167 days since Koschei disappeared…? Could be more.
Hally stirred against the hard, damp floor beneath her. She blinked open her eyes, adjusting to the darkness. It felt like she'd been hit over the head with a hardback book.
She groaned softly, sitting herself up and taking in her surroundings. Again, she was in a cell. Although this one was more like a cage, thick bars lined three sides, they were firmly fitted into the wall behind her. There was barely any light in the room, just a slither coming in from the doorway and Hally could definitely smell mould, there must have been water nearby.
The door on the far side of the room creaked open painfully and the light from the corridor outside bathed the room in a weak orange glow. The silhouette of a man now stood in the doorway, he was holding a cane. He made his way over to the front of her cell, pulling up a stool and sitting down as he did so.
"How's my scrappy fighter doing, hey?" Hally could hear the grin in his voice, even if she couldn't really see his face.
"Where am I?" Hally strained her ears, she could hear voices fairly close by.
"Oh I'm so sorry. I never had chance to introduce myself, did I?" Her 'buyer' ignored her question, leaning in closer. He pushed a hand through the bars as if to shake her hand. He paused, looking down at the still visible bite marks over the back of his hand. He chuckled, pulling his hand away.
"Maybe not." He brushed himself down. "Anyway. My name is Mr Cairn" He smiled enthusiastically. "And you, young lady are going to make me a lot of money."
Hally narrowed her eyes, shifting so she was kneeling, and leaning back on her heels. "What do you mean…?" She asked slowly.
He chuckled. "No need to look so suspicious." He examined the back of his hand thoughtfully. "I still can't believe you bit me." He smiled to himself, obviously amused.
Hally scowled, she didn't like how he was playing with her. "You promised you wouldn't touch me." She hissed out. She hated how she almost sounded like a child, trying to reason with an adult.
Cairn chuckled. "Oh sweetheart." He shook his head patronisingly. "I was meaning I wouldn't touch you how the rest of the men in that room wanted to touch you." He smirked, Hally frowned. "Non-consensual sex really doesn't do it for me." His smirk widened as he pretended to examine his nails. When Hally didn't respond, he continued.
"We are on Kashyik!" He grinned, clapping his hands together dramatically. Hally raised an eyebrow. Kashyik was in the same constellation as Gallifrey, she was closer to home that she'd thought. Kashyik had once been a simple trading planet, with fairly good relations with Gallifrey but once the war had broken out the planet had been all but destroyed. Hally had thought that it'd been abandoned… but it would seem it had simply been repurposed.
"And what is on Kashyik…?" She asked quietly. Cairn pressed his palms together, pointing his fingers at Hally.
"Why only the most popular event in the galaxy!" He grinned. "Oh come on. We're all at war. Everyone wants in on the action, and this is the next best thing! Why go and get yourself killed when you can come here and watch 14 less than innocent convicts kill each other!" He laughed, spreading his arms out wide as if it was the best thing in the world.
Hally blinked. "What?" Cairn pouted sympathetically.
"Oh don't worry dearest, I have the utmost faith in you." He grinned. "And, what's better. If you win tonight, we will win so much money…that I can set you free?" He cocked an eyebrow. "How about that, huh?"
Hally licked her lower lip, the noise from above had been growing louder and louder and now Hally could almost picture the large audience arriving for that nights entertainment.
"I can't…" She muttered, Cairn just rolled his eyes. "No. I mean… you can't. I-…" Hally swallowed. "I'm protected?" She didn't mean for it to come out like a question. "I need you to send a message. To An Garradh. I'm protected… you can't do this!" She cried out in frustration, getting to her feet and hitting on the thick, cold bars that separated them.
Cairn didn't even flinch, he just chuckled to himself. "Oh my dear. Even if I cared enough to do as you ask. An Garradh is gone. Disappeared. Kaput." He smirked. "Now, now. We've got to get you ready!" He jumped to his feet, doing up the button of his suit jacket. He took a step forward and pulled out a rusty silver key from his inside jacket pocket. "Try not to bite." He winked and unlocked the door to her cage. He then took a step back, motioning for Hally to step out in front of him. She looked from the unlocked door and to him again, he raised an eyebrow, a spark of danger flashing behind his eyes. He was almost daring her to try something.
Hally looked down at the floor and slowly moved out of the cage, she heard Cairn make a small noise of praise before she felt his cool hand on her lower back. Gently but forcefully guiding her to the end of the room and through the curtained archway. He led her past a few similar looking rooms with holding cells inside before he turned her into another corridor, pushing her up a few sets of deep staircases. The whole place looked like it'd been abandoned a long time ago, water marks stained most of the walls, the staircase was flecked with dirt and… was that blood? Eventually Cairn steered her into a small, empty room. The window was covered with a black sheet but Hally could see artificial light was trying to break through. From behind Cairn, a silvery skinned man entered the room. He was carrying a small bag which he passed over to Cairn.
"Thank you." Cairn grinned, examining the contents of the bag. "Perfect." He chucked the bag at Hally's feet. "Time for you to change." His eyes flashed impatiently. Hally looked between the two, but the silver man simply exited the room without a word. She bent down, picking up the bag and taking out the contents. It was a very skimpy looking catsuit, Hally scoffed and looked up at Cairn. She opened her mouth to protest but Cairn held up a finger. "Ah, ah, ah. This is a perfect look for you. After all, you're really going to want to get the spectators on your side." He flashed her a toothy grin. She let out a low growl from the back of her throat. He chuckled and, sending a mock bow her way, turned around to face the other wall, allowing her to change.
Hally blushed furiously as she held up the outfit. Letting out a small sigh of defeat, she slipped out of her clothes and pulled the jumpsuit on with a soft groan. She looked down at herself, wincing. The top half was short sleeved, a quite intricate design of small rips in the fabric left almost all of her skin on show underneath the material. Luckily it had been designed so that at least her modesty was intact. She tried to stretch behind her to do up the zip at the back. She huffed. "I need a hand." She bit out.
Cairn turned and his face lit up with pride. "Oh yes, you look exceptional." He circled around her slowly. Hally tensed as she felt his hands brush her back as he zipped the catsuit up. There was a small pause before she felt him tug at the band around her hair, it fell out of the tidy bun it'd been placed in, her hair falling down her back. "Much better." She heard him whisper from behind her.
At that moment the silver skinned man returned, carrying a long and heavy rolled up leather material. He placed it onto the floor and unrolled it in front of both Hally and Cairn. It was lined with at least 20 different varieties of what looked like primitive sword types. A mixture of short daggers and long, thin pointed swords. Hally looked up to Cairn, his eyes twinkled back. "Take your pick. Maximum of two." He motioned for Hally to approach the laid out weapons, she did so. Flicking her eyes over each of the options carefully. She'd never even seen most of these weapons, let alone used them. Hally bit her lip and leant down to pick up two small, thin daggers. She weighed each one in her hands. They seemed to be quite well balanced, and she figured they might be easier to use that some of the larger, more deadly looking swords.
Cairn chuckled from behind her. "As you wish." He waved the other man out of the room and took the daggers from her hands. "Can't have you stabbing me in the back." He winked and laughed at his own joke as if it was hilarious. Hally gritted her teeth and let Cairn lead her out of the room and up a further set of stairs to a long corridor. Hally could hear the shouts of the crowd just on the other side of the door. Two men carrying blasters took their place either side of her.
No going back now.
"I'm afraid, little one. This is where we part." Cairn smiled hopefully and passed her daggers back over to her. "I'll be watching." He winked. "Don't die." And with that, he slapped her on the back and disappeared up further flights of stairs.
Hally swallowed, suddenly very aware of the sound of her own breathing. One of the men behind her nudged her forwards and she took that as a hint to start walking towards the door.
Don't die.
Yes.
Good plan.
Hally took in a deep breath as the door was flung open and she was shoved through into the blinding lights of an arena. She winced and had to cover her eyes for a second before her eyes adjusted. The noise of the crowd was deafening, she looked up and around. She was stood on the edge of a dark sandy arena, high, rusty metal walls lined the large circular pit. Spectators lined every inch of the walls, Hally tried to strain to see them, she was pretty sure there were Time Lord and Shabogan military garb in the sea of colour that surrounded her.
There was another loud cry from the audience and Hally remembered that she wasn't alone in the arena. Scanning the 13 other people, Hally tried to quickly identify any weaknesses. A lot of them were large and muscular, perhaps that meant they were slow? There were a few other women, men dressed all in armour – their faces covered with brightly coloured helmets. Hally swallowed, her mouth painfully dry. Before she could formulate any kind of plan an ear-splitting bang sounded from what looked like a VIP spectator box up in the stands. The other fighters in the arena began to move, Hally flinched as a woman, dressed in bright red armour, threw a heavy looking dagger straight into the chest of a half droid, half humanoid. Everything seemed to quieten to a steady ringing in Hally's ears, the sound of her own breath felt like it was deafening.
Hally began to run, she dodged the swing of a huge creature that had obviously decided she looked like easy prey. Hally had to jump back to dodge another attack, the creature swung its huge hand down to try and squash her. In a moment of inspiration, Hally slipped through the legs of the creature, spinning quickly on her knees and slashing out with one of her daggers. The creature let out a cry of agony as she sliced through all the ligaments in the back of its knee. It sank to the ground, unable to walk.
The crowd let out a cry of joy and Hally looked up, they were cheering for her victory. Adrenaline surged through her blood but before she could catch her breath, she sensed the trajectory of a blade coming towards her. Hally shifted her body to the right, narrowly missing the sharp dagger that had been thrown at her. It was the lady in red again, who had now turned her attention on Hally. The woman roared in anger at Hally's dodge and went to throw her second dagger. Hally stood her ground and watched as the woman threw the blade, screaming as she did so. Hally braced, and just as the dagger was about to get within a meter of her, she leant slightly to the side. She felt the dagger slow under the pull of her concentration, and just as it went to fly past her again, Hally reached out and caught it.
Smirking, she looked up at the woman who was now sprinting towards her. She flipped the dagger over in her hand and threw it back with all the speed she could muster. Hally winced as the woman let out a scream as the dagger embedded itself in her shoulder, the force of the throw knocking her back to the floor. Another huge beast of a figure took the opportunity and threw down a deadly hit of its fist onto the poor woman's head. Hally gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. The hulking creature then fixed its gaze on her. She took a step back instinctively, quickly looking around for some kind of escape route. There were only four of them left alive at this point… including a duo who were locked in what looked to be a ruthless sword fight at the other end of the arena. Hally tried to dart to the left of the beast but it was faster than she'd anticipated. With a quick swing of the hand it knocked Hally off the ground and into the wall of the arena.
Hally grabbed at her torso, a splintering pain shattering through her as she crashed into the metal of the wall. She dropped onto her hands and knees, her breath wheezing painfully. Before she could get her bearings, a thick hand wrapped around her neck and she was pushed back into the wall. She tried to kick out at the arm holding her up but the beast merely growled, releasing her away from the wall to push her even harder against it. There was a loud crack as the back of Hally's head connected with the metal. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she felt herself drop to the floor as the beast left her crumpled where she'd fallen, to face the now only remaining fighter left standing.
Hally rolled onto her back, she could feel the pain in her chest easing up and she gently touched the back of her head. Hally brought her now bloodstained hand back in front of her face. She groaned painfully. A tremendous roar from the crowd signalled to Hally that the fight must have been over. She whimpered.
No. I'm NOT losing this.
Not today!
Hally tried to ignore the throbbing pain radiating from the back of her skull and she pushed herself up until she stood unsteadily on her legs. Turning around she saw that one of the sword wielders had killed the large beast, his dirty blonde mop of hair was currently facing Hally as he raised his hands to the spectators, basking in their cheers for his victory. Hally picked up one of her daggers that had fallen to the ground and with what strength she had left she threw it towards the man. The harsh clang of metal on metal echoed through the arena as her dagger struck the base of his sword. There was an excitable gasp from the audience as they returned their attention to her, following by more screams and applause. The blonde man flinched back as his sword was sent flying to the ground, he turned to see the culprit and let out a cocky laugh upon seeing Hally. He began to saunter towards her, his handsome face pulled into a grin.
Hally quickly picked up her other dagger, the blonde opened his arms out, pouting in disappointment.
"Come on now Princess. Let's make this a fair fight?" He cocked his head to the side. "These guys love a good show!" He cried out, motioning to the spectators, who cried out in encouragement. He took another step forward confidently, Hally took her chance and jumped him, her dagger aiming for his chest. However, he'd been expecting her move so was able to block her easily. He sent a nasty punch into her stomach, causing Hally to double over in pain. He grabbed her hair, pulling her up again. Hally desperately made another lunge for him with the dagger, the blonde laughed and caught her hand with ease. She tried to push against his grip but he was just too strong and Hally was close to losing consciousness. He let out a cruel laugh, bending her wrist so the dagger was now aiming back at Hally's chest. Hally cried out as she tried to use all of her strength to push back against him, he was slowly edging the blade towards her.
She kicked his shin hard, he let out a sharp cry of pain. The grip he had on her wrist loosened and Hally quickly dropped the dagger from her right hand, ducking and catching it with her left. She lunged forward and finally felt contact as she stabbed it deep into his stomach. He let out a breathless cry of pain, falling onto his knees.
But Hally didn't dwell, she instantly pulled the dagger out of his stomach and backhanded the hilt of it into the side of his head. Knocking him out cold.
The noise of the crowd totally overwhelmed her senses, Hally doubled over and coughed violently, spitting out some blood. A rough hand took her by the arm, Hally snapped back up, instinctively pulling at the restraint. It was one of the doormen, he grunted at her and Hally allowed him to escort her out of the arena. Instead of going back down the stairs to where the cells were, Hally was pulled further up and away from the pit. "Where are we going?" She asked breathlessly.
"Spectators box. Mr C wants you up there." Hally pulled a face, looking down at herself. She was covered in dirt and blood that was a mixture of her own and many others. She let out a noise of disgust, did Cairn have no tact at all?!
The door to the box was pulled open and Hally was pushed through. This room was a lot nicer than any other she'd been in for a long time. It had beautiful glass walls which were draped with rich, red curtains. There was a bar lining one side of the room and seats facing out towards the arena on the other. People were now milling about, some buying drinks, some sat socialising in their chairs. A few people turned to look at Hally as she stood gawkily at the entrance. A squeal of delight to her left caught her attention and Cairn practically skipped over towards her.
"Oh my dear! You were fantastic!" He grinned, he almost went to hug her but seeing her filthy attire, thought better of it and just gave her an awkward pat on the arm. "Not that I ever doubted you wouldn't be!" He laughed, obviously lying. "You have made me a very rich and very happy man." He grinned. He clicked his fingers and one of his assistants appeared carrying two crystal, flute glasses of a baby blue liquid. "A toast… to the most fantastic investment." He laughed, handing her a glass, chinking his against hers before downing the contents. Hally looked back, unsure. She took a sip, it was actually quite nice… although now it was burning the back of her throat. She coughed awkwardly.
"Now, dear." He suddenly changed and straightened up, his face falling serious. "Back to business. I know I promised you that if you won this… well that'd be you done. Free as a little birdie." Hally grit her teeth, her fists tensing up.
"However… I didn't actually expect you to survive…let alone win!" He laughed loudly. "So now we've got a bit of an issue, because I've just taken a hell of a lot of money from someone very interested in exploiting your assets further." He smiled sweetly. The glass in Hally's hand shattered, pieces of glass falling to the floor. Hally screamed in anger through her teeth and grabbed at the front of Cairn's immaculate suit. She pulled him roughly towards her and stuck the remainder of the broken flute glass that was in her hand, up against his neck. The glass just taut enough to draw a small trickle of blood from his neck.
He let out a small shriek of surprise, his eyes widening. "Now, now… let's not do anything rash." He let out a pathetic little laugh but Hally wasn't listening. She was staring at the blood now trickling down Cairn's neck. One tiny push and this lying scumbag would be dead. Hally tensed her arm, accepting that she was going to have to kill him.
"As your new Master I command you: release him." A deep, unfamiliar voice sounded from behind her.
She didn't know what it was, perhaps it was the cool confidence with which the voice spoke, but Hally slowly turned to face the newcomer. As she locked eyes with him, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
It was him.
He was different. But it was him.
The Master.
Her Master.
She released Cairn who let out an indignant huff, straightening out his suit. "So ungrateful…" He muttered. Striding up The Master, he shot Hally a glare. "Good luck to you." He huffed again dramatically before stalking off.
Hally was just staring at The Master. He fought the urge to laugh and instead calmly offered her his arm.
"I think it's about time we get out of this dive. Don't you?" Hally took his arm weakly, he could feel her shaking as she gripped at his overcoat. The Master led her quietly to the exit, a few people shot them strange looks but no one tried to stop them. Hally wasn't really paying attention to their surroundings, just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. Letting herself go wherever he was taking them. He eventually stopped outside a militarised TARDIS, it had been disguised as an ordinary blocked off archway. The Master unlocked the door, gently leading Hally inside, she looked around silently before turning back to him. She opened her mouth to say something but tears sprung into her eyes and caught in her throat.
"Shhh…" He muttered softly, taking her into his arms. She hid her face against his chest, he could feel her breath coming out in shaky gasps. He held her quietly for a few moments before her muffled voice broke the silence.
"How did you know where I was…?" He gently stroked the back of her head with his hand, wincing when he felt the hair matted in with her own blood.
He sighed softly, flexing his jaw. "I didn't." He shrugged. "I'd heard a rumour… of a feisty female fighter." He smirked proudly. "Thought I'd check her out."
Hally let out a huff. "Thought you'd check her out. Did you?" She looked up at him, narrowing her eyes at him.
He laughed at the unamused expression on her face. "Stop being such a prude." He shook his head, letting out a quiet sigh. The Master pressed his forehead against hers, closing his eyes.
"You didn't need to 'buy' me." She huffed out, an undignified whine edging into her voice.
"Trust me I did." He teased. He was relieved when he felt her laughing softly against his chest.
"What happens now…?" She asked after a small silence. The Master opened his eyes, smiling.
"Well, as acting General for Attack Squadron 55…"
Hally shook her head in exasperation, muttering. "Of course you are…"
He continued, "I'd very much like to offer you a place on my team. We've got a new position that just opened for a highly strung, mouthy, 'wonder woman'."
Hally rolled her eyes, pouting irritably. "Shut up and come here." With that she pulled at the collar of his overcoat, crashing her lips down on his.