beamed back with a similar demented energy.
"Oh, it was easy, old bastards leaving them in funny positions. Like a game. Oh, the list you wanted. All the templars across the world. We got it!" Jaime said with an eager smile.
Alan felt a shiver run down his spine, the only part of the Templar Order that kept such comprehensive information was the Council of Elders, since they were responsible for guiding the Order and ensuring it stayed true to its principles, they had to know just who was a part of the Order and where they were in the world so they could be checked. Worse they also happened to be the ones who would take over the Order if something happened to the Inner Sanctum.
If they were lost, and the Master had a list of all their members across the world, including his own daughter! Alan was filled with dread for the future of the Order. He tried to lunge for the Master, perhaps hoping to grab hold of him and either kill him or to use him as a hostage against the soldiers but the soldier holding him had strength like a bodybuilder and he wouldn't let him move.
The Master seemed amused by his actions and told him with a vicious smile.
"I might have a purpose, for some of them. Now, kill them." The Master said with an excited look in his eyes as the soldiers all took their guns and despite the pleading from some of them opened fire.
The Master smirked as they all fell, an organisation that intended to rule the world…effectively did so from the shadows and had been manipulating events for centuries and hoarded both knowledge and power.
All brought down by him within the space of two days and that's only because he wanted Christmas dinner while Jaime gathered weapons and equipment that she had designed to give the Actives.
He sat back down in the big chair and spun himself around, making raspberry noises with his lips as Zoe secured the money and accessed all their other files. Oh, it was a nice buzz, he thought with a grin to ruin someone's 'carefully made plans' and tear them down. Oh, he could use the money for his own projects in the future he thought while propping his feet up on the desk and leaning back in his chair.
Now it was just a matter of getting the first step to power.
Clark's Maze, London…A Week Later…
The Master was staring out of the window of his new London residence, acquired from one of the Templar Council or whatever they were called. It was one of the most expensive addresses in London and he liked the classical feel of the house, not to mention he could slide down the staircase handle whenever he came down.
He put himself down on the sofa, looking at the reports coming in on his laptop, the actives were now moving across the world and with even better efficiency than he'd hoped for, they were eliminating all the remaining Templars and even better thanks to the Templars themselves, the Assassins were too weakened to even remotely be a threat to him. With them gone he now only had to deal with Torchwood should the opportunity arise. UNIT might be useful to him if he pushed them in the right direction the Master thought with memories of the old television shows he used to watch back in the seventies giving him some awesome ideas.
The Master was smirking as things started falling into place, he had managed to infiltrate the government and gotten himself named as a minister. But a minister with a singularly important job, launching the Archangel Network, a satellite network which would allow for secure military and civilian communications from anywhere in the world, especially mobile phone signals.
They were key to his plans, he thought with a sly grin on his face. He was already advancing the project with some knowledge of his but before it went online there was one last element to put into place.
A human psychic, tuned to their wavelengths and kept in a constant fear inducing nightmare.
He reluctantly got up from his comfy settee and went down the cellar where Jaime was putting the last touches on the pod, a medical capsule they had modified to sync with the network and layer in the crucial code to not only one day create fear so the humans wouldn't resist him, but for the immediate future make people believe in him, making his rise to power so much easier.
Jaime saw him approach and smirked herself in that vicious way he adored so much, her being at his side had made all of this a lot easier he thought to himself, not that he would ever tell her that he thought with some disgust at sentiment.
"Ready to go. Just give the word." Jaime told him, the still unconscious Cassandra Anderson lay in the pod, hooked up to all the medical equipment that would keep her alive and healthy while she was hooked into the psychic network. The Master smirked before flicking a switch which activated the unit, Cassandra moved slightly in her sleep as the nightmares she was being subjected to would ensure her mind was distracted and not able to reach anyone through the network.
"Perfect." The Master said with a nasty grin, everything was falling into place, there was still much work to do. He had to get his public persona fully established not to mention create the opportunities that would allow him to move up the ranks, even Jaime and the actives would have a part to play with that.
"Right, now I think it's time for me to tell you just what I have in mind. You're going to love it!" The Master said excitedly and Jaime did a little jump up and down and said with excitement.
"I have so missed this! Go on sir…do tell!" Jaime said with almost giddiness. The Master honestly wondered if the antrocytes adjusted her temperament to match his but didn't really care.
"Well…" The Master said, eager to show off to his assistant. "I am going to become…Prime Minister and then take over the world, and I want you at my side as…my sister." He said with a smirk. "A new identity, from now on you and I will be known as Harold and Teresa Saxon and sister dearest…I have some important work for you to do." He told her and Jaime…no Teresa he thought, thinking this was the perfect way to wipe all trace of her old self away once and for all.
Teresa didn't seem to mind a new name at all and in fact grinned eagerly.
It was a new Master after all she thought with excitement, why not have a new name herself too?
There we are, hope you liked it and please leave a review to let me know what you thought.
Next Chapter - The Master begins to establish his Harold Saxon persona while putting all the pieces needed for his plan into motion.