Since I'll be gone this weekend, you all will get to enjoy a double feature today. Here are chapters 4 and 5. :)

Chapter 4:

POV: Mara

Date: October 23, 2022

Our heads turned as a video message popped onscreen. It was the Master himself, looking all too pleased. The expression sent a shiver down my spine. "Greetings, seismology fans. My keynote address at the International Seismology Memorial Conference is now starting at a conference hall vaguely near you." His lips curled up even further into a smirk. "This is your personal invitation. If you're craving answers to life's little mysteries, come feel the earth move. Here's the pin."

The feed cut out then and was replaced by a map with a pinned location. My eyes shot to Dad. "The last time I saw the Master, she wanted nothing more than to be your friend again. What's changed since we've been away?"

Ace and Tegan exchanged a look. "The Master has been a woman, too?" Ace asked.

Dad waved a hand. "Never mind that, I've got to think." The clear brush off of my observation irritated me, but I let it go as she continued to speak. "The Master goes back to 1916 and poses as Rasputin…he leaves a TARDIS that looks like mine on a Cyber planet, and then…" She looked up toward me, Jenny, and Mum. "You three show up, which should be absolutely impossible."

Mum's brow crinkled. "We know that the Dalek drew me here, but why would they want that?"

Dad's eyes lit up and she pointed at Mum. "Yes, excellent question as always, Rose Tyler. The Daleks, the Cybermen, and the Master would all know that we would be stronger together—and even stronger with the girls nearby…so why risk it?" Her eyes roved over mine and Jenny's faces, and she straightened. I could feel the spike of fear in her. "It can't be good, whatever they're planning. Not with the Time Lords on Mara and Jen's heels."

"Yaz, where is that location the Master dropped?" I asked before Ace and Tegan could ask the next barrage of questions I could see on their faces.

Yaz glanced up. "It's a hotel 3.2 kilometers from Mount Vesuvius."

Kate motioned toward one of her staff. "We have a UNIT station outside Naples. I'll get you local support."

"Right then," Dad said. "Jenny and Rose stay here—try to trace where that message came from if you can. He may still have a trick up hos sleeve. Mara, Yaz, come with me." She turned to go, but was stopped by Ace.

Her former companion's eyes were filled with worry. "You're coming back, though, right? You wouldn't leave your own family behind."

Dad glanced between all of us. "Sorry. In the middle of multiple somethings. But yes, I'm coming back. No, I wouldn't leave them."

Tegan snorted and folded her arms. "Yeah, right." She nodded toward me and Jenny. "Those fancy bracelets aren't just fashion, I bet. I'd wager your family could get off Earth to follow you just fine without needing you to come back."

Dad reached out to place a reassuring hand on both Ace's and Tegan's shoulders. "I promise I'm coming back. It's good to see you both."

"I promise I'll make her at least come back to say goodbye," I said with a smile in Ace and Tegan's direction.

They started to smile back but flinched as Dad's hand sent out a small electric spark. "Ow! You gave me an electric shock!" Tegan yelped.

Ace rubbed at her arm. "That did hurt, you're really static-y."

I waved my sonic over the pair of them and glanced at the readings. I looked to Dad, but didn't dare speak out loud. "Something is off, but the sonic can't quite tell me what it is."

She nodded, and turned back to the two former companions with a shrug. "Don't know what that's about. Stay here. We'll be back. Come on, Yaz! Come on, Mara!"

I nodded, and followed them out. We hurried into the TARDIS, and I took up my usual position at the controls. "Have you any idea what you're going to do when we find the Master?" I asked.

Dad shook her head. "Not a clue, but with you here and your mum and sister at UNIT, we should get some kind of working plan, ay?"

POV: Jenny

Date: October 23, 2022

"I think I handled that quite well," Tegan said as Dad left with Mara and Yaz in tow.

"I wanted to go on the TARDIS," Ace muttered.

Tegan turned to me. "What was that look she gave Mara, after she ran the sonic? It almost seemed like they were talking telepathically."

I chuckled. "They were, probably. We can do that."

She blinked, but nodded as if telling herself that shouldn't be surprising. "I suppose that makes sense."

"Right then," Mum said, and turned to Kate. "Kate, can you pull up the video message and have some of your techs analyze it? Maybe if we know where it came from, we can get ahead of whatever the Master has got planned." She turned to me. "And you, come with me."

I gulped as she breezed past me toward a conference room. I knew that determined look in her eyes all too well.

"Good luck," Ace told me as I followed Mum. "We'll keep an eye on what the techs are doing and call you both if you're needed."

I nodded. "Thanks." I tried to get my hearts to slow as I entered the conference room. I knew Mum was going to go after me with questions now that we had a moment of calm, and I didn't know what to tell her. My mind raced as I tried to think of a way to make sure we didn't cause yet another paradox in the midst of this current madness.

She patted one of the chairs next to her. "Sit."

I obeyed without comment.

Mum chuckled. "Don't look so scared, love. I'm not going to make you tell me anything that would compromise the timeline. I know you lot are from my own future, I wouldn't ask for any spoilers."

Her choice of term made me chuckle, and I let out a slow breath of relief as my shoulders relaxed. "What is it you want to know, then?"

I jumped a little when she placed a hand over mine. "How long has it been, Jenny?" Although I couldn't feel her sadness, I could see it in her eyes. "I know I'm gone, wherever you've been. I've not been with you for a long time, have I?"

I opened my mouth. "I—how—?"

"I saw my necklace around your neck," she answered. "It popped out for a moment when we were flying the TARDIS."

I cursed. "You were not supposed to see that."

"But I did," she said, and squeezed my hand. "Love, you don't have to tell me what happened, you don't really need to. Even if I hadn't seen the necklace—even though our link is just a faint echo for me right now—I easily saw it in your eyes. All of you. I don't know what happened, or how long ago it was, but I know that whenever you are, I must not be with you anymore."

My eyes fell toward our hands. "No," I said, and my voice was small. "You're not."

"How long?"

I swallowed. "284 years. Give or take."

Her other hand came up to glide along my cheek and down under my chin. She gently brought my face up to lock my eyes with hers again. "Oh Jenny," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Tears pricked at my eyes, but I stamped down the rising grief. This wasn't the right place for that, there were UNIT soldiers watching us. "No one is ever ready to lose a parent." My voice was hard, even to my ears. "I certainly wasn't. We had thought we'd have you for a lot longer." I knew I was heading into dangerous territory with that statement, and tried to reign my emotions in. I had to be delicate. I had people in the other dimension to think about. If I caused a paradox, it would be disastrous for them.

"Oh love. Everything has its time—you know that better than most. Everything ends. Was I at least with all of you?"

I avoided her gaze as best I could. Better to lie than tell her the truth. "Yes."

She quiet for so long that I knew she didn't believe me, but she nodded anyway. "Then that's all that matters."

We both looked up as Ace knocked on the door. "Sorry," she said. "But Kate's just got word that they're on their way back."

I pulled in a breath all the way down to my toes and stood up. "We best be ready then."

POV: Mara

Date: October 23, 2022

Yaz followed Dad and I out of the TARDIS into a large auditorium. My eyes easily found the Master on stage pointing wildly to a PowerPoint presentation and gesturing out into the nonexistent crowd. Maybe he had finally lost the last of his marbles, after all.

"If we correlate the latest tremor detection data, with the aforementioned ground deformation measurements, cross referencing the increase in volcanic gas emissions and rising magma levels, we note that it would only take the slightest tectonic pressure to—" he cut off his lecture, and gave us a smile that sent a shiver down my spine. "Mara, darling! Good of you to join us. I should be surprised that you're here, you and Jenny having been trapped in another dimension, but no matter. Come on then, all of you, take a seat!"

Yaz gasped as she followed Dad down the auditorium steps, and I followed her gaze. "Doctor, look." She pointed at rows of small figurines. I could only assume they were the missing seismologists Kate had been on about.

The Master confirmed my theory with a laugh. "D'you like my seismologist collection? I think I've got the whole set now."

Dad stepped closer to him. "Alright. I've followed your breadcrumb trail. Some people think you're Rasputin, you've got a TARDIS on a metal planet, with a stolen Qurunx, guarded by your Cybermasters, in 1916. You brought Jenny and Mara here, and I bet you had something to do with Rose getting here too. Do I win a prize if I guess how it all fits together, or are you just gonna tell me while you're grandstanding?"

"Rose is here?" The Master let out another laugh. "Oh, that is precious! The whole family back in one place. No, I had nothing to do with that, I assure you, but I just love that she's here. What horrible feelings of guilt that must bring up for you, ay?" He waved a hand. "As for my plan? I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you. All of you." He paused. "No wait, that's gonna happen anyway. Be patient. We'll get there."

Dread pooled in my stomach. "The last time I saw you, you wanted nothing more than to be Dad's best friend again. What changed?"

The Master's eyes darkened. "She didn't tell you?" He waved a finger at Dad and clucked his tongue. "Naughty, Doctor, keeping secrets from your own family. How very telling. To answer your question, I learned some things about your dead old dad that made me have a change of hearts." He giggled, but the sound sent another shiver up my spine. "It was time for a change of regime anyway, don't you think? So I gave the whole lot of those pompous, arrogant Time Lords to the Cybermen."

I studied him carefully. There was more he wasn't saying. "Why didn't they end up upgrading you?"

"She makes a good point," Dad said. "How did you escape from Gallifrey?"

The Master twirled his hand around the auditorium with a flourish. "Good questions, all, but not the point. I'm a seismologist now. These guys sure know how to party—especially row K. They're dead now. But in their prime, wow."

Yaz stepped around me to look the Master in the eye, and I admired her bravery. "You've killed all these people, dragged us here—for what? To gloat? Why go to all that trouble?"

The smile dropped from his face. "To give you a simple, fair warning." He turned his eyes on Dad. "Leave Earth now, Doctor. Or it will be the death of you. Because really, honestly truly, this is the day you die. In fact, not just die. This is the day you are erased from existence forever." He paused, and chuckled at our expressions. "I know—bit of a conversation stopper. Awkward, right Yaz? Mara?"

We didn't answer.

He spread his hands wide in front of him. "D'you see what I've done? It's clever, cos I can give her this warning, but we both know she won't leave. She can't. Not now I've said that to her. And yet she knows she should. Because she also knows I don't make empty threats." He turned his dark eyes back to Dad. "And I can absolutely, categorically, pinky-promise-y confirm this is no empty threat."

"We believe you," I said flatly.

"Good." He briefly glanced at me before turning back to Dad. "You still here?"

Dad shook her head. "I'm not going to leave."

"I know!" he shouted gleefully, and laughed as all around us UNIT soldiers rushed into the space with their weapons trained on him. "Oh! You brought soldiers! For me? You shouldn't have. Is this rendition? I've always wanted to be renditioned. Or is it rendered?"

We stayed silent as he was grabbed by two of the larger soldiers and hauled off the stage.

"Gentle, boys. Am I going to UNIT? I hope I'm going to UNIT. On the hypersonic jet? That'd be a treat, wouldn't it, Mara-mine?"

Dad flinched inwardly, and I felt her anger skyrocket in response to the Master addressing me with that pet name. She pointed to the nearest soldier. "Give Yaz your gun."

Both Yaz and I looked toward her in surprise. Even the Master looked taken aback. "What?" I asked. "Since when do you ask for companions to wield weapons?"

She glanced at me as Yaz took the gun that was offered to her. "364 years and eleven days, Mara." She turned to Yaz. "Cover him. We'll take him in the TARDIS."

Yaz swallowed as she trained her weapon on the Master with what was clearly a practiced hand. That made my eyebrows rise even higher.

The Master recovered from his brief moment of shock with a giggle. "Oh, Yaz. She must be worried. And to ask you, instead of Mara? Oh, doesn't that just make you tingle? Her making you do the dirty work instead of her precious daughter." He gave us a wide, sinister smile, and raised an eyebrow. "D'you even know how to use that thing?"

Yaz didn't flinch at his provocation. "Don't worry. I've done weapons training." She nodded back the way we'd come. "Into the TARDIS."

He obediently started up the steps. "Thanks all. Great chat; good meeting. Clear up the tiny bodies and inform the loved ones for me, would you?" He glanced at me as he passed. "That part is always such a hassle, isn't it, Mara? You would know, I think. Remember Terry? I'm sure her mother cried and cried."

I froze, eyes wide and jaw tight. "How could you possibly know about Terry?"

He howled with laughter—his head thrown back and shoulders shaking at the look in my eyes. "364 years and eleven days, and you never wondered who put Terry in your path? You do remember the gift I gave your daddy when I sent her Clara, don't you? You thought my generosity only applied to her?"

"Who's Terry?" Yaz asked as she pushed the Master roughly toward the TARDIS.

I tried to focus on her as I desperately forced down the memories of the last companion I'd had before coming here bubbling up in my mind. This was so clearly a tactic the Master was using to put me off balance, and therefore, put Dad off balance even further. I couldn't do that to her.

"Terry was a companion of mine." I tried to keep my tone dry as I answered Yaz's question. "She traveled with me in the other dimension."

"And where, pray tell, is Terry now?" the Master asked as we entered the TARDIS.

"Not with me."

"Oh Mara! Mara, Mara, Mara—little cricket that you are, you can sing a better song than that!" He laughed when I flinched against his use of my nickname. "Tell us what really happened."

I kept my gaze steady as he sank down to sit on the TARDIS steps that led up to the console. "I lost her," I said. "Why put her in my path if I was just going to lose her?"

He leaned in. "Because you are just so…very funny when you cry."

Anger rooted me to my spot, though my hands itched to take Yaz's gun. Thankfully, she decided to use that moment to intervene. "Stop. Talking," she grumbled.

As I suspected was Yaz's plan, the Master turned his attention to her. "Oh, go on and do it, then. Shoot me. I'd do it in your shoes. Not that I want your shoes." He looked down at her feet with a wrinkled nose. "Bet I know what you're both thinking right now."

"Doubt it," I snapped.

He chuckled. "Oh, but I bet I do. I bet you're thinking; why didn't he resist? Why didn't he struggle? If he could kill all those seismologists, why didn't he take out all the UNIT soldiers?"

"I told you to be quiet," Yaz hissed.

He sighed. "I wish I could, but you're not gonna shoot me. Not in her TARDIS." He nodded out of the TARDIS doors pointedly. "Think of the mess. And anyway, you're afflicted by morality, Yaz. I blame her."

"What about me?" I asked and crossed my arms. "What makes you think that I won't shoot you?"

He outright laughed at that. "Little Miss Mara? Shoot little old me? I don't think so. If Yaz has a dusting of morality, you've got it in heaps. You couldn't hurt me even if you wanted to, you're too much like your daddy."

I raised an eyebrow. "364 years, Master. You sure want to take that bet?"

His eyes narrowed as he studied me more closely.

Yaz broke our silence with a snort. "Just in case you're wondering, all this "I'm messing with your mind" chat? I've heard worse on a Friday night in Sheffield."

He rolled his eyes. "Because you used to be a police officer. Brave Yasmin Khan. Is that why you like the police box so much?" He glanced at me. "That's right, Mara, daddy went and got herself a copper girlfriend!"