Hope That Someone Gets My (The Deca)

[Deleted]

"Most of you have not been very kind to her."

"If you had just let me use your TARDIS, we would have taken over the Universe and the Toymaker and the Daleks would have been taken care of five hundred years back. Stubborn as a goat, you are." All they would have had to do is betrayed the War Lords and it would have been a done deal. Gallifrey under his and The Doctor's command, everyone saved from the threat of the Daleks (The War Chief would have eliminated Skaro long before they became a threat.)

More chattering, more passing out fun toys, and still no action. The War Chief sighed, he was just about done with all of this, if they weren't going to get to work on the Eye of Harmony, he was going to start kicking people to get them moving. The Rani made a commotion and snatched something from The Doctor that one of The Masters had handed out.

“Open the door, Doctor”, the Rani said; not taking her eyes off the Master. “The sooner we get this over with, the better. I have work to do”.

"Someone's testy," The War Chief quipped, "We haven't been all together in so long. C'mon give us a smile." He was taunting her now, why? Because why not?
---------

As The War Chief antagonized The Rani, Jelpax looked at the door to the TARDIS, then back to The Doctor, as if he were pleading for his fellow Time Lord to open the door.

[Deleted]

The Meddler fixed the Doctor with a level gaze, befuddled expression gone. "Very well," he said, simply. "But you are being a fool, Doctor."

He shot The Meddler a look, he wasn't going to allow The Rani, The War Chief and The Master into his TARDIS unsupervised, and because The Rani was practically kicking his door already, there was a need to protect the old girl from his current company.

And then, it got a little crazy again. Well, this was a turn, The Master was handing him the Sash of Rassilon, of all things, such a powerful item that was still in The Master's possession, he normally didn't hand these things out for the sake of being kind.

"I'm only letting you borrow this for now. IF you really are going through with this plan to make a new eye of harmony for your TARDIS you are going to need it. And believe it or not, I DID get it to finally work. I'm only letting you borrow this under one condition."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "And that is?" He'd given The Master so much, including the very TARDIS he was traveling in, what more could he give?

He held up the injection gun with the vile in it. "This. Is EXTREMELY dangerous. If the rescue goes horribly wrong, you MUST inject me with this and escape without me, you understand? If ANYONE is to give you your final death blow, it's going to be me. And I'm not going to let some...some...some wannabee body snatcher take that chance away from me, let alone some black hole. You got that!?"

The Doctor smirked just a little bit, he waited a moment before answering The Master's condition, "Is this the part where we hug Master? I've been waiting for this." He held his arms out, as if to embrace his friend once again, after all this time. Yes, he held him as he cowered before him during the Year that Never Was, and then held him as he died at the end of it, but The Doctor hadn't imagined that they'd ever be as close as they were when they were young.

Perhaps it really was a new day.

It was interesting too, that this Master had possession of the Sash, while the other, seemed to not. Interesting indeed.

“Let him have his pretty little sash but I'm not going to allow you to be injected with this primitive tripe, at least allow me to modify it a little. If you're going to be so foolish as to save yourself once we all run off into the sunset...”

The Rani intervened and had taken it before The Doctor could. He'd let The Master deal with that, she was rather temperamental today, and if their previous encounters, dating back centuries to the very first Academy dance, were anything to go on, The Doctor didn't want to get on her bad side on a bad day.

“Open the door, Doctor”, the Rani said; not taking her eyes off the Master. “The sooner we get this over with, the better. I have work to do”.

The Doctor snapped his fingers, as far as he knew, he was still the only Time Lord able to open the doors to a TARDIS that way. The doors both opened, allowing his former, perhaps soon to be once again, friends into his home.
--------

Vansell, not one for conversation when he didn't have to, stayed out of it. When The Doctor's TARDIS was opened with the snap of his fingers, he smirked, The Doctor must have thought that he was very impressive. Apparently he wasn't privy to any of their origins.

There was a reason Borusa had selected ten specific Time Lords to teach, the students that they gathered into The Deca.

[Rob "the Meddler" Goodfellow]

The Doctor snapped his fingers, and the doors of his TARDIS opened. The Meddler lifted an eyebrow, impressed. "Very well done," he said, approvingly. "Remote interface through the psionic circuits, or something else?"

"Something else," Drax suggested. "There weren't detectable spikes on any of the noetic bands Time Lords can use."

"Can typically use," the Meddler corrected. "I've recently discovered an ability to operate, to a limited degree, on a wavelength that I don't think we're able to reach under ordinary circumstances."

Now it was Drax's turn to lift an eyebrow. "Really," he said, not quite making it a question. "If it's not a wavelength we ordinarily reach, then how..?"

"My wife," the Meddler answered.

Drax gave him an expectant look. After a second, he gestured for the Meddler to continue. "Care to elaborate on that?"

"She's descended from both a highly-skilled Gallifreyan noetician and a high Sidhe Lady, and is..."

"Ohhh..." Drax nodded in sudden understanding. "You've got to introduce me, later. Or, is she someone I would've met before the War?"

"Most likely not. She is, I believe, the first Gallifreyan of any sort to be born after the War."

"Cool," said Drax. "But, as to the Doctor..? Still probably not psionic. Most likely he hasn't bothered with purging the ego buffers..."

"Monstrous practice," sneered the Meddler.

"Oh, I agree. But if he hasn't been purging them regularly, she'd have built up a personality. And that would allow her some expanded latitude to accept instructions."

"Agreed."

"So, for instance, snapping the fingers becomes associated with the 'open the primary door' command."

"Fascinating," said the dark-skinned Master. "Now, if you two will actually board his TARDIS, we can get underway."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Drax huffed, waving his hand. "Just let me get a few instruments out first..."

---

The Meddler stood by the navigational panel of the Type 40's console. Nobody had asked him to do it, he'd just assumed that - given his vast understanding of the Time Vortex - he would be handling navigational duties. The controls, although slightly out of date in terms of design and layout, were essentially the standard navigational systems of any TARDIS.

Not that out of date made any real sense as a descriptor. Even a Type 40 was more sophisticated than anything that remained in the Spiral Politic. And it was evident that the Doctor had upgraded a number of the capsule's systems and features.

Drax, on the other hand, was content to poke around and examine the current layout of the control room and of the console itself. A diagnostic tool in his hand beeped and purred intermittently, as he took readings and analyzed bits.

"Whenever you're ready, Doctor," announced the Meddler.

[Koschei]

The Master watched in fascination as the other Master held up the Sash of Rassilon, and then shoved it against the Doctor's chest. I'm only letting you borrow this for now. IF you really are going through with this plan to make a new eye of harmony for your TARDIS you are going to need it. And believe it or not, I DID get it to finally work."

The Master stepped forward, peering at the Sash. It certainly looked authentic. "Now, wherever did yu get that from?" he asked. "I don't recall having that since... oh, since I tried to restart my Regeneration cycle, six or seven hundred years ago."

"I'm only letting you borrow this under one condition," continued the other Master, holding up an injection gun. "This. Is EXTREMELY dangerous. If the rescue goes horribly wrong, you MUST inject me with this and escape without me, you understand? If ANYONE is to give you your final death blow, it's going to be me. And I'm not going to let some...some...some wannabee body snatcher take that chance away from me, let alone some black hole. You got that!?"

"Wannabee body snatcher?" asked the Master, making a show of looking around curiously. "Oh. You mean me." He considered the injection gun, the other Master, and the Doctor. "Oddly, I have no particular interest in delivering a death blow to the Doctor, final or otherwise."

He fell silent for a moment, remembering a time - not so long ago - in the Doctor's TARDIS when he very nearly had delivered that death blow.

"Not at this time, anyway."

"Is this the part where we hug Master?" smirked the Doctor. "I've been waiting for this.

"As have hundreds of thousands of people across time and space," deadpanned the Master to the Fourth Wall.

Just then, the Rani stepped forward and snatched the injector away. “Let him have his pretty little sash but I'm not going to allow you to be injected with this primitive tripe, at least allow me to modify it a little. If you're going to be so foolish as to save yourself once we all run off into the sunset...”

"Ah, my dear Lady the Rani," he laughed, deep and rich, "you say the most romantic things. Whyever did we start trying to murder one another?"

“Open the door, Doctor”, the Rani said; not taking her eyes off the other Master. “The sooner we get this over with, the better. I have work to do”.

"As do we all, my dear," answered the Master. "But, for the moment, our work is rescuing our old Academy friends." He paused, then grinned. "It should, if nothing else, liven up our mutual murder hobby."

The Doctor paused for dramatic effect. Then, with a mischevious grin, he snapped his fingers. The doors of his TARDIS yawned open.

"How droll. I'll join you in a moment," the Master observed, then jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards Drax and the Meddler. "Just let me round up Tweedledee and Tweedledum.."

---

There was a psychic fog of hositilit hanging over the console room, and the majority of it was directed at him. Or, to be precise, them. The Doctor's TARDIS didn't seem to be bothering to discriminate between the two different Masters.

"Whenever you're ready, Doctor," announced the Meddler.

"Yes," agreed the Master, taking care not to brush against anything conductive. "And the sooner, the better."

[Deleted]

"I'm only letting you borrow this for now. IF you really are going through with this plan to make a new eye of harmony for your TARDIS you are going to need it. And believe it or not, I DID get it to finally work. I'm only letting you borrow this under one condition."

The other Master stepped forward, peering at the Sash. It certainly looked authentic. "Now, wherever did yu get that from?" he asked. "I don't recall having that since... oh, since I tried to restart my Regeneration cycle, six or seven hundred years ago."

"From the same place I kept it all these years," he said, irritated. He wasn't about to tell his other self that he had it kept in the very TARDIS that he stole from Goth at the same time he stole the Sash. Why, if this...other self didn't know that, or better yet, if he already did and didn't do anything about it, why should he bother giving him a proper answer?

"I'm only letting you borrow this under one condition," continued the Master, holding up an injection gun.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "And that is?"

"This. Is EXTREMELY dangerous. If the rescue goes horribly wrong, you MUST inject me with this and escape without me, you understand? If ANYONE is to give you your final death blow, it's going to be me. And I'm not going to let some...some...some wannabee body snatcher take that chance away from me, let alone some black hole. You got that!?"

"Wannabee body snatcher?" asked the other Master, making a show of looking around curiously. "Oh. You mean me." He considered the injection gun, the Master, and the Doctor. "Oddly, I have no particular interest in delivering a death blow to the Doctor, final or otherwise."

The Master's eyes slowly moved towards the direction of his other self. There was no way he was going to believe that. If he truly was him, or a copy of him, he'd still have the same desire to destroy the Doctor he had at the time he created him. Even then, he wouldn't say a word about it as his eyes darted back towards the Doctor.

The Doctor smirked just a little bit, he waited a moment before answering The Master's condition, "Is this the part where we hug Master? I've been waiting for this." He held his arms out, as if to embrace his friend once again, after all this time.

"As have hundreds of thousands of people across time and space," deadpanned the Master to the Fourth Wall.

The Master gave a deadpan look of his own to the Doctor before he simply held up the Sash and dropped it around the Doctor's neck. "You're pushing it," he warned.

Now the Rani snatched away his injection gun. His eyes darted towards her, and the look he had on his face was one of serious anger. But he was doing what he could to control it. Including muting out everything his other self was saying, as if thinking what he had to say was going to be taken seriously by the Rani and himself. "Listen to me very carefully Rani. The contents of that vile are in the precise amounts I need of each individual substance. If you want to change the method of injection, that's fine. But do not modify anything in that vile, do you understand?"

This was a matter involving life or death. He was extremely serious about whatever was in that vile. All that was on the vile was the Earth Symbol "X", obviously a label the Master chose himself for whatever possible substance he had in there.

“Open the door, Doctor”, the Rani said; not taking her eyes off the Master. “The sooner we get this over with, the better. I have work to do."

"As do we all, my dear," answered the other Master. "But, for the moment, our work is rescuing our old Academy friends." He paused, then grinned. "It should, if nothing else, liven up our mutual murder hobby."

The Master watched as the Doctor snapped his fingers to have his TARDIS doors open. He held up a hand to his mouth and gave a cough. "Doctor...Aren't I supposed to be the one about all the theatrics?" he asked rhetorically. Obviously, Doctor, you've given the Master a new project to work on once this is all over. Making his own TARDISes open by finger snapping. And then go a step farther than that.

And it seemed like the other Master was going to round up the Meddler and Drax from their conversation about how it was possible for the Doctor to open the TARDIS's doors like that. He rolled his eyes. Whatever the secret, he would eventually master the technique himself. He couldn't help but let a small smirk cross his lips at his own thoughts. The idea of him mastering something. He loved that pun tied into his own name.

---

As everyone stood around the console room, the Master himself was obviously snacking on a bag of the Doctor's own Jelly Babies as he leaned against one of the railings. Seriously, these things were surprisingly addicting. Doctor, he blames you for it.

He patted the console a few times. "That's a good ol' girl," he mocked before deciding to lean back against the railing. "You'll keep all of us safe right? The Doctor's most faithful companion."

Oh yes, he was completely provoking her. But what more could you expect from him?

[Deleted]

“You're the last person I'd give a smile to, Magnus”. She looked the brute up and down, clasping onto the injection gun as tightly as her small hands would allow. No doubt she'd caused a stir amongst the group due to her interference with the Master's plan involving potential self sacrifice in the event this didn't go down well. She could feel and see all eyes upon her; and although her past relationship with Koschei did not make headlines – she could see it in their eyes they had their sneaking suspicions all along.

There was one little secret the Rani kept deep beneath her hearts. There was a reason why she wouldn't let either Master do something so brash; and she had no plans to tell either of them her secret any time soon.

Finally the Doctor opened the door to his TARDIS with an elaborate snap of his fingers. The Rani stared at him; puzzled. Clearly he and the Master both admired her brilliance in creating a remote control for her TARDIS – but the ability to open the doors by a mere snap of his fingers? It's almost as if the pair were bonded by more than telepathic means, there had to be something else to it. The Rani had never seen anything like it. She shook off the puzzled look however a few seconds later. She didn't want to give the Doctor the chance to think that she had never seen such compassion between a TARDIS and its owner.

The Pretty Master suddenly spoke up inquiring as to why their sudden hobby involved trying to murder each other. The Rani approached his personal space and brushed off some fluff on his jacket with her free hand. “Ever since someone decided it was kinky, Koschei”. A small smile followed a low chuckle as he continued that they'd re-discover their mutual murder hobby. She merely left it at that. A chuckle was enough to convince anyone she agreed in something at least.

However, as the other Master spoke; the Rani quirked a brow. “You wouldn't be anywhere with that so called scientific genius of yours without me. I'm fully aware of what's in this vial just by looking at it. And you think it's stable, hmm? You're lucky the chemical properties of that vial are correctly aligned otherwise... the Deca group would have been obliterated by now. Or was that your plan all along?” She tapped the vial with a fingernail. “You may be an unstable mess, Koschei; but as I said... you would have been nothing without me”.

_____

As the Rani entered the console room of the Doctor's TARDIS, she immediately took her post beside the Meddler. Indeed the old Type 40 was rather familiar to her; the controls however seemed to literally expose the Doctor's personality. Little bells and whistles over various points of the console and a view screen admitting as much. The Rani kept quiet as she glared at the Master inhaling jelly babies. She placed the injector gun beside her right thigh as she started to ready her fingers over her post, waiting for the Doctor's word.

[Deleted]

“You're the last person I'd give a smile to, Magnus”.

"Aw," The War Chief patronized, "Someone is grumpy! Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, my love?" He let it go from there, it appeared they were on the verge of arguing again. The Masters were trading words, and everyone was finally starting to pile into the TARDIS.

If there had been one thing they hadn't needed to do, it was make the room they were currently in smaller than it had been. Next The Doctor would try and make them sleep in bunk beds. He chuckled to himself over the mental image before nearing the console, The Meddler had already picked the navigational area. That was fine by him, he was always better at maintaining a proper speed so that they wouldn't over or undershoot the physical landing spot.
--------

Jelpax was finding the day to become increasingly less comfortable as it went on. He went to The Meddler's other side, "I'd better handle the era controls. It's, kind of my specialty. Do you have a star picked Mort- er, Meddler?"

[Deleted]

It was time to move on. The Eye of Harmony was an incredibly time consuming device to construct. That meant that they needed to handle it with care, but also keep in mind that they needed to reach Rallon and Millennia with haste. Rallon's warnings meant something, and the longer they waited, the longer whatever their old friend had on his mind would have time to fester and grow.

"Whenever you're ready, Doctor," announced the Meddler.

"Yes," agreed the Master, taking care not to brush against anything conductive. "And the sooner, the better."

The Doctor nodded and said, "Excellent! Whenever you're ready. If you don't mind, while we're in flight I'll borrow Drax and The Rani while you pilot. There's an issue I'd nearly forgotten. To placate The Celestial Toymaker, Rallon burned up his twelve regenerations. We ought to work on something that can restore the regenerative energies he'd used."
------

Vansell nodded and said, "Do not worry Doctor. We'll handle the piloting for now. You go with them and work on Rallon's predicament. I assume that means that Millennia's regenerations were not used like his?"

[Deleted]

The messages had been sent and would be sent. They had been waiting for so long now in their own sticky web, Millennia itched with the unseen dust of those ages she had yet to see. Time loops were like that. You spun over and over, so many sheets in a dryer, and while you felt crumpled and dried out, time had passed and not passed and the conundrum of it made the universe look at you sideways and then decide to move on and leave someone else the headache of sorting out what and when you precisely were.

Still, life was not so bad as a doll, if you could move past the obvious. That is, that life as a doll was no true life at all. It was a lesson in patience.

Oh, but she could still see! The things Millennia had witnessed would dazzle other's minds. All of time stretched in her focus, different pathways that shivered bright silver or shattered with the pure blue of copper. Watching the Vortex burned. Oh, it burned. Millennia wondered sometimes if it wanted to boil her mind. But if a doll cannot truly live, neither can she truly die. And the pain of time was preferable to watching her once love.

Rallon, Rallon. If her hearts were still achingly real and full of emotions and sentiment, then they would break a million times over everytime she relived Rallon's face turning cruel and calculating as he became the avatar of the toymaker. They would burst with pride, fear, and despair when he chose to sacrifice himself to defeat that Celestial Toymaker. For young love is young love. Deep, headlong, and without reserve. Even in Gallifreyans raised in a society that touts pragmatism over emotions.

But dolls are utterly heartless. They do not mean to be, but the dolls have no choice in this matter, you see. So though the passing time might make her itch, dolls do not experience fear or worry. They can bide their time, hidden away in the darkest corner of your closet for years or be displayed proudly on a shelf, and they will always look at you the precise same.

Dolls have nothing but time, for they have no need to fret about bills or due dates or what day they need to take out the trash.

Millennia was limitless.

[Rob "the Meddler" Goodfellow]

The Meddler was just settling down to the task of setting the coordinates, when Jelpax moved to stand beside him. "I'd better handle the era controls," he said, reaching for the console. "It's, kind of my specialty."

The Meddler turned his head slightly, staring at Jelpax from behind his dark glasses. "Of course," he said, cooly. "Everyone knows that, when precision temporal navigation is required, the name of Jelpax stands supreme."

Sarcasm notwithstanding, he stepped aside and gestured for Jelpax to move in. "By all means, show me your specialty."

"Do you have a star picked Mort- er, Meddler?"

"I've always hated the 'Mortimus' nickname," the Meddler said, not taking his eyes from the controls. "And I don't... wait." He blinked. "We are crafting a new Eye?"

Half-turning, he called across the control room. "Doctor? I owe you an apology! When I called you 'fool', I thought you had decided to beard the Toymaker with only the current - limited - reserves of your TARDIS."

He was grinning as he looked back at Jelpax, hostility forgotten. "Set us a course for the middle Degenerate Era - anything 10¹⁹ years from the Prime Event or later will do."

"What?" Drax fairly squeaked the word, nearly dropping one of his instruments as he did. "Are you mad?" he added, spinning to face the Meddler.

"Yes," grinned the Meddler, rubbing his hands together in glee at the prospect. "We'll harvest a supermassive black hole formed from the death of a star that won't be born until the dying days of the universe, and get some good out of the Long Dark."

"That's..." Drax stammered, "that's farther out than any Time Lord's been!"

"Not any," the Meddler responded with a cheeky grin. "Just most."

"That's past the stellar extinction boundary! Further out than even those deranged Toclafane-things," and here Drax tried to glare at both Masters at once, "survive."

The Meddler nodded. "Good point." He considered his options for a moment. "Jelpax? Set a course for the end of the Stelliferous Era instead. 100,112,358,132,133 years from the Prime Event." He grinned again, but this time the grin was predatory. "We'll just rip the heart out of Utopia."

---

The Doctor nodded and said, "Excellent! Whenever you're ready. If you don't mind, while we're in flight I'll borrow Drax and The Rani while you pilot. There's an issue I'd nearly forgotten. To placate The Celestial Toymaker, Rallon burned up his twelve regenerations. We ought to work on something that can restore the regenerative energies he'd used."

Drax leaned back against the railing, eyebrow lifted at that. "Sure thing. Except, I'd suggest adding one of the Masters to our little tet-a-tete." He glanced from ebony Master to ivory Master to back. "Just one, though. Th' Rani and one of the Masters'll be a dangerous enough working group." He shrugged. "Don't see that it matters which one we include, but - assuming they both know everything the original Master knew. Y'know, before he died. Well, assuming that, either one'll be able to tell us about a brute-force method of restarting a regeneration cycle."

"Something to do with the Eye of Harmony, correct?" asked the Meddler, absently.

"That's the rumor I heard, yeah."

Vansell nodded and said, "Do not worry Doctor. We'll handle the piloting for now. You go with them and work on Rallon's predicament. I assume that means that Millennia's regenerations were not used like his?"

"They'd best not have been," the Meddler muttered. "Even the Personifications can suffer..."

[Koschei]

“Open the door, Doctor”, the Rani said; not taking her eyes off the Master. “The sooner we get this over with, the better. I have work to do."

"As do we all, my dear," answered the other Master. "But, for the moment, our work is rescuing our old Academy friends." He paused, then grinned. "It should, if nothing else, liven up our mutual murder hobby."

The Rani stepped close, unexpectedly close, and brushed a speck of (possibly imaginary) lint away. “Ever since someone decided it was kinky, Koschei," she purred, in tones like velvet-wrapped barbed wire.

Rod and Eye he'd forgotten how much that voice got under his skin...

Suppressing his urge to close his eyes and purr a little at the words and touch - that would be foolish, if not actually lethal - he forced himself to smile a little. "N'appelez tll homme heureux qu'il soit la petit mort?"

The Doctor paused for dramatic effect. Then, with a mischevious grin, he snapped his fingers. The doors of his TARDIS yawned open.

"How droll. I'll join you in a moment," the Master observed, then jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards Drax and the Meddler. "Just let me round up Tweedledee and Tweedledum.."

---

The Master was clearly uncomfortable in the Doctor's TARDIS, avoiding contact with conductive surfaces and looking irritated as the other Master made light of the entire experience. The Doctor was giving orders - which he probably had a right to do, since it was his TARDIS, but it still annoyed the Master - and generally starting to plot and scheme about how to deal with the Toymaker.

You had to give the Doctor credit. He could plot and scheme with the best of them.

Then the Doctor suggested that Drax and the Rani should join him in planning how to restore Rallon's regenerative cycle.

"Sure thing," Drax replied. "Except, I'd suggest adding one of the Masters to our little tet-a-tete." He glanced from ebony Master to ivory Master to back. "Just one, though."

"Oh, really?" asked the Master, a touch archly. The Doctor's damnable capsule had just shot a few volts through a careless fingertip. "And why only one of us?"

"Th' Rani and one of the Masters'll be a dangerous enough working group," answered Drax.

The Master caught the Master's eye, and shrugged. "I think he has us there.

"Don't see that it matters which one we include, but - assuming they both know everything the original Master knew. Y'know, before he died. Well, assuming that, either one'll be able to tell us about a brute-force method of restarting a regeneration cycle."

Another expressive shrug. "I certainly remember everything from before I fell into the Eye," he said. Then he looked at his counterpart. "What of you?"

[Deleted]

However, as the other Master spoke; the Rani quirked a brow. “You wouldn't be anywhere with that so called scientific genius of yours without me. I'm fully aware of what's in this vial just by looking at it. And you think it's stable, hmm? You're lucky the chemical properties of that vial are correctly aligned otherwise... the Deca group would have been obliterated by now. Or was that your plan all along?” She tapped the vial with a fingernail. “You may be an unstable mess, Koschei; but as I said... you would have been nothing without me”.


"I could argue the very same thing Princess," the Master replied with a scowl. He wouldn't even say a word about the Rani and War Chief's conversation. That boat had sailed a long time ago.

---

He looked over in the direction of Jelpax, Drax, and Meddler when they talked about heading to...that era. The era of the Toclafane. He gave a cocky sneer back to Drax's glare as he chewed on a Jelly Baby. "I didn't think anyone outside the eye of that little paradoxical storm even remembered those. Ten points for Griffendore!" As he said that he thrusted the bag of Jelly Babies up in the air.

Once the conversation changed to giving Rallon a new set of Regenerations, the Master turned to look at the Doctor. Rani? Drax? Why them? Why not the very man, Death's chosen champion and the Time Lord who broke all the rules on the limits of regeneration? At least till Drax brought up the idea of using one of the two Masters to assist them.

He gave a shrug back to the other Master, agreeing with him on the comment about working with the Rani again.

What? Drax thought the original was dead? The very original was standing before them! His face showed a great amount of insult, almost as if he'd set his Laser Screwdriver on low just to kill only one of Drax's lives just to teach him a lesson.

The other Master then said something interesting. He remembered everything from before he fell into the Eye of Harmony.

Oh all the anger he felt towards Drax just seemed to melt away as he felt a surge of victory through his being. He let out a powerful, almost insane laugh. "Just from before the Eye? That's all?"

He strode accross the room, not caring if the Doctor's TARDIS gave any kind of Psychic feed back towards him as he did so. He was in his moment. A moment of power, of victory, of accomplishment.

He leaned forward and rested his hands on the back of the chair near the command console. "I remember everything before the Eye," he said softly, but with a hint of cockyness and aggression in his voice. "I remember being a being of pure energy...trapped within the Doctor's TARDIS for such a long period. I remember having to jump through quite a few bodies after Bruce. It didn't last long. None of those bodies did. Not when I had Sato with me, my time as Edward Grainger was stopped by the First Doctor, and not during the time I was a human named Richard."

He looked seriously at every member of the Deca in the TARDIS then, taking a pause before continuing. "I was resurrected by the Time Lords during the Last Great Time War." He let that sink into everyone's minds for a moment. "They thought I would be a perfect warrior. They even gave me a new set of regenerations. Can you believe that? I was to guard the Cruciform." He looked at everyone seriously. "We all know how that ended up. I was there...when the Dalek Emperor took control of it. I had never felt so scared in all my life, seeing that moment happen before me. I fled...So far into the future. So far I didn't want anyone to find me. Not the Time Lords. Not the Daleks. Not even any of you, or even the Doctor. I made myself human...Using the Chameleon Arch. I went by the name Professor Yana. I was working on helping a group of humans get to Utopia."

He waited a moment before he continued. It was not easy admitting his mistakes, let alone his weaknesses. "I lived life out until I became a very old man. It wasn't until the Doctor, and a pair of his companions arrived, that I was finally set free again. Only to have one of my lives taken from me...by an insect girl. I regenerated...into the man some of you may know as Harold Saxon. I stole this very TARDIS...and from there...I spent 18 months on Earth working on one of my greatest plans against the Doctor. The Toclafane as I called them...and this very TARDIS," he said as he waved a hand around the entire room. "Became the Paradox machine I used to rule Earth, and rebuild the great empire of the Time Lords. I came closer to succeeding than I ever had before, didn't I, Doctor?"

He laughed. "Then things began to backfire on so many levels. After a year of a perfect Empire...The Doctor stopped me yet again." He shook his head. "And in the end, I was killed by my very own Time Travelling Companion, Lucy Saxon."

He turned his head back to the Doctor. "Do you wish to tell them how I stayed dead for three whole years? How I came back to life? How I brought back Gallifrey and Rassilon and all the other Time Lords from the Time War, despite your Time Lock? How even after they were all sent back, including myself, how I managed to escape?"

He tapped his fingers on the back of the chair, in the same four beat rhythm he lived with almost all his life. But he only tapped it once. It wasn't a real question. It was an implied statement. One he wished to let sink into everyone's minds in the entire room. One he especially wished to sink into his copy's mind, as well as the Doctor's.

He slowly stepped away from the chair in front of the console as he began to slowly walk towards the Doctor, his gaze solely focused on him, staring him down. And through that gaze, it was as if every other incarnation was staring through those same eyes. But it didn't matter how many lives he lived, how many different persona's he undertook. In the end, they were all one being. All one being, who viewed himself as the dominant figure in all of time and space, and life and death. A Time Lord above all others.

I. Am. The Master!

(OOC: I appologize in advance if this post seems to be a bit egotistical. The moment I read the Ebony Master's post, my Saxon!Master muse just took control)

[Deleted]

The War Chief's statement burned in the back of the Rani's mind as the Doctor suggested that she and Drax follow the Doctor. The Rani's brow quirked with mild curiosity. What did he have planned, and picking Drax... why not one of the Masters? Surely leaving two Masters in the same room would no doubt lead to impending disaster... or severely over-inflated egos. The Doctor continued, and the Rani folded her arms. Of course the Doctor would need her expertise to dwell on in order to somehow restore Rallon's regenerations. She did have some idea, something she was trying to work on involving de-generation; but it was still in experimental stage. She wasn't going to let the Doctor know about it without something in return.

Drax mentioned it would be beneficial that one of the Masters would join them. The Rani nodded in agreement. “Him”, she pointed her finger in the direction of the blonde one. She merely left it at that.

The Ebony Master spoke however and the Rani felt her finger fall by her side. Indeed, she too would like to know how much the blonde Master knew after he had fallen into the Eye of Harmony.

There were many secrets that even the Rani held beneath her hearts dating well back to her time at the Academy. She was in no mood to share such secret with either Master, but she'd have to keep her eye on at least one of them. Which one however would be a difficult choice to make. Both were exactly alike, both were exactly how she remembered; those long nights shared as they stared over scientific formulas and letting loose various pranks across the Academy floors that left the nurses scratching their heads furiously for an antidote. Giant boils and rats were one thing; but disabling the President's hand-eye coordination during an important meeting was another... and entirely more humourous. She blinked her eyes a few times and returned to the present. Both had grown older, much, much older – the Rani herself was matching the Eleventh Doctor's age of well over one thousand and one hundred years old but still sporting her second regeneration. In terms of the Master, she honestly did not know his age, either one anyway. But as the blonde one spoke – it was apparent that he was the one she had to keep an eye on. He was the older one.

As the blonde Master spoke of the Cruciform and his subsequent disappearance, it was then that the Rani turned away from his penetrating gaze. Oh how it burned in her hearts, just screaming to tell him... but not now. Not in front of the Deca. Imagine the chaos it would cause. Sweet... sweet murderous chaos... regaining her composure she snapped her attention back to the Master and merely coughed loudly at the mention of turning the TARDIS into a Paradox Machine. Again another one of her plans the Master merely elaborated on. Once the blonde Master finished his story, the Rani's fists clenched, and she marched forward to the blonde Master and promptly punched him in the mouth.

“Enough!” She shouted, absolutely livid with rage.

[Deleted]

"Do you have a star picked Mort- er, Meddler?"

"I've always hated the 'Mortimus' nickname," the Meddler said, not taking his eyes from the controls. "And I don't... wait." He blinked. "We are crafting a new Eye?"

"Slip of the tongue, answered Jelpax as they continued working on the course. Really it had been, among the group, Jelpax's had been the furthest up in the clouds when they were young. It was actually kind of fascinating that Jelpax wasn't one of the group that had stolen a TARDIS and run away as far as he could.

He paid attention as The Meddler addressed The Doctor and then instructed him on plotting a course, "Jelpax? Set a course for the end of the Stelliferous Era instead. 100,112,358,132,133 years from the Prime Event." He grinned again, but this time the grin was predatory. "We'll just rip the heart out of Utopia."

"You've got it." Jelpax paused, "What's Utopia?"

-------------------

Chief was bored by the conversation about where or when they were going. He'd wait for them to get back to the point when it was time to go. He was more interested in figuring out how they were going to help Rallon and Milliennia.

Clearing his throat, he called out to the group, "I hope you have a plan on how we're going to change Millennia from a doll back into a flesh body."

[Deleted]

Half-turning, he called across the control room. "Doctor? I owe you an apology! When I called you 'fool', I thought you had decided to beard the Toymaker with only the current - limited - reserves of your TARDIS."

"Of course you do," The Doctor answered in jest, "I'm a Mad Man with a Box. Not a fool, there is a distinct difference between the two titles." With that, he moved on to planning a scientific research party consisting of The Rani and Drax, then on The Meddler's request, he had to pick between the two Masters.

Now, that was going to be difficult. One was a lot more compliant, easier to work with. That Master had helped me in dealing with the families when they'd nearly resurfaced after Miracle Day. The duo dealt with them swiftly with the help of Miss Jilly Kitzinger, their ace in the hole.

Then, the other Master, the one he was beginning to believe was the true Master. They were both the true Master, in the sense that they had similar experiences, but the divergence was the one that had saved him from Rassilon hadn't yet regenerated.

The Doctor paused before picking the Master that had proven to be easier to work with. He looked to the Ebony Master and nodded, "Come with us." To be diplomatic, he looked to the other Master and said, "I'd like you to consider doing some computations. It may not work, but it's worth trying to restore Milliennia via Block Transfer." He also knew that he'd prefer to work alone.