The Master spoke to his soldiers on the com, making sure everyone out there would be able to make it into the mansion. It took a while, minutes passed, the tension rose. I could swear a waft of smoke somehow made its way inside, burning in my nose, my eyes stung from the bright light of the flames. Some trees had caught fire, the grass turned into a sea of red and orange.

"All in?" The Master waited for an answer, then nodded. "Good. Close all doors, search everyone for weapons and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Outside too, yes. Put those fires out."

He released the button and put down the com, then glared out the window.

"This was a good decision," assured the Doctor.

"I'm not so sure about that," growled the Master. "A TARDIS doesn't run away just because some idiot plants a bomb nearby. She would have urged us to leave, instead."

"Oh, come on." Donna stemmed her fists into her hips. "That box can't be so intelligent. It's just a ship!"

Both Time Lords gave her a death glare.

"Uh oh, boys and their cars. Be careful not to insult them," Vienna taunted. "So, what now? Do we just wait and see? I could snoop around a little, talk to the people, be one of them, you understand?" She winked.

The Master scrunched up his nose. "You stay exactly where you are and where I can keep an eye on you."

"Don't be so grumpy," she interjected with a cheeky smile, "I'm on your side, right now."

"Yeah, right." The Master huffed. "You will stay here. I still have trust issues with people that try to kill me, Salvatori."

"Aaaaw, listen to you! Holding grudges."

"Don't fight," pleaded the Doctor. "We have more urgent problems to solve." He started to pace up and down, his shoes leaving a faint trail in the soft carpet wherever he stepped. "First, we need to make sure no one is hurt. Then we have to find out if the bomb people are still outside, or other assassins. Aside from Vienna, of course."

"Hey! I count!"

"So much to being on our side." The Master smirked.

Vienna grinned.

Donna rolled her eyes. "Maybe it would help if you'd be useful for once and hold a speech or something?" she suggested. "Calm the people down. Tell them this wasn't you. Pretty sure they're thinking about it. They might revolt even."

The Master shrugged. "The building is practically made for this. They can't get anywhere. Everything is secured and locked and stable. Oh, and don't forget all the armed soldiers. Besides…" He grunted. "I'm in a pathetic state. How should they have any respect right now?"

But maybe that was exactly what we needed. An idea struck me and while they bickered for a while longer, it took on some shape.

"Donna is right," I interrupted. "Talking to them might really help."

"And how exactly? You think they have some compassion?" The Master shuddered dramatically. "As a leader I need to look strong and threatening or they will use the opportunity and make everything worse."

"I don't think so." I smiled at him. "Actually, I think you should go out there looking as weak and pathetic as possible. Look half dead, lean on the Doctor to walk straight and put that blood soaked shirt with the bullet hole back on." I countered his confused look with a grin until I slowly saw the realisation trickle into him.

"Ohhhh, oh, you are brilliant!" He chuckled.

"I don't get it," said Donna. "Won't they try to kill him even more?"

"No." I smiled. "He doesn't need to get close. There are big enough screens. No need for risks. But he can convince everyone that he himself is a victim of whomever set that bomb off. Tell them it wasn't protesters, but assassins. The same that attacked now and also the same that were in the city yesterday and the ones who blew up the pantheon."

"No—-ot sure they'll believe it." Vienna tapped against her chin. "What if some of the shooters are among them? You, err, didn't… get rid of them all."

Again I offered a smile. "Easy. Tell the people they'll get a reward for provable information. Make them suspicious. If any of the shooters are among them, make them afraid to show themselves. Make everyone so paranoid that they don't even dare to think about attacking again."

Donna glared at me with an open mouth. The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, swallowing. "Geeze, I didn't know you could be so manipulative."

I shrugged. "Had enough people do it to me. And I can learn."

"Brilliant! Like I said." The Master grabbed my head and pressed a kiss against it. "My good little prisoner."

"I'm not!" I grumbled, rubbing my forehead.

"Brilliant?" He grinned from ear to ear. "Don't make yourself so small. Well, smaller than you already are."

I smacked his arm, but the Master only giggled to himself and went to grab his discarded, blood stained shirt, looking at it with disgust. "Well then. Let's do this."

And what a performance he offered! We gathered in a room full of monitors, one of them, larger than the others, stood in the middle and this was where the Master performed. If I hadn't known better I would have believed every word right out of his mouth and it was then that I realized that he had never really lied to me. Maybe bent the truth here and there, or omitting things, but not… this.

It definitely helped that the Master's lungs still healed, the wheezing and occasional drop of blood only adding to the performance.

"I won't stand for this," he announced at the end. "Whoever killed our president Calfen, whoever had the audacity to burn down our monuments and destroy our homes will pay! This is our shared past, those were our families and friends who died a horrible and useless death." He made a dramatic pause, coughing probably more than necessary. The Doctor rushed to his side, helping him stand. "I know you don't trust me. Calfen was a friend since childhood and he was too protective over me. He didn't want me to get involved in politics because of exactly the things that are now happening. And yes…" Another cough. "I can't prove it. But let me help. Let me-" he took a wheezing breath, pressing a hand against his chest- "set this right. And then I will see how we can make this city a better place for all of us."

And with that he broke down, letting the Doctor and one of the soldiers drag him away, while another man turned off the feed. We could still see what the cameras recorded downstairs, could see the excited chatter, the shared whispers. A lot of people nodded, many more did a salute.

The speech seemed to have done its work.

The Master untangled himself from his aids and straightened, grinning, showing clearly he didn't need them. He could shake off the act as if it were a vest. "Too much?"

I laughed and shook my head.

Donna huffed. "You damn, bloody liar. Haven't seen someone talk like that in ages. Heck, wouldn't I know what a sod you are, I'd believe it all myself!"

"Oh, stop it. I'm blushing!" The Master chuckled.

"I'm not happy with lying to them," whined the Doctor. "And let me check those wounds. You didn't even bandage anything."

"Cauterized," said the Master, then pointed at me. "Mommy let her little pet spit on me."

The Doctor glared at me, then at him, clearly confused. I poked out my tongue. "Bit of dragon spit or regenerating? What's better?"

The Master returned the gesture, adding a cheeky grin to it. "Might still be a good idea to have a look." He let his eyes wander over the Doctor, then the rest of us, lingering for a moment on Vienna, who was busy keeping the monitors in sight, before returning to the other Time Lord. "I need to smack your head in anyway. In private," he added, as soon as Donna opened her mouth. "If anything suspicious happens, get me."

.

The Master grabbed the Doctor's shirt by the collar, dragging him away from the others and ignoring the indignant complaints that came from him. Only when they had reached a different room did he let go, shoving the other man backwards with a frown.

"I'm still mad at you, Doctor," he announced, sneering. He carefully slipped out of the bloody shirt and tossed it over a chair.

"You were standing in front of a burning building!" the Doctor whined.

"Wel, yes. It looked pretty!" He stepped in front of a full body mirror that hung on the wall, tracing his fingers along the hole the bullet had left.

The Doctor stayed silent. He had made all his arguments already. They hung in the silence between them, screaming that he didn't trust the Master and probably never fully would. But no, that wasn't a surprise. It wasn't even entirely unwelcome.

"I would have let it slide," said the Master, watching the other's reflection looking at his feet. "Maybe I would have played a little with you. Like in old times. I wouldn't have minded to fight you again."

The reflection moved, raised its head to cast a confused glance at the mirror. Another moment passed. And the silence screamed louder, drumming in a rhythm of four, like it always did, until the Doctor stepped closer, behind the Master. His cool hand traced along the jagged edges of the wound on his back, tingling. Goosebumps spread on the Master's arms and he ignored them.

"If this is all a game to you, why are you mad then? Why didn't you play?" The question sounded genuinely curious and that irked the Master even more.

"You sent her as bait," he spat, still only looking at the Doctor's reflection. "You put her in danger."

The fingers on his back stilled. A chuckle came from behind, forcing the Master to finally turn around. "Did I?" asked the Doctor, studying his face with a barely-there smile, a hint of I know something.

"Yes!" the Master hissed.

"Then why does it make you angry at me?" He reached out, hovering his fingers over the Master's chest, hesitating. "We both know you would have never harmed her. And if the possibility still exists… I'm not the one you should be mad at."

Taken aback, the Master glared. "It's always a possibility." The drums agreed. And they reminded him. They told of all the times where the Master had not been in control, when he had done things he hadn't meant to. All those things he was supposed to feel remorse over, yet he had trained himself not to. "You don't trust me for one second. You should know." The look he tried to burn into the Doctor's skull didn't quite work. A strange smile still played on the Doctor's face.

"I don't trust you not to take over a planet when the opportunity arises, no." For a second his look darkened, but then he shook his head and smiled this childish and warm smile that had always gone straight under the Master's skin.

That was when he understood. The Doctor did trust him.

He snorted. "Oh, who is playing with whom now? Do you try to feel superior? That will never work."

It didn't matter that the Doctor was a good bit taller than him. It had never mattered, not in any regeneration. He still had the smaller mind.

"No-hoo! I just wanted you to see. And then come to your senses and leave the place without destroying it!"

"Too bad someone else did that already."

The Doctor lowered his head in shame. "I… I'm sorry I blamed you without thinking. If anything like that happens again I'll trust you sooner. I promise!"

The Master squinted his eyes, staring. "Why would you?"

"Because…" Oh what sweet tension. Its trails lingered in the air around them like the softest smell. He swallowed, adam's apple bobbing. "... I want it. I need it." He looked up with those wide, dark doe-eyes. "I ran away from you long enough. And I don't want to any longer."

The Master hummed, a smile playing on his lips. Was the Doctor actually accepting him? Not fully, of course, that would never happen. But enough. Just enough. He stretched a little to accommodate the Doctor's height, searching his eyes for any sign of deceit and found only honesty there. Annoying, but he could work with that.

"Prove it," said the Master. "Show me you are mine."

The Doctor swallowed, nodded. The Master grinned.

"Good. Now, kneel."