Sorry if there are any typos, I wanted to at least have this arc finished in case I went on an unintentional hiatus due to work.
iHateFridays drew fanart of Marion and I am so fucking PUMPED! You can find it here.
deviantart (put a dot here) com /ihatefridays/art/Marion-Fanfic-fanart-868703035
And now, onto other acknowledgments.
Thanks to you guys for following and favoriting: Autumn Meyers, MeiaAdey12, lucysawyer18, DustOwl, solangeltorres1217, Nicole Beverley234
And thank you lucysawyer18 for reviewing. And also her review brings up something. If you notice something wrong like, for example, a chapter is posted twice in a row or something like that, please let me know. Sometimes I'll do it by accident when I'm trying to fix a typo. So please tell me so that I can fix it.
The next thing that Marion was aware of, was the thing pressing itself around her nose and mouth and the hand under her back propping her up.
Whatever was pressing against her face was making her head feel a whole lot clearer. She peeled her eyes open.
"Ah, Miss Henson. You're awake,"
"Hmm?"
The hand thing pressing against her face moved away allowing her to see more clearly. She blinked slowly; the effects of the gas slowly leaving her system.
First, she had to get her bearings. That was important. So where was she.
She was on the floor of the Master's TARDIS.
Okay. Good. Well, not "good", but it was what she remembered so.
Okay, so why was she on the floor?
She was on the floor because Jo had accidentally tripped the alarm and released a sleeping gas and because Marion had forgotten to tug her away.
Ah, okay.
Still, she felt like her head was stuffed full of styrofoam blocks and they were rubbing together in her brain whenever she moved. Still, her eyes were beginning to focus.
"Oh!" Marion said, as her eyes finally realized what had been holding her up. "It's you. Odd seeing you here,"
The Master stared at her, unamused.
"This is my TARDIS Miss Henson,"
Marion pretended to look around, confused,
"Oh? Is it? Our bad,"
The Master let go of her and she barely managed to catch herself on her elbows before she hit the ground.
"Yes well, since you're here," the Master said, looking away from her, "I was hoping that you and the Doctor might be able to help me with something. You see, as I've told the Doctor and as I'm sure you know, I intend to go to the primitive city, and I intend for the Doctor to guide me there while Miss Grant stays here. As a hostage of sorts,"
"Why just Jo? You think I wouldn't make a good hostage?" Marion pretended to be offended.
"I think you'd make an awful hostage. So see, it's quite difficult to effectively threaten to harm someone with your...abilities. Besides, I have something else that you could do for me instead. You mentioned earlier, about how dangerous the primitives might be and how they'd been ordered to kill intruders on sight,"
"So?"
"It'd be a simple matter to toss the Doctor between myself and any weapon aimed at myself, but you know, that kind of protection only works once and comes at such a high cost. However," the Master looked at her pointedly.
Ah. That made sense.
"So you want me to accompany you as some sort of human shield. Is that it?" Marion sat up fully and pulled herself to her feet. "And, what if I say 'no thanks,'"
The Master gestured to the two clear tubes and their occupants. In one was the Doctor, leaning against the wall and glaring at the Master while Jo stood up straight in her's looking concerned and a bit frightened.
"I just have to press this button on here," the Master held up a pocket watch, "and Miss Grant's cubicle will immediately be flooded with lethal gas,"
"That will not, and will never be necessary," Marion said quickly.
The Master retrieved a sci-fi looking gun from where it rested on his TARDIS console. He tapped a button on the side of the tube the Doctor was an and the front of it opened. The Doctor stepped out of it.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Doctor, but it's light now,"
"What?" Marion blinked, "But when we came it in was...how long was I out,"
The Master waved a hand dismissively, "I couldn't bring myself to wake you up. You seemed so peaceful. And quiet,"
That last part was said quite pointedly.
'Fucking rude,'
"You realise, of course, it can be extremely dangerous taking you to the Primitive city?" the Doctor said finally.
"Don't worry about my welfare, Doctor. Keep thinking of Miss Grant's," the Master suddenly gripped Marion's arm and yanked her closer to him, "Not to mention I have Miss Henson,"
The last thing that Marion wanted to do was get the man mad enough to click his little pocketwatch and kill Jo. So she couldn't tell him to "fuck off". She needed to be a bit more eloquent So she just silently grabbed the man by his wrist with her other hand and pried her off her arm.
"Don't," she said, "I said I'd make sure no one got a lucky shot and stabbed you. I didn't say you could grab me,"
"Oh?" the Master held up his hands, but in the mocking, amused, and vaguely condescending way, that a much, much older sibling might in the presence of their three-year-old sister threaten to attack them with a cardboard wrapping paper tube. "Well then, after you Miss Henson,"
The Doctor walked out of the room TARDIS first. Marion noticed the Doctor holding something in his hand. A TARDIS key. Marion was pretty sure that because of where she was standing, the Master couldn't see it so Marion did her best not to call attention to the key herself as the Doctor dropped it to the ground where it could be later found by someone else.
Marion joined the Doctor in front of the TARDIS and the Master walked past so he was in front of the two of them.
"Right," he gestured to a vehicle to their right. "The buggy is over here. You two, walk ahead,"
Marion was once again stuck in the back of the buggy. It sucked.
The first reason that it sucked was the general fact that it was uncomfortable and instead of a seatbelt, she had her hands and a metal bar she had to hold on as tight as she could until her hands hurt and then stopped hurting.
The other reason was the way that the Doctor drove.
Marion was pretty sure that the reason the Doctor was going as fast as he was that the sooner he made it to the city, the sooner he'd be able to get Jo to safety, but it felt like the Doctor was trying to drive erratically enough that Marion could fall off the side of the vehicle without drawing suspicion and could then go and get help.
Finally, the car came to a stop and Marion sighed in relief. She let go of the bar and winced noticing the fingermarks from where she'd gripped it.
"Why'd you stop?" the Master asked.
"There's a thing in the road," Marion said, hopping over the side of the car.
"You stay there," the Doctor told the Master, "We'll go and shift that irrigation pipe," he got from behind the driver's seat and joined Marion.
"Doctor? I hope you're two aren't going to try anything clever. Remember Miss Grant,"
Marion scoffed exaggeratedly. "I would never,"
"Although," Marion glanced upwards, "you won't be doing anything ever if you don't get out of the car,"
"What are you talking abou-,"
A loud rumbling noise cut the Master off. He turned around to see two men shoving a boulder down the path they were on and heading straight towards his car.
"LOOK OUT," the Doctor shouted. The Master quickly climbed out of the car and moved out of the way just before the boulder slammed into the buggy and knocked it on its side. The boulder rolled past them with the loud rumble-rumble-rumble until it slammed into the side of a nearby cliff wall with a boom.
Marion walked towards the car and crouched down.
"Don't forget that you're still my prisoner,"
"Yeah, yeah I know," Marion said, "I'm just trying to see if I can lift this car back upright, don't mind me,"
Marion found a place where the car wasn't completely pressed to the ground because of a dip in the road and used that to put her hands.
Marion stood up carefully. Lifting the car a little bit, and then waiting for her arms to stop burning, and then lifting the car a little bit more and so on and so forth.
As she did, she heard some talking behind her.
"Oh, come now, Doctor. Not that old trick,"
"If the Doctor's talking about what I think he's talking about, there's a man aiming a spear at the back of your head," Marion said without turning around. She finally got the car back on all four wheels and turned around to see the Master aiming his laser gun up at a man up on a cliff. He collapsed and rolled down the hill landing on a cliff outcrop.
The Master turned away from the hill and walked towards them.
"Is that what you're frightened of? Savages hurling stones and spears?"
"Sticks and stones can break your bones and also cause blunt force trauma and blood loss. Doesn't matter if it's a spear or a knife, if it lodges itself in your back then you're-" Marion sliced her finger in front of her neck, "Especially considering the fact that you're, you know," Marion gestured to the man.
Did Marion know that the Master wasn't on his last face?
Yes. Absolutely.
Did the Master know that?
Not unless the Associate had slipped up on something. As far as he should know, he was on his 13th and final face.
"You can talk all you want about how primitive a sharp rock tied to a stick is, but if you end up losing your last life to one, all it's going to do is make you look even worse,"
"As long as you're doing your job properly, that won't be an issue. Let's be on our way, shall we?"
"What, with this?" the Doctor asked. He got into the driver's seat and experimentally hit the gas pedal. It didn't move, it just made an upsetting sounding rumbling noise.
Marion sucked in some air through her teeth. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure something in the car broke when it fell over," she jabbed her thumb behind her, "I guess we'll have to walk,"
The Doctor shrugged, "Why not?"
"It's not that far from here," Marion assured before turning around to face the path.
"Should only take, oh five, six minutes?"
It turned out to actually take twenty.
Which like, wasn't too, too, off.
That's what she told herself anyway.
They finally came to the cliff wall surrounded by desert plant life that acted as the entrance to the city. The Doctor and Marion came to a stop.
"Well?" the Master asked, wondering why they had stopped suddenly.
"The entrance is right there," Marion clasped her hands together, "Now, are you absolutely positive that you want to go in there? Because it's not too late for us to turn around and go and do literally anything else. If anyone asks, what we were doing we can…we can just say that we were going for a walk and wanted to take a more scenic route? Yeah, we can say that. What do you say?"
The Master stopped pointing the gun just in their general direction and silently aimed it directly at Marion. He and Marion both knew it wouldn't do much of anything, but Marion was more than capable of understanding nonverbal clues.
"Figures. You can't fault me for trying,"
"How do we get in?" the Master asked.
"I haven't the remotest idea," the Doctor replied flippantly.
"Doctor," the Master said in a warning tone.
"I don't know what to tell you. When I was brought here, the man tapped on the door and it opened, but I don't know if that was him opening it, or if it was his way of saying 'let me in' I'm outside," Marion stepped forward, "'Course, I could always try knocking myself,"
Marion took a step closer to the door, and then heard a loud, faintly muffled beeping noise.
They all froze.
"Marion, did you trip something? Some kind of alarm,"
"I don't...think so Doctor," Marion said slowly looking down at her feet to see if there was perhaps a wire or some other thing underfoot. Then she remembered what it was. "But I think we should look around the general area for a while to try and find the source,"
The Master reached into his pocket and pulled out his pocket watch. The beeping got louder.
The Master looked at it for a moment before frowning and looking up at them furiously.
"Someone's trying to rescue Miss Grant," he swung his head around to Marion, "Did you know about this,"
"If I say yes are you going to press that button. Because if so, then no, I had no idea,"
If anything, that made the Master angrier.
"I warned you two,"
"No!" the Doctor shouted. He kicked up with a shout and knocked the watch and the gun out of the Master's hand and the Master himself against a cliff wall.
Marion ran towards the pocket watch where it had dropped and kicked it hard with the side of her foot, far enough that the Master was unable to reach out for it and as she did so, the door to the city opened with the gravelly sound of rock against rock.
Marion turned around to see more guards standing around them, pointing their spears at them and surrounding their group in a spike in an inescapable circle of sharp points. One of them bent down to grab the Master's fallen gun and the other shoved Marion and the Master and forcibly escorted them into the city.
"On the off chance you've gained enough self-awareness to know that coming here was a very, very bad idea," Marion said as they were pushed back into the dark and cool halls of the city. "It's very much too late for you to say so,"
They were met by one of those shorter grey cloaked fellows and he guided them back into the room where Marion had been taken earlier; the one with the pulsing doors, the machinery, and the painting on glass.
The Master stepped forward closer to the man in the grey cloak.
"Are you the leader of these people? I've come to help you,"
The man slowly turned around and stared at the Master silently.
"Why doesn't he answer,"
"They don't speak with words," Marion explained, "They're telepathic. They speak with, thoughts I guess,"
With that being said, the man and his guards left and closed the doors behind him. The Master held out a hand to attempt to stop them,
"No, wait!" Despite his protests, the door was sealed shut. The Master turned around to examine the room "What is this place?"
"Well, it looks like some sort of lumber room," Marion looked around. It didn't look like a lumber room. Marion figured that the Doctor was being sarcastic, but who knew.
"Take a look at this frieze here. I think it might interest you," The Doctor pointed to a piece of the painted glass.
"Yes…," the Master said with a tone full of consideration.
"It's a sort of chronicle of their history, showing that their science has deteriorated into a somewhat primitive religion,"
The Doctor explained to the Master about how they'd noticed these the last time they were there and what they had deduced from it with Marion being incredibly careful with the things that she said in response so that she wouldn't give too much information. But for the most part she just kind of stood back and watched the two men talk.
It was fascinating to look at. It wasn't hard to believe that the two of them had been friends once upon on time nor was it hard to believe that they kinda sorta were still. It was the way that they talked to each other and the glances that they gave.
"That's absolutely fascinating. The whole story is here!" the Master exclaimed.
"Is it?" the Doctor tilted his head, "Well, perhaps you'd be kind enough to explain it to me?"
"Well, this city was once the center of a great civilisation,"
"Yes, yes," Marion waved her hand, "That's pretty obvious. Just look around,"
"By genetic engineering, they developed a super-race. That priest we saw must be a remnant of it,"
"You deduced all that from these pictures?"
"He had more to go on than just that. Didn't you?"
The Master gave Marion a sharp glance out of the corner of his eye. "Yes. Yes. The files of the Time Lords are very comprehensive,"
"Oh, so that's more like it," the Doctor replied, "You mean that you stole the information?"
Marion tilted her head. 'I don't really know if you can steal information, or if you can steal it, this isn't the kind that really counts as stealing. It's not like the Time Lords were going to do anything with it,' She didn't say this out loud.
"It seemed an awful pity not to make use of it, you know? But of course, that's typical of the High Council of the Time Lords. Know everything, do nothing,"
Marion made a wordless noise of agreement that was just vague enough that she could deny making it.
She didn't want to obviously agree with the Master.
"Tell me, why are you so interested in the history of this planet?"
The Master clicked his tongue. "Well, this super-race developed a Doomsday Weapon. it was never used,"
"Why not? Super-weapons usually are eventually,"
"Who knows? Maybe it was due to a degeneration of the life strain,"
"Or," Marion brought up, "It could be because they invented something capable of producing large amounts of dangerous radiation but didn't invent, you know, the concept of lining things with lead or hazmat suits, or you know, literally any kind of safety measure," Marion looked at the Doctor, "You remember, when they took us to that room where they were going to toss us into that," Marion snapped her fingers trying to come up with the word, "reactor thingy? That thing was full of just, raw radiation. They just opened the hatch and just stood there, crowding around. If they're that nonchalant about it then..." Marion trailed off.
"Speaking of that," the Doctor brought up, "May I remind you that their religion embraces sacrifice and that we are the destined victims?"
"Not if I can convince them that I can help them using their weapon,"
"You're going to use this weapon?"
"Not unless it's absolutely necessary," the Doctor didn't look convinced, "Well, don't you see, Doctor? The very threat of its use could hold the galaxy to ransom,"
They turned to the sound of the door into the room whirring loudly as it opened.
"I think you've left it a trifle late," the Doctor commented, noticing the procession.
"Doctor, you underrate me," the Master turned his back to the door and pulled a gas mask and a smoke bomb out of some hidden pocket somewhere.
"What about Marion and me?"
"Try holding your breaths,"
'Great' Marion thought, 'Because I've got SUCH a great record with that,'
Marion pulled the cowl of her sweater up to her face and pinched her nose.
The grey cloaked man pointed his staff at the Doctor. The Master, who he had is back to, threw down the grenade. It exploded with a bright flash and filled the room with sharp and chemically smelling smoke.
The Doctor pressed a handkerchief to his face. The Doctor ran quickly out of the room. The Master and Marion followed close behind him, using the Doctor's bright red cloak as a guide to follow.
Some gas had flowed out into the hall, but it wasn't anywhere near as concentrated as it had been to the room. They ran to a hallway off to the side to catch their breaths. Well, Marion and the Doctor did. The Master just removed his mask.
Marion removed the cowl from her nose and mouth and coughed hard enough that she felt like she was hacking up a lung. Finally, her fit stopped and she stood back up to catch her breath again.
The Doctor coughed a little bit as well, but his fit didn't last nearly as long as Marion's had.
We can't all have cool biological quirks that help our lungs quickly clear out nonsense.
"If you two are quite done," the Master said condescendingly, "we should really be going now,"
Marion glared at the man silently.
Marion would've assumed that the Master was super duper lost with the way he seemed to be guiding them down seemingly random corridors. Still, the Master had a map in his hand and walked with a purpose.
Eventually, he came to a hard stop and began to look this way and that down a different path.
"So…," Marion asked, "Which way are we heading now?"
The Master looked down at the map and then in the hall. He pointed straight ahead without looking up.
The three of them walked forward down the selected path until…
"WAIT"
…something caught the Master's attention: a greenish-yellow mark on the wall that reminded Marion of a fancy knot before being tightened. He looked down at his map again, and then at the design, before smiling.
"Yes, we're very near to our goal now. You will soon see the most powerful weapon ever created!"
"Can't wait," Marion replied with nothing even vaguely resembling emotion in her voice.
"Sarcasm isn't a very flattering trait,"
"Neither constantly trying and failing to take over the universe, but okay,"
"QUIET," the Master said sharply, "You really should learn to hold your tongue. And anyway, this plan won't fail. I will find the weapon, and I will wield it, and I will bring the galaxy to its knees,"
"Sure you will!" Marion said, trying to put as much condescension in her tone, "I mean, you haven't succeeded before, but who knows?"
The Master and his map eventually led them to the room that the guards might have brought them anyway. The one that was warmer than everywhere else and had the panel that could slide open to reveal the city leader and the faint high pitched noise. The Master made sure that the two of them were in front of him with his gun aimed at their backs.
Once they entered the room, The Master looked around. His eyes widened as he noticed something "Wait. This is it,"
"Is it?" the Doctor asked, "Well, where is this super weapon of yours?"
"We're in the heart of it. It stretches for miles all around us," The Master gestured around the room. "Look, let me try and explain how it works,"
The Master walked towards a machine that Marion hadn't properly noticed before. It looked like a huge work table with a large clear circular lense on top that reminded Marion of a front loading washing machine. The Master put his map down on the lens and flipped a switch.
The back, faintly glowing panel slid open. A large blue planet with a smaller blue speck in a dark background. He pressed something and it began to zoom in, focusing on the speck that grew larger and larger.
"Look! That, Doctor, is the sun that gives life to the planet Earth that you hold in such affection and where you live Miss Henson," The Master pointed to the particular planet.
"I do know a little basic astronomy,"
"And I think I know how the planet I was born and raised on works,"
"Then you will know that one day that sun will burn through to its core and explode,"
"In about ten thousand million years time,"
"Eh," Marion shook her hand, "Less than that. Around the year five billion and five-ish, give or take is when the National Trust'll stop holding back the explosion with their gravity satellites then and the Earth'll be burned. They'll make a whole evening out of it. People will come from all over to watch. It'll be cool,"
"Ten billion or five billion, with this weapon, I can make it happen now,"
The Doctor looked serious. "That's unbelievable!"
"You know the Crab Nebula?" the Master asked rhetorically.
"The cloud of cosmic matter that was once a sun? Of course,"
"That was the result of the super race testing this weapon,"
The Doctor turned to Marion quickly. "I thought you said that it blew up a PLANET,"
Marion hunched her shoulders, "My bad. I uh, don't exactly have every single piece of information I've ever heard or learned constantly playing in my head on loop. All I really remembered was that the weapon was used to blow up something big and that it was really bad that it blew it up," Marion rubbed the back of her neck, "I'm sorry,"
"That's fine Marion," the Doctor assured, "That's fine. I'm worried about you!" the Doctor turned to the Master, furious, "You intend to take the whole planet for ransom?"
The Master stepped closer to the Doctor until he was barely an arm's length away from the man.
"Doctor, why don't you come in with me? We're both Time Lords, we're both renegades. We could be masters of the galaxy! Think of it, Doctor, absolute power! Power for good. Why, you could reign benevolently, you could end wars, suffering, disease. We could save the universe!"
There was a moment, where Marion was thought that the Doctor might say yes, and Marion had no fucking clue what she would do if he had. But then he opened his mouth. "No, absolute power is evil,"
The Master's eyes narrowed and he raised his gun.
"Consider carefully, Doctor. I'm offering you a half-share in the universe,"
The Doctor was silent but he didn't need words to say that his thoughts were unchanged.
"You must see reason, Doctor!"
"No, I will not join you in your absurd dreams of a galactic conquest,"
"Why?" the Master asked softly, "Why!" he shouted. The man took half a step forward and then stopped. "Look at this," He then quickly spun on his heels and ran back to the projector. "Look at all those planetary systems, Doctor. We could rule them all!"
Throughout the entirety of this argument, Marion was getting vivid flashbacks of being 16 and at a friend's house just kind of vibing and her friend's mom all but kicking down her bedroom door and the two of them getting into a big shouting match that started out in English until the two of them realized that, "Hey, there's was a guest in the room. She doesn't need to hear all that dirty laundry," but instead of stopping entirely, they just continued the argument but louder and in Tagalog. A heavy conversation that she had no real way to contribute to, while both parties more or less ignored the fact that she was there. All the while, Marion just pretended to be super interested in the thread count of her friend's comforter while wishing that she could just kind of evaporate.
But just like that, she couldn't, the conversation continued and she just kind of stood there, wishing that the tiny dude in charge of this whole place would do something even if it was snatching the Master's gun and shooting her in the face.
The Master pressed a few buttons on the back of the console and the camera began to zoom out from the sun and to the galaxy as a whole.
"Look at all those planetary systems, Doctor. We could rule them all!"
"What for?" the Doctor replied sharply, "What is the point?"
"The point is that one must rule or serve. That's a basic law of life. Why do you hesitate, Doctor? Surely it's not loyalty to the Time Lords, who exiled you on one insignificant planet?"
"You'll never understand, will you? I want to see the universe, not rule it,"
The Master was silent at that. And began fuming. After a moment, he held up his gun and pointed it at the Doctor.
"Then I'm very sorry, Doctor,"
"WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH,"
Marion stepped in between the two of them. She took several steps closer to the Master. "Hey let's not do that!"
The panel began to rise behind the Master with a low rumbling noise.
Marion wondered if he spent all of his time in the chair and just opened the door when he wanted to come out or if he had a whole back room in there and just hopped in the chair when he had something important to do.
The Master looked around in confusion. "What's happening?"
"Maybe stop waving the gun around and look where the noise is coming from and you'll see,"
The leader's chair slid out of the wall.
The Master glanced over at him, still aiming his gun at Marion and the Doctor and then back to the two of them.
"As far as this planet is concerned? The ultimate lifeform,"
"Why have you returned?" the being asked sharply with its synthy sounding voice, "What do you want here?"
The Master froze for a second. He lowered his gun and turned sharply to the man. "I want to restore this city and this planet to their former glory,"
"Don't listen to him, sir,"
"He's a megalomaniac with a god complex,"
The Master gestured to the panel. "You have here a wonderful weapon," he started shouting, "Why, with it you could bring good and peace to every world in the galaxy,"
"On the contrary," the Doctor was shouting now as well "He'll bring only death and destruction,"
The Master acted like they hadn't spoken. "This planet of yours could be the centre of a mighty empire! The greatest that the cosmos has ever known,"
Marion sighed, "There is absolutely no way that you teaming up with them could go right. Surely you know this by now, or is it too early for you to recognize the pattern," Marion scrunched her nose, "Actually, what am I saying. You're never going to notice," she murmured under her breath.
"Tell me, sir," the Doctor inquired, "has this weapon of yours ever brought good to your planet?"
The city leader thought for a moment. "Once the weapon was built, our race began to decay. The radiation from the weapon's power source poisoned the soil of our planet,"
"Like I said," Marion snapped her fingers, "Radiation!"
"Exactly! The weapon has only brought death, and," the Doctor pointed to the Master, "yet he wants to spread that death throughout the galaxy! Unless you destroy this weapon, sir, he will use it for evil,"
"No!" the Master was properly shouting now. As if the person he was talking to was in another room as opposed to literally right in front of him, "You must be mad! Why, with this, we could control every galaxy in the cosmos! We could be gods!"
"You are not fit to be a god," the being said sharply, "I sense that if you have control of this weapon, you will bring only unhappiness and destruction to the entire universe,"
"Then die!"
Before the Master could do anything more than aim his gun, it disappeared from his hands. It didn't fade away and there wasn't a noise. Marion blinked and the gun was gone. The only hint that the gun had even ever been there in the first place was the way that the Master still had his hand outstretched and his fingers positioned like they had held a gun in it at some point, but no longer did.
He looked at his outstretched hand in disbelief while the leader of the city turned to the Doctor and Marion.
"There is a self-destructor mechanism. You will please operate it,"
"Not only does justice prevail on your planet, sir, but also infinite compassion," the Doctor said with a nod.
Marion moved to the panel the Master had been all but gloating over and examined the things that were on it. She pointed to a large lever and then looked pointedly at the figure. He nodded and Marion pulled it as hard as she could.
As soon as she did, the room shook under their feet like a powerful earthquake.
"You must leave at once, or you will be destroyed with the city,"
The Master didn't need any further explanation to already be sprinting out of the room.
Marion ran after him and the Doctor ran after her. The Doctor stopped to thank the city leader and Marion grabbed him by the sleeve and tugged him along.
The ground hadn't stopped shaking. If anything, the ground was shaking even harder and considering how low the ceiling was, Marion was greatly concerned that the ceiling might collapse.
Several city guards ran past them moving shakily.
Marion blinked twice in an attempt to keep the room from spinning.
"Wait stop!" Marion shouted. She stood in front of the people with her arms out to block their way. "The...the man in the throne, he told us to set off the self-destruct mechanism. You have to get out of the city. Now!"
"Marion!"
"Oh come off it Doctor. Unless you want to die with them," the Master yelled back, only able to be slightly heard over the sound of the ground trembling. He sped up ahead.
"Marion, come on!" the Doctor finally shouted.
"I'm coming, I'm coming,"
They ran through a corridor and down a hall and all but slammed into Jo and Caldwell.
The Doctor put a hand on Jo's shoulder. "Jo, what are you doing here?"
"Looking for you!"
"We've gotta get out of here at once. The whole place is going up!" he turned to the Master, "You have a map. Give it to me,"
"You fend for yourself,"
Before he could rush forward without them, Caldwell grabbed him by the shoulder none too gently.
"Give him that map!"
The Master ripped the map out of his pocket and slammed it in the Doctor's hand in a way that showed that he most certainly would not have done so if it weren't for the fact that Caldwell was forcing him to do so.
The Doctor quickly unfolded it and examined it. "Yes, I think this is it," After a second, he nodded and began to walk forward, folding the map back as he did. "Come on,"
The Doctor took them through one other hallway, and then another, and then another. Finally, they could see light at the end of a corridor and they sprinted the rest of the way to it. They ran through the opening, it wasn't very big, but Marion fit through smaller.
The Doctor climbed through the hole tugging Jo along behind him. Then Marion climbed through the hole, and then the Master, and the Caldwell.
"Keep running," Marion shouted, "When he said that this place was going to self destruct, he was, and I can not stress this enough, not kidding,"
Marion, Jo, and the Doctor ducked behind a large boulder a decent distance away while the Master and Caldwell ran behind another one. No sooner than they did that. There was a huge earth-shattering "BOOM" and then another, and then another, and then another, and then the sound of rolling and falling rocks.
And the way that had left the city was gone. Marion could only hope that anyone else who was in there had made it out safely. Marion looked out from behind the stone. To see a bunch of men in IMC reds and blacks holding guns.
"Oh, hello there," Marion said.
"Get up!" the man in front of Morgan shouted, "All of you, get up! Caldwell, come over here,"
Caldwell walked towards the rest of the IMC workers slowly. The Master hopped up and tried going with them as well.
"You've arrived just in time," he gestured to the Doctor, Marion, and Jo, "Put these people under arr-,"
"Get back to your friends," Morgan cut him off.
"You don't understand," the Master tried, "I am the Adjudicator,"
"You're an imposter. We don't need you,"
The Master froze for a moment. He quickly moved over to them.
"You've got to do something, Doctor," he said urgently, "They're going to kill you,"
'You didn't seem to care about that a minute ago, but okay,'
The Doctor turned away from the Master and faced the men.
Morgan leveled his gun at the four of them. "Morgan," Caldwell urged, "You can't,"
Morgan turned and pointed the gun barely inches from his face.
"Shut up, Caldwell. If we didn't need you, you'd be over with them,"
"You're insane,"
Something caught Marion's eye. She noticed a bunch of people standing on a cliff, rifles in hand. Winton was among them. Marion looked up at them for a moment and then looked back down. She tugged at the Doctor's sleeve and glanced pointedly at the rock.
"Drop those guns!" Winton shouted down at them.
He and the rest of the colonists opened fire.
"Take cover!" Morgan shouted.
Everyone ducked behind rocks the IMC because they were being actively shot at and Marion and Co. because none of them wanted to be the victim of stray bullets. Marion covered her ears with her hands and shut her eyes. She leaned her back against the rock. The gunfire was just so loud and so close. Her hands didn't block it completely, but it made it manageable.
Then the gunfire finally stopped.
"Surrender, the rest of you. You won't be killed," Winton shouted down.
Marion took her hands away from her ears and opened her eyes.
"Looks like he dipped," Marion said once she opened them to see no one in front of her.
"Who," the Doctor asked.
"The Master, he's gone!"
"Come on," the Doctor said, pointing to a buggy, "We might be able to catch him, he can't be that far,"
Once again, Marion got in the back while the Doctor drove and Marion took the passenger seat. In the distance, they could see the Master's TARDIS. As they got closer, it made a groaning noise and faded away into nothing.
"He got away again!" Jo groaned.
"Don't worry J for better or worse, this won't be the last that you see of him. Nowhere near it,"
They met Winton in Ashe's office.
"So," the Doctor asked, "How does it feel to have beaten back the corporations and protect your colony,"
"Sure we won," Winton said, "But that doesn't change the fact that we're starving. And we still can't grow any food. And now we can't go back to earth even if we wanted to,"
"Now look, stop worrying. It was the radiation from that weapon that was poisoning the soil. Your cover crops will grow now,"
The man put down his pen. "Yes, well, let's hope you're right,"
"You know," Jo asked, "I still don't understand why you weren't in that ship when it blew up?"
"Well, we knew the IMC would have to get clear before we blasted off. I hid in the dome, I knocked out the guard and let the others out,"
"Yes, but it took off and blew up," Jo insisted, "I saw it,"
"Ashe took it up alone,"
"I'm-I'm sorry," Marion said. "You two were friends,"
"Were? We still are. He's in the med bay right now, but he'll be fine,"
Marion blinked. "Sorry, what,"
"I thought you said he was piloting the rocket when it exploded!" Jo exclaimed, "Isn't he…,"
"Dead?" Winton shook his head, a smile on his face, "No, it's the strangest thing. When we came back to the dome there he was. He's unconscious, and a little bit singed, but he's alive,"
"What?" the Doctor asked.
"How?"
"We don't know! We think there might've been some kind of safety mechanism in the ship to protect the pilot but other than that. We haven't got a clue. It was an old ship, there might've been some safety feature we didn't know about. We got it secondhand you know,"
Marion blinked slowly. 'WOW!'
She was sure that Ashe had been dead. Marion had no clue what could've been changed. And now he wasn't. Or now he wouldn't be.
"I'm sure that Mary is relieved," Marion said finally.
Before the conversation could continue, a voice called from the hall.
"Doctor, there's something here for you,"
"Oh good," Marion said, "The TARDIS. Finally,"
"My dear chap," the Doctor said to Winton, "this is absolutely splendid. Where did you find it?"
"In one of the dwellings a few miles from the dome. There was a lot of stuff there that the Primitives have stolen,"
While the two men talked, Marion noticed something out of place. A folded piece of paper taped to the side of the TARDIS. Marion carefully removed it.
'What the fuck?'
It had her name on it, but it hadn't been there when the TARDIS landed. It wasn't in her handwriting, so it couldn't be from the Associate. Maybe a colonist had written it? But why? And why tape it to the TARDIS instead of just, like, handing it to her.
Before Marion could open it, the Doctor ushered her into the TARDIS and quickly flipped some switches on the console sending them into the vortex and away from the colonists before the colonists could ask any more questions about the ship.
"What's that you got there Marion?" the Doctor asked, noticing that Marion had something in her hand.
"A note," Marion replied, "I found it taped to the side of the TARDIS,"
"From the Associate?"
"No…," Marion replied, "At least I don't think so. The letters aren't orange. And it's not in my handwriting. No idea who it's from,"
"Well," Jo said, "Open it, what does it say,"
Marion unfolded the note. It had clearly been ripped out of a notebook of some kind. A small one. There wasn't much written on it.
"H-," Marion stopped. The note catching her off guard. "What?"
"Hello Sweetie," it read, "And you're welcome. XOXO"
It wasn't signed with a name, just a hug and a kiss.
But Marion was willing to bet any amount of money on who the writer was.
The Doctor looked up from the console.
"Go on. What does it say?"
"I-," she refolded it, "I honestly don't think I can tell you. It's a bit of a spoiler I think,"
"Is it something bad?" Jo asked, noticing the expression on Marion's face.
"No? I don't. No, it isn't," Marion shook her head, "It's nothing bad it's just-"
"It's just what?"
"Different from what I was expecting. I supposed that's how I'd put it. Very, very, different,"
'What on Earth was SHE doing here,' Marion thought. And then she felt a tug around her ankle and 'Oh, so I don't even get time to process this before being sent elsewhere? Typical,'
(Next Chapter: Meeting Someone The Way You're Meant To)
Marion: Wait why didn't you wake me up until the last minute.
The Master: Because I can't kill you and you're fucking annoying.
So, you'll be pleased to know that I've properly decided on what the Master and Marion's dynamic is going to be or at least, enough of an idea to write it. So here it is, I hope you like it. Marion's dynamic isn't going to be static obviously. The Master has several incarnations and Marion's actions towards them will differ. But like, I've at least decided how a younger Marion will interact with Delgado and probably Ainley.
Speaking of those two, can we talk about something? Have you ever wondered if Delgado, the Burnt Skeleton Man, and Ainley are supposed to be the same incarnations? The answer is, like many questions in Doctor Who:
"IDK man, it depends on how canon you think these specific big finish audios are and if you think that they're more canon than these other big finish audios. And how you feel about the different comics and novels"
People can complain and complain about the Timeless Child thing all they want but like, there is weirder and more confusing shit than that and it's also canon. The only difference between the Timeless Child and half of the bullshit in there is that you saw episode 10 of season 12 because it was a new episode of a TV show that you liked. Not because it's been 15 years since the Thirteenth Doctor appeared in anything major and you're desperate for literally any content containing them.