NLoT: You Can't Go Home Again

[Rob "the Meddler" Goodfellow]

(OOC: Continued from The Three Amigos.)

TARDIS Hanger 73
The Panopticon
The Shining Citadel
Gallifrey

The Chancellary Guard assembled outside the antiquated Type-40 TARDIS, nonplussed by it's appearance. A blue box of some sort, proclaiming itself to be a Guard Communication Station of some sort.

"There must be something wrong with the Chameleon Circuit," Eyomimir observed, checking his scanner.

Ramachulainn glanced over his shoulder, and lifted an eyebrow. "Is it the right TARDIS, though?"

"The scanners show it to be a near-perfect match for the Lord President's personal TARDIS. Barring the defective circuit, of course, and a great deal of wear and tear."

"That would stand to reason, yes," Ramachulainn observed.

A hawk-nosed man with salt and pepper hair and goatee, dressed in black, joined them. "Do you have a report for me, Captain? Is this the one we seek?"

Ramachulainn snapped to attention. "My Lord Castellan! This certainly seems to be the correct TARDIS."

"So we have the murderer?"

"I believe we do, my Lord."

The Chancellary Castellan of Gallifrey stood, arms tucked behind his back, staring at the box. "We know there is a crew of four aboard. Open the doors. Bring them out. They will face justice."

Captain Ramachulainn began barking orders.

[Deleted]

The Archivist was the first up, her breathing a little ragged from what she had seen on the screen. She had run from here, from the pain of everything that had been building inside her. She pulled herself up, her eyes still locked on the screen. They were somewhere that wasn't possible. It wasn't possible. A place she never wanted to return too. She rolled her shoulders back, and then turned towards the screen.

She hadn't changed, she was still in tattered clothing. But she put on the regality she had in the archives. She was glad her tome of knowledge was back inside of her TARDIS, and it was hidden, well. She wasn't the daughter of the Deviant and the Mist for no reason. She had learned and learned well. She came to the door as it opened. "I am The Archivist." She stated simply, her eyes locking on to the soldier that would come to get her.

Inside she was a mess. She wanted to reach out on a psychic pathway to comfort those that mattered to her.

[Koschei]

The Master stared at the monitor in shock.

"That's... that's the Panopticon!" He shook his head, trying to clear it. "And the Chancellary Guard. And..."

His jaw dropped at the sight of the man in black. "And me! My first Incarnation! What is this?"

He stared for a moment, searching to see if he recognized any of the other faces. No. No, he didn't. And then he saw what the Guard was doing. "Doctor? I suggest we make use of an alternate exit. They want to arrest you for genocide - although I must say that it appears you're terrible at it - and I doubt my doppelganger out there will be happy to see me."

"I am The Archivist." The words came from the door, which was swinging open. The Master stared for a moment then lept forward, hand diving into his coat pocket.

"And I am the Master," he snarled at the startled-looking Guardsman. The Guard opened his mouth to speak, and the Master shot him between the eyes. Then he kicked the door shut.

"So, about that other exit?" he asked, leaning hard against the door.

[Deleted]

"Doctor? I suggest we make use of an alternate exit. They want to arrest you for genocide - although I must say that it appears you're terrible at it - and I doubt my doppelganger out there will be happy to see me."

The Doctor looked to The Master and nodded his head, "Very well, time to leave." He believed in his heart of hearts that somehow, things had finally been patched up with his old friend. After beating each other senseless for centuries, regenerating bodies and making revelations, their encounter with Rassilon on Earth had finally ended their bitter rivalry.

Then, of course, The Master goes and blows a hole in some guard's head. Reminding him how warped his friend still was. The violence would never end, he supposed. There was no time to worry about things now. They had to make preparations and get out of here.

"Righto, time to make our cunning exit. Stylish as possible, but if you don't mind. Would it be so terribly difficult for you to not shoot someone in the face next time. We don't need weapons, I've been doing this for centuries now!"

[River Song]

"Doctor? I suggest we make use of an alternate exit. They want to arrest you for genocide - although I must say that it appears you're terrible at it - and I doubt my doppelganger out there will be happy to see me."

"Doppelganger?" River questioned. "So... This isn't YOUR Gallifrey - this is an alternate one, I presume?"

Well, at least River knew she wouldn't have a Gallifreyan double. She had never had the pleasure of ever having been on this planet before. That was reassuring...

Though, she did rather like the notion of there being another Doctor. That part didn't bother her at all!

Meanwhile, their captors had managed to open the TARDIS' door, and the Archivist went to greet them and introduce herself. River was mildly alarmed and wondered what the woman was thinking, doing such a thing; however, the Master shot the bloke between the eyes and kicked the door shut, probably buying them a few moments to attempt an escape of some sort.

Bless his hearts...

"So, about that other exit?" he asked, leaning hard against the door.

River looked from the Master to the Doctor and wondered if perhaps the TARDIS had a back door, or something...

"Righto, time to make our cunning exit. Stylish as possible, but if you don't mind. Would it be so terribly difficult for you to not shoot someone in the face next time. We don't need weapons, I've been doing this for centuries now!"

River rolled her eyes but didn't comment. Sometimes, she thought that 'violence' could be helpful - as evidenced here. But her Sweetie was of the anti-violent variety, and River would never do a thing to try to change that magnificent man.

He would be happy to see that River had no weapon on her at the moment. She was still wearing just her PJs, a pair of slippers and an old bathrobe that probably once belonged to Amy Pond and had been left behind on the Doctor's TARDIS.

"Where are we going?" River asked, her eyes and ears wide open and ready for direction. They couldn't just waltz out the front door... There had to be another way!

"My Vortex Manipulator is up in my room - I doubt we have time to spare for me to run up there and grab it..." River advised worriedly.

[Deleted]

"I was trying to buy some time for all of you to bolt off." She said in a wry voice as the Master yanked her back and shot the man between the eyes. "You know that was a very rude thing to do, he was just doing his job - ya know." She said as she was being yanked around in all this. Did they ever once stop to consider how tired of running she was? How tired she was period? No, she stood there and watched the three people talking and blathering back and forth.

"I for one, want to find out /what/ this planets plan is. Sorry if that contradicts your beliefs, but the best way to get to understand an enemy, is to talk to them. If they think you are complacent, they will relax more considerably. If you three wanna take off, that's perfectly fine with me. But did you stop to consider this..." She said smoothly as she put her hand on the side of the TARDIS.

"They have newer, faster, stronger, smaller, TARDIS' then we have ever seen. They look like the dreams of future TARDIS creators, is what they did. And they dragged this TARDIS here, what's to stop them from knowing technology, to keep us from escaping Gallifrey, now that we are here. Perhaps a negotiation can be made. As well as an explanation, of what was happening. Diplomatically solve this, instead of running like cowards again." She said softly, that aching tired tone was buried deep in her voice. She was tired, very tired of it all.

[Koschei]

"Doctor? I suggest we make use of an alternate exit. They want to arrest you for genocide - although I must say that it appears you're terrible at it - and I doubt my doppelganger out there will be happy to see me."

"Doppelganger?" River questioned. "So... This isn't YOUR Gallifrey - this is an alternate one, I presume?"

"That's as reasonable an explanation as any I've been able to come up with myself," the Master said, still staring at his doppelganger. "Because it can't be our Gallifrey." He jerked a thumb in the direction of the Doctor. "He killed it."

A pause. Then he grinned at the Doctor. "Of course, I think that meeting the Specialist called proved you're pretty rubbish at genocide. Next time, ask me for pointers."

---

"I was trying to buy some time for all of you to bolt off." She said in a wry voice as the Master yanked her back and shot the man between the eyes. "You know that was a very rude thing to do, he was just doing his job - ya know."

The Master braced the door with his body, staring at her with an expression of surprise. "It's a dangerous line of work, Chancellary Guardsman. But, if it makes you feel better, it was an ordinary 9mm bullet from Earth. Odds are, he'll be back up and trying to arrest us in minutes."

"Righto, time to make our cunning exit," the Doctor said, "Stylish as possible, but if you don't mind. Would it be so terribly difficult for you to not shoot someone in the face next time. We don't need weapons, I've been doing this for centuries now!"

The Master dug his heels in, leaning harder against the door, bouncing under the impact as the Guardsmen began to hammer against it. "I've been... doing this... for centuries... as well, Doctor." He shifted his back against the door. "Shooting people in the face seems to work well, from time to time."

"Where are we going?" River asked. "My Vortex Manipulator is up in my room - I doubt we have time to spare for me to run up there and grab it..."

"Away from here, that's where!" the Master barked. "And yes, vortex manipulator. I'm excited about that plan. Go get it."

Just then, the Archivist spoke up again. Slowly, but with increasing force, she presented her argument. That maybe they should talk to these alledged Time Lords. Find out who they were, and what they wanted.

"They have newer, faster, stronger, smaller, TARDIS' then we have ever seen. They look like the dreams of future TARDIS creators, is what they did. And they dragged this TARDIS here, what's to stop them from knowing technology, to keep us from escaping Gallifrey, now that we are here. Perhaps a negotiation can be made. As well as an explanation, of what was happening. Diplomatically solve this, instead of running like cowards again."

"I didn't run away like a coward," the Master muttered. "I ran away like a man under a death sentence for treason. A bit of a difference, that."

But what she'd said made sense. Made a compelling, horrible sense to the part of his mind he could finally hear in the echoing silence where the drums had once sounded.

"But..." he said slowly. "Maybe you're right, Archivist. Maybe this is a second chance. For all of us." He looked up, meeting the Doctor's eyes. "What do you think? You're the one they want to arrest for genocide, after all."

The door rocked under a heavy impact, almost hurling the Master to the floor. "Make it quick, though."

[Deleted]

As The Master held the door back, The Doctor listened to him, "I've been... doing this... for centuries... as well, Doctor." He shifted his back against the door. "Shooting people in the face seems to work well, from time to time."

It could be hard to argue with someone who believed what he said so much, and at the moment of their current situation, The Doctor didn't have time to articulate what he wanted to say. So he begrudgingly dropped the subject, instead moving onto River and The Archivist's comments.

"Where are we going?" River asked. "My Vortex Manipulator is up in my room - I doubt we have time to spare for me to run up there and grab it..."

"Away from here, that's where!" the Master barked. "And yes, vortex manipulator. I'm excited about that plan. Go get it."

"Count me along with a vote there. We don't exactly have time to throw a tea party with our new friends," after The Archivist accused them of cowardice, The Doctor spoke up, "No issue for me there. Better to be a living coward than a dead diplomat, I'm afraid."

He provided back up, pressing on the door with The Master, "This, would have been much easier, a couple of bodies ago. That belly weight would've done wonders at keeping the door shut. All The Rani's fault, and some of my own, I suppose."

[River Song]

River had waited for the Doctor's decision regarding going to get her vortex manipulator, rather than run off to fetch it at the Master's urging, alone. But, when her Sweetie spoke his agreement on the matter, River rushed off, running up the stairs to her bedroom to get the damned thing.

While in her bedroom on the Doctor's TARDIS, River quickly changed into something more respectable, grabbed her gear (including her journal - there was no way she was going to leave it behind for these Gallifreyans to get a hold of after they fled) and returned down the staircase, frantically pressing buttons on her vortex manipulator as she ran.

"Let's go, then, shall we?" River remarked, only a teeny bit out of breath for her rushing about. "Everyone, grab a hold of me somehow... and brace yourselves - this won't be nearly as comfortable as flying around in the TARDIS..." River warned before she silently prayed to whatever deities may (or may not) actually exist in the Universe and asked that they somehow protect this beautiful Type-40 TARDIS... She deserved better than being abandoned, as the Archivist had pointed out - but they simply didn't have that luxury right now.

We'll be back for you... Just hang in there! River silently vowed, knowing that the TARDIS' telepathic circuits would pick up her message.

[Deleted]

"I'm not going." The Archivist said softly as she stared at them. "I refuse to go." She stated as she rolled her shoulders back and put her back to the door. Her eyes closed as she braced her legs and her body. "Go on without me, I'll make sure this TARDIS isn't harmed. You have my vow, even if I have to die to protect her. I refuse to leave her behind." She stated as she stared at the others there. She wanted to grab the Doctor, hold him - let him know the depth of the devotion and love she felt for him.

But she held herself back as she pressed her back to the door. "You guys go, I'll handle things here, I'll try and get her back to Earth in one piece. Just please... Doctor... Master... stay in one piece. I don't need more pain on my heart. Stay alive... please." She stated as she set herself to her task. She would deal with these things more later, but she had to find out information. It was what she did.

As she braced herself on the door, she reached out to place her fingertips against the back of the Doctor's hand. I will do whatever it takes to see you live. After I abandoned you, I have thought of nothing more but doing it over again. Making the choice to fight against everything and stay by your side. I love you - Theta, and I always shall. Please, be safe - my love. She said telepathically, only to him, as she pressed both hands to the door and decided it was time to use her strength reserves to keep it closed. "Run, all of you - if you can. Just run."

[Koschei]

(OOC: Well, since nobody objected, here we go.)

"Count me along with a vote there. We don't exactly have time to throw a tea party with our new friends," after The Archivist accused them of cowardice, The Doctor spoke up, "No issue for me there. Better to be a living coward than a dead diplomat, I'm afraid."

The Doctor's words snuffed out the moment of hesitation, and the Master was himself again. Second chances? Bah. He'd always made his own chances.

The door jumped again, and the Doctor joined him in holding it shut as River raced up the stairs to get the vortex manipulator.

"This, would have been much easier, a couple of bodies ago. That belly weight would've done wonders at keeping the door shut. All The Rani's fault, and some of my own, I suppose."

"I don't know what you're complaining about, Doctor," he snorted. "She was always stealing my food..." Damnation. The past just wouldn't leave him alone.

River took the stairs three at a time, dressed more for running now. "Let's go, then, shall we? Everyone, grab a hold of me somehow... and brace yourselves - this won't be nearly as comfortable as flying around in the TARDIS..."

"Go!" the Master snapped. "I'll hold the door 'till everyone's ready."

"I'm not going." The Archivist said at the same instant. "I refuse to go."

"What?" snapped the Master, gaping at her.

The Archivist's response was to brace the door. "Go on without me, I'll make sure this TARDIS isn't harmed. You have my vow, even if I have to die to protect her. I refuse to leave her behind."

"This is madness, Archivist. We can get out, regroup..."

But she held herself back as she pressed her back to the door. "You guys go, I'll handle things here, I'll try and get her back to Earth in one piece. Just please... Doctor... Master... stay in one piece. I don't need more pain on my heart. Stay alive... please."

Memories. His best friend's heartbreak, believing that she had abandoned him. His discovery that she believed he had betrayed her. His father's disappearance. His painstaking assembly of the clues his father had uncovered, and the fury he'd felt when he learned what the High Council had done. To all of them.

"I would have reunited the two of you," he said, almost whispering. "I would have burned the Panopticon in celebration, and set you on the throne of Gallifrey." He drew a breath. "I will not fail you again."

His eyes caught River's, and a telepathic command was given. Her will was strong - with training, he realized, she'd be formidible - but he was the Master. And the command he gave was one she would have wanted to obey.

"Run, all of you - if you can," the Archivist said. "Just run."

Five.

River stepped forward, taking the Doctor's arm.

Four.

The Master siezed the Archivist's wrist, pulling her away from the door. "You're going with him," he snarled.

Three.

He twisted, dragging her towards the Doctor. Suddenly, her arm twisted and she broke his grip. "No," she told him.

Two.

"Not negotiable," the Master said, grabbing at her again. She blocked his grab and fell into a fighting stance.

One.

The door began to open. The Master spun, kicked it shut, and slammed into it. "Damn you, woman!" he roared, throwing his Will into his words. "Go with him! Obey me!"

Instead, the Archivist threw herself against the door as well. "I told you," she started, shrugging off his compulsion, "I'm..."

The Doctor took a step towards them, starting to say something.

Zero.

River, acting under the Master's order, caught the Doctor by the arm and triggered the vortex manipulator. There was a pop of inrushing air, and they vanished.

"Staying," the Archivist finished, tears in her eyes and a hard expression on her face. "And you do not give me orders, Koscheipopisiva!"

Before he could answer, a heavy blow against the TARDIS door slammed them both backwards, staggering. Light, and Chancellary Guardsmen, streamed in. Stazers glittered in gauntleted hands as they moved to surround the two Time Lords.

Behind them followed a man with salt-and-pepper hair and goatee, dressed all in black. He looked at the Master and the Archivist with a faint, mocking smile. "I am the Master," the man said, "Chancellary Castellan of Gallifrey." He fixed the Master with a gaze of iron. "Doctor. You and your Lady Wife will hold fast and submit to Law. Both of you are charged with dereliction of your Duty to your Houses, your Families, and to the Protocols of History."

He looked back at the Master. "You, Doctor, are further charged with the willful retrogenocide of the Time Lords."

[River Song]

[OOC: Since River and Eleven have *poofed* away, we thought we'd start a new thread, though I bet we'll meet back up with you both eventually! *HUGS*]

[Deleted]

Her chest was going to explode, her twin hearts ached with so much pain she didn't know it was possible to live. As she threw off her old friend, and kept herself from going, she faced off and turned towards the Soldiers that entered. Her body was wracked with pain, as she squared off her shoulders. She counted in her mind, retraining herself to a completely emotionless state.

Though the feeling vibrating from her was probably a startling one. Any soldier that touched her, may feel the pain that ached in her hearts. If the /Doctor/ was with her, why was the Archivist so upset? She tilted her head back and put on a strong face. Letting herself become once again, the Ice Queen she had been in the Archives.

"If you say this is true, how is it that there is so many TimeLords left alive from our world?" She said in that calm and rather 'better then thou' tone. "Last count there was at least thirty. "She said calmly as she gently removed the Soldiers hands from her arms. "Gentlemen, this not the way you handle a Lady. I will come willingly." She said in that cold and detached voice. Then flashed that ever dangerous and disarming smile she had learned.

[Koschei]

There were too many of them. Too many, and too well armed.

The Master's eyes flickered around the TARDIS console room, still looking for an exit. If they were half their number, he'd be willing to risk it. He knew he could kill four men in as many seconds, and he was willing to wager that - even though it would be sloppy - he could do for six in the same amount of time.

But there were a dozen. And more outside.

And then his doppelganger entered the TARDIS, wearing the faintly mocking smile he'd worn times without number. "I am the Master," the man said, "Chancellary Castellan of Gallifrey." He fixed the Master with a gaze of iron. "Doctor. You and your Lady Wife will hold fast and submit to Law. Both of you are charged with dereliction of your Duty to your Houses, your Families, and to the Protocols of History."

The words shot through the Master like a splash of ice water. Doctor? he thought.

He looked back at the Master. "You, Doctor, are further charged with the willful retrogenocide of the Time Lords."

"Doctor..?" the Master repeated, this time aloud. There was a tone of disbelief in his words.

The Guardsmen seized them both. An impulse from an earlier time, one of those strange survivals from his youth that had reemerged in this Incarnation, rose up. He struggled against their grips, ready to kill the men who dared to handle her.

"If you say this is true, how is it that there is so many TimeLords left alive from our world?" the Archivist asked, imperiously. Shocked as he was, the Master found himself admiring her coolness.

"Last count there was at least thirty," she added.

"At the last count, my Lady," the other Master said coldly, "the population of Gallifrey was in excess of two billion."

The Archivist gripped a Guardsman's hand. "Gentlemen, this not the way you handle a Lady. I will come willingly."

"Thirty survivors of your Lord husband's crimes do not expiate them, my Lady." The other Master gestured at the Master. "He must stand trial."

"You! FOOL!" roared the Master, and the other Master started in surprise. "I am not the Doctor!" He glared at his doppleganger, breathing hard, eyes like chips of frozen oxygen. "I am the Master!"

---

The Master shuffled his way through the Panopticon, manacled hand and foot. The Archivist was allowed to walk free, although escorted by Guardsmen. But the other Master had considered the Master's words, and ordered him clapped in irons.

"I should have recognized you at once," the other Master had said. "But I know what your mind is like - twisted and devious and utterly without remorse." He smiled at that. "So, I suspect you'll understand my decision."

The Master did. He didn't like it - he didn't like being restrained and arrested - but he understood it. "Of course," he muttered under his breath, "if our positions had been reversed I would have simply ordered you burned down and your stazered corpse stuffed into a disposal."

He glanced over at the Archivist, who walked the halls proud and erect and carefully controlled. The three of them had been almost inseperable in the Academy. Even now, centuries later, it felt odd to be walking with her and to not have the Doctor with them as well.

Windows to his right gazed out over the Citadel. There was no mistaking it. The jewel-tones of the Shining City, lit by the amber glow of the primary sun, blazed like flame in the seventeen colors of the spectrum. He could see the jade and gold of the Aesculum from here, and the ameythist and citrine of the Orrey of Vertumnus, and the polychrome Genuitera where the TARDISes were born.

But the hearts-wrenching glimpse of home was quickly lost as they were escorted into the Chambers of the High Council. The other Master left them there, Guardsmen posted throughout the room.

"So," he said aloud, using his words and his shifting stance to cover his surreptitious examination of the chains. "I will admit to being stumped. Do you have any ideas about all of this?"

Yes, he thought, the same vibrational frequency on the molylock... A wolfish smile spread across his face.

[Deleted]

Walking through these halls, her chest ached. She remembered all that had happened, but this was a different place. A different feeling Gallifrey. "I think... perhaps... it's an alternate." She mused softly. Oh yes, she had been into so many theories, and studies. When she was in her Library. Her Library, because she was the one that stayed there the most, cared and cultivated it the most.

Her green eyes looked around, concern and a dangerous look there for a moment. As quickly as it was there, she erased it. The guards wouldn't touch her now, one had made that mistake to guide her a certain way in walking. He had got a look of almost comical despair. The Archivist never showed her true emotions, that was what people knew in the Academy days. Unless it was with Koschei, or with Theta.

The Archivist was an Ice Queen, but she couldn't shut off the backlash of her pent up emotions. You could always tell how she felt, by touching her. "It's a detached sort of beauty." She mused aloud.