The Master Chase! (The Master Plan)

[Deleted]

The youngest looking Master gave a look of puzzlement as he saw his remaining Torpedo's taken out. No normal Time Lord or TARDIS had this kind of skill or defensive capabilities. No, very few do. Almost as if-

He chuckled. "Well then my cyborg friend, it looks like your wish is coming true after all. I believe we've just found the Meddler. I believe it's time I took a more...personal touch to this fight."

He tapped a few more commands on his chair. A metallic helmet linked with several wires appeared from behind the chair and fastened itself onto his head. His mind was now linked to the telepathic circuits of his TARDIS, given not only better awareness of his surroundings within the Time Vortex, but now given direct control over every system on board his TARDIS, including a direct link to the Time Vortex itself. In truth, this system was based off of something he had made centuries ago back when he was living on the Source of Traken. Such a system he believed would be greatly re-implemented within this new destructive TARDIS.

A message was sent directly to his targeted TARDIS. "You believe you are the only one who can see your own future Meddler? I beg to differ!" the voice was young. Very young. And yet the tone of the voice seemed to imply a sense of familiarity towards the person he believed was the pilot and owner of the TARDIS currently under attack.

The large 'M'-like creature began to close the distance between itself and the enlarged bullet shape at a rather surprisingly rapid rate. The Master sent a signal through his TARDIS to prepare one of the fusion canons to fire. A large barreled cannon of some sort emerged from the underbelly of the TARDIS as the barrel began to unfold and extend. It fired a large glowing bright purple orb that flew through the Vortex to its target without seemingly any resistance at all.

The Master sneered. "Don't feel sad Mortimus," he said in another message. "You were never a match to my intellect."

---

Within the lower levels of the TARDIS, the first Master...the one who still addressed himself as Koschei, before he ever met Ailla, was still leading her down through the passage ways, trying to find exactly WHERE the holding cells were. He wasn't lost, but he still didn't have his bearings within this...TARDIS belonging to one of his future selves. "I'd be more willing to believe you, if you weren't so...abnormally cheerful."

Seriously, how she got in here, how she crashed through, what she even is was a mystery to him. Not even the Doctor's word games were as odd as she was.

[Deleted]

And there she was, unaware of the chaos that was going above level, what the Yana Master was doing and everything that was going on. This man she was being escorted with. She had no idea who he was or what he was doing, but she remained as cheerful as ever. She'd keep smiling at him, though considering they were walking around the underbelly, she would make idle conversation.

Even Koschei could tell she was... strange. Her hair was almost metallic looking, her skin plasticine. She wore what seemed to be a bodysuit on her, but on further inspection it looked like it was practically attached to her body. Her eyes were bright and glass-like, but still conveyed an odd curiosity and cheerfulness.

"What's wrong with being abnormally cheerful~? It kind of comes with the job." Of being a rock. She finished that sentence in her mind, not aware of the telepathic abilities her captor possessed. She would speak up after a short pause. "Are you lost on your own ship? I'm sure I could find the cells myself."

[Deleted]

"Solid hit!" the Doctor said, aware that Emilie would be more aware of that than he was. "Pillar of Eternity Delta is offline. Can you rebalance the power field?"

The TARDIS was screaming her pain, echoing up Emilie’s hands and into her bones. The Doctor’s words rolled off her like water, but fortunately the only thing that would make the TARDIS stop hurting as much was doing as the man directed. Oblivious to anything but the TARDIS’ senses, Emilie first swerved them to avoid another torpedo before setting to work with the power schematics.

And again Lady Luck was on their side, because she just finished when a young voice crashed into her skull.

"You believe you are the only one who can see your own future Meddler? I beg to differ!"
“Meddler?” The name meant nothing to her. “Who are you?”

There was a jolt through her fingertips, but the psychic messages were making navigation more difficult than normal. Danger incoming, and approaching fast, was about all she could gather.

"Don't feel sad Mortimus," he said in another message. "You were never a match to my intellect."

Of course she wasn’t a match for a Time Lord’s intellect, Emilie almost screamed.

“There’s a boy in my head taunting someone named Mortimus,” she announced aloud. “A very young, very scary boy.”

[Rob "the Meddler" Goodfellow]

His faith in Emilie's intuitive link with the TARDIS was justified, as she rebalanced the artron field and evaded a final torpedo simultaneiously. She was clearly deep in the gestalt, though, which made him grit his teeth. The feedback loop would be translating the damage the TARDIS had sustained into physical pain in the woman he... ah...

There was a particular word there, looming large in his mind. He just wasn't certain he was ready to accept it. Not after Pat.

His eyes widened as the screen revealed another attack. A glowing purple orb, slowly gaining on them. "Fusion beam," he murmured, horrified.

The weapon the Time Lords had called a 'fusion beam' was nothing so trivial as a blast of radiant energy generated by fusing hydrogen atoms together. No, nothing so trivial. Instead, it broke down matter and energy - both baryonic and abaryonic - at the Planck level, blending it into an undifferentiated mass. There were still defenses, of course, but this TARDIS was neither plated with Highest Entropy Matter or possessed of eighth-order screens.

At present velocity, the round would reach them in eight seconds.

He worked the controls frantically, and the n-Dimensional Probes came online. With less than two seconds to spare, they'd opened a veritable pinprick in the Vortex, hurling the projectile into a random location in space.

(The radially-symmetrical Kelebon of Mayall's Object saw the new purple star as a sign from the Gods. The prophet Kelemshan unified the people, ushering in an age of peace and harmony unmatched across space.

The fusion beam sheared through the planet, destabilizing the core and causing it to implode.)

“There’s a boy in my head taunting someone named Mortimus,” she announced aloud. “A very young, very scary boy.”

"Mortimus?" the Doctor exploded, stabbing a button to open an audio link between the two TARDISes. "Who the hell is this?" he demanded, "and how do you know that nickname?"

[Deleted]

"Well well well, if it isn't my favorite little meddling Monk," the child-like voice said. But there was something in the child's tone...something very familiar about it even the Meddler possibly couldn't deny recognizing, whether he's met this incarnation before or not. "Did it not occur to you, that if I was sending telepathic messages to your TARDIS, you could simply access your own telepathic circuits to have revealed my identity? Tch tch tch. My my my, you really are getting rusty Mortimus. TARDISes are your Family's expertise, wasn't it? And even then...I'm sure you could've identified my TARDIS by now and deduced my identity. Le Sigh. You disappointed me, dear Time Meddler. I was hoping for more of a challenge from you. But it seems to me the Doctor really was closer to my equal than you ever were. A shame really. I kinda enjoyed our time together at the Academy...Whenever you weren't against my will, of course."

He waited for almost a minute, assuming the Meddler was doing exactly as he had suggested...determining his identity, as well as discovering just exactly what TARDIS the Master was currently using. Oh how he wished he could see the look on the Meddler's face upon realizing he was facing the Type-666. Oh wait. He could. With his current TARDIS and apparatus, it would be almost as easy, if not easier, than when he hopped up on the screen of the Doctor's own TARDIS after just recently killing the Doctor's fourth life. No mathematical genius boy strapped to a deadly Hadron Web required.

Once the screen to the main monitor on one of the walls to Emilie's TARDIS lowered, the rather young looking Master was shown sitting in his command chair with his head propped on one fist against his helmet covered cheek. With his other hand he gave a small wave. All the while giving the Meddler an incredibly arrogant egotistical smirk.

"So...I'm assuming you've just discovered what exactly you're up against. So...Either you surrender your TARDIS now...Or I could break it apart right here and now, leave you and your companion to die as you both fly unprotected through the Time Vortex, and then take the remains of your TARDIS Coral for myself. Either way, I'm getting your TARDIS. And you know very well this TARDIS is equipped with all the proper means to do so."

---

Koschei just kept staring at her. "No. It would be safer if you stayed with me. This ship is filled with all kinds of booby traps against intruders. That and I need to lock you up in your ce-...Wait a second, you aren't one of those species that enjoys being someone's prisoner are you?"

Things have gotten even odder for Koschei on guard duty. But hey, he showed some concern. Anyone who knew the Time Lord well enough knew this was the Time Lord before he became totally evil. A glimpse of what he was like...back when the spark of goodness had yet died out.

It was all Ailla's fault!

[Deleted]

Sunny gave a blank stare when he asked if she was the type that enjoyed being locked up and stuff. Wait, she remembered some people liked being cuffed and tired up and whipped. Did he think she enjoyed that. For a moment her expression showed offense when he spoked up, but she figured he was at least very nice. Nicer than that child, anyway.

"What? No! I don't like being locked up!" She frowned at him. "But, since I'm stuck in an unknown ship that you claim us full of booby traps, then there really isn't much I can do, huh?"

[Deleted]

“There’s a boy in my head taunting someone named Mortimus,” she announced aloud. “A very young, very scary boy.”

A boy who was going to pay once Emilie got her teeth into him, but the Doctor – or the Meddler as the boy wanted to call him – was infuriated by the name Mortimus. He manipulated something on the console Emilie did not recognize, and suddenly they had an audio link.
Which was strange, because the boy had somehow been talking to her before….

Well well well, if it isn't my favorite little meddling Monk, the child-like voice said.

“You’re a monk?” Emilie stage whispered to her friend. “To what god?”

She might have been just a trace disappointed at the thought of him belonging to a strict religious order if it did not sound quite so incredible.

The boy was too busy insulting her friend to notice Emilie, who had grabbed a piece of paper and pen virtually out of the ether and was scratching down the symbols that belonged to the speaker and his TARDIS. Emilie was too deep into the gestalt mind of the TARDIS to have a full appreciation for what she was writing, or even the fact she was writing in Gallifreyan for accuracy.
She was certain, however, that she would love to find out how strong a blast of artron energy she could direct this kid’s way. Sure, he was dangerous, but he was threatening her daughter.

Wait, scratch that, he was also controlling their daughter. A monitor had lowered itself to be replaced by the image of the child who was not truly a child inside the attacking TARDIS.

"So...I'm assuming you've just discovered what exactly you're up against. So...Either you surrender your TARDIS now...Or I could break it apart right here and now, leave you and your companion to die as you both fly unprotected through the Time Vortex, and then take the remains of your TARDIS Coral for myself. Either way, I'm getting your TARDIS. And you know very well this TARDIS is equipped with all the proper means to do so."

“And I’m assuming,” Emilie’s voice was husky, her mind still linked to the TARDIS until there was reason to believe they were safe, “that you never learned not to leap to conclusions. This is my TARDIS, Time Lord. Have a care. That ego of yours is dangerously inflated.”

Never mind the fact she was thousands of years younger than him, Emilie could growl just the same.

[Rob "the Meddler" Goodfellow]

"Mortimus?" the Doctor exploded, stabbing a button to open an audio link between the two TARDISes. "Who the hell is this?" he demanded, "and how do you know that nickname?"

A tow-headed youth in an elaborate helmet gave a small wave and the most arrogant smirk he'd seen in a long time.

"Well well well, if it isn't my favorite little meddling Monk," the child-like voice said.

“You’re a monk?” Emilie stage whispered to her friend. “To what god?”

"Religious garb is a handy disguise," the Doctor snarled. "Not a defining characteristic."

"Did it not occur to you, that if I was sending telepathic messages to your TARDIS, you could simply access your own telepathic circuits to have revealed my identity?"

He tuned the familiar-sounding boy out, checking the visual feeds from the telepathic circuits. The psychic patterns that unfolded were worthless, of course, but the boy's arrogant droning was building a case for his identity.

"ramble ramble gloat gloat blah blah ramble gloat gloat threaten ramble blah blah blah I'm getting your TARDIS. And you know very well this TARDIS is equipped with all the proper means to do so."

“And I’m assuming,” Emilie snapped back, “that you never learned not to leap to conclusions. This is my TARDIS, Time Lord. Have a care. That ego of yours is dangerously inflated.”

It clicked. "Master? It is you, isn't it? Why, I haven't seen you since..." He snapped his fingers once, twice, three times, putting on an act of trying to place a memory. "Why, yes! I remember now! I haven't seen you since you fled Gallifrey in terror when the Transduction Barriers came down!"

He leaned forward, face filling the screen, hands working the controls. "YOur new form suits you, though. A little boy, hiding his terror behind a mask of bluster, convinced that his new toy makes him the baddest thing on the block." A mocking grin spread across the Doctor's face. "Did you take that form when you ran, Master? When you proved a coward? Did you find someone to tuck you in and read you bedtime stories, and to turn on a nightlight so the monsters wouldn't get you?"

Glancing sidelong at Emilie's note, he scrawled a response with his left hand. "Did poor widdle baby Koschei get a blanky and a teddy bear?" There was something unhinged in the Doctor's voice now, a barely contained fury that twisted his face into a mask of hatred. "Didums cwy, widdle Koschei? Didums cwy?"

He stabbed a button, and the image on the screen dissolved in a burst of static.

---

A burst of pure artron energy surged from the n-Dimensional Probes, roiling the very fabric of the Time Vortex. Eleven dimensions distorted and trembled, ripping and bending space and time between the two ships. On its own, it was barely a class eight temporal storm. No threat to either ship, but enough to render communications between the two vessels impossible.

As the small temporal storm broke, the skuldrshears deployed and tore a lengthy breach through the "tunnel" of the Vortex trajectory the two ships. This act, seemingly the act of a madman, triggered the destructive fury of a Chronal Hurricane. As the wounded "tunnel" thrashed and twisted, both ships were tossed like corks in the surf.

[Deleted]

"You dare make that insolent tone with me?!" he shouted. "At one point, I did consider you close to surpassing the Doctor on my list of rivals Meddler.-"

Then the storm was created, cutting out both their communications.

"But you were always a greater coward than I was." He said that phrase more for his own reassurance. Yes...In truth he did run from the Time War before the final days occurred. But it was an act of self preservation. He was confident he wasn't the only Time Lord who felt this way. And with the greatest war purposed TARDIS the Time Lords had ever created, he could just as easily take control over what Time Lords remained. All he had to do was go near the end of the universe, where he was confident technology would be at its finest state, where he could hide out as a human for a few years, one day reclaim his identity, as he has always done in the past, take this superior technology, and gain even more power over the cosmos. Enough power to wipe out either victor of the war, he felt confident enough.

Originally, the plan went wrong. He hadn't retained his identity as soon as he had hoped. Trapped for nearly four decades, maybe even longer. He lost his body and became the very incarnation that had now broken the laws of time to gather him and their other selves together on this new quest for power. So his trip to the end of the Universe may have to wait a while longer...

Or never occur at all, from his point of view.

He fiddled with the controls in his chair, along with a few mental commands from the helmet on his head. Using his TARDIS's own surplus of Atron crystals, his ship was producing an energy field to protect itself from the storm outside, but also to regain some control and balance on board his ship.

Only now, he couldn't use his TARDIS's most destructive weapon while this shield was active.

"Where are you..." he said as his mind's eye, now synched with his own TARDIS's surveillance systems began scanning for the Meddler's TARDIS.

"I believe it's time I disposed of your 'N-Forms'," he said chuckling to himself. "Target enemy N-Probes! Dimensional Node Manipulator Activate! Drain all dimensional power from the enemy probes!"

As he said this, columns of energy fired from a number of turents on the exterior of his TARDIS. Once they came into contact with those probes, the energy drainage began. A new node manipulator, one created sometime after his squabble with the Doctor over the one in his TARDIS began to drain all the dimensional energies from the Meddler's N-Probes. As each one was sapped of its energy, almost ironically enough like a vampire draining the life from their victim, the probes began disappearing one by one, destroyed by the raw power of Time itself.

"This is turning into quite a fun game of Chess," he said to himself. "The Doctor never bothered installing the very same weapons and defense systems you gave your own TARDIS Meddler. Sadly, you never did grasp the strategies of war much like the War Chief and myself did. But who knows. Perhaps you learned a thing or two since our last encounter." He let a cocky grin spread across his face. Despite the horrible storm spinning them along in the Time Vortex, the Master didn't seem bothered by it at all. He knew perfectly well what it would take to stop this storm. But no. He wanted to toy with the Meddler a bit, as well as see what next trick the monk had planned up his sleeve.

He flipped another switch. Within the Time Vortex, the black "M" shaped creature the Master's TARDIS had taken form as seemed to vanish. It could have been the latest cloaking technology of the time war, but it was far much more simpler than that. A simple manipulation of both the dimensional circuits and the Chameleon Circuit...making the Master's ship appear so small on the outside, it was probably no bigger than a speck of dust. Or a grain of sand. Or microscopic.

When you've worked on making things smaller for years...In the Master's case, both with TARDIS's and his own Tissue Compression Eliminator, such tricks as these are only second nature.

After all. He is the Master of all things in the cosmos.

---

"Yes well. Good to know you reali-"

Before Koschei could finish his sentence, he felt the TARDIS lurch and flew him off his feet, flying into a nearby wall. It lurched again in another direction. Koschei dropped his Staser pistol and grabbed onto the railing for dear life before the TARDIS was stable again. He placed one of his hands over both his hearts, checking to make sure he was still in one piece.

"Either we are being attacked by the Daleks, or the Time Vortex has taken on a new chaotic turn up there."

[Deleted]

Sunny would have continued the odd conversation she had with this Koschei guy, but suddenly the entire ship lurched and rocked like a cradle, sending Sunny flying despite her weight into Koschei as the other gripped onto the railing. It took Sunny a moment after the rocking stopped that she was right up against her captor, but she would peel herself back and drip onto the railing instead.

"What was THAT?" She gave him a hot, almost literally, stare as the other spoke about Daleks of whatever excuses. Yes, well, that was completely inconvenient for her and now it seems she was in even more hot water. This ship was seemingly under attack now! "Maybe you should ask your boss what the flying holy nun is going on?"

Looks like Sunny is slipping into spicy mode, which isn't a surprise. Surprises never really got her in a pleasant mood anyway, but at least she took it amusingly and would use her tongue to cheer herself up. Heh... flying nun. Like that would ever exist.

[Rob "the Meddler" Goodfellow]

The fledgling TARDIS tumbled and shook in the fury of the storm he'd called. One of the n-Dimensional Probes had been torn loose, but the other tool appendages had been successfully recalled into the ship. Now, there was nothing to do but wait.

"It is not light that we need," the Doctor murmured, gripping the console, "but fire. It is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake."

A terrible impact of howling time winds against the artron bubble rocked the ship, throwing them nearly 45 degrees off the vertical. Grimly, he clung to the console with one hand and manipulated the controls with the other. There was no steering, not while riding the whirlwind, but he could shut down non-essential components and divert power.

"I think," he said, catching Emilie neatly around the waist as she slid past, "that our child will have had a memorable shakedown."

Another gust, and his fingers slipped. Both of them plummeted towards a wall that had suddenly become the floor.

((OOC: Posting a little out of order.))

[Deleted]

Energy was draining and being drained, due to the storm and the Master's manipulations. The Doctor had pulled their n Probes in as Emilie wavered a little in sudden tiredness.

She was far too connected to the gestalt mind.

Pulling herself free, she slipped and almost fell had the Doctor - the Meddler? - not caught her.

"I think," he said, catching Emilie neatly around the waist as she slid past, "that our child will have had a memorable shakedown."

She giggled at that, and started laughing when they fell.

Because somehow it was funny. This was the second chronal storm they had ridden and she couldn't help but picture their daughter as some sort if cosmic surfer now, just looking for the biggest wave.

Wrapping her arms around him this time as they fell, she heard/felt the impact of the wall cracking at her bones. Adrenaline made it all too easy to ignore.

"Of course she will have. As if there was a chance of this trip only being peaceful."

But hey, no giant snakes yet. So Emilie figured it was still a win.

[Deleted]

Koschei rubbed his chin in thought as the captor began yelling. Her flying into him had left a nasty pain in his gut, one which he tried to avoid showing any signs of feeling.

"Or it's possible..." he said after some consideration. "That the TARDIS we were chasing was not some normal TARDIS after all."

He had not been updated at all from his co-conspirators as to the progress of their current chase through time, but in the event his first two guesses were wrong, this thought also seemed reasonable.

"Come child," he said as he resumed leading down the path ways. He hit a button. A door slid opened and revealed the holding cells. He pointed his staser to the second of the twelve cells currently in front of him. The first was already occupied by a heavily damaged Dalek, one of a design the Master had not seen from this incarnation's current point of view.

Even from looking at it though, he could tell this Dalek was far more terrifying than any other he had been educated in or had seen throughout all of history.

"The Cells should provide better protection for you than the hallways," he said to Sunny.

---

The small speck of dust spun around with the storm. Not fighting against it, no. Riding it. Surfing it. Using the very storm and its now diminished size to gain greater speed and acceleration from within the Time Vortex, using its own special shielding system to protect the dust speck from the odd energy surges that formed what could've been considered "lightning" inside the Vortex.

And so the Master waited, seated on his command chair within his console room calmly and patiently as a hideous smirk grew across his face. Waited for just the right moment...for the Meddler's own TARDIS to come around once again. At this rate, the speed they were both going, an outside observer would've feared the possibility of a Time Crash occurring.

But such would not be the case today. The Master's tractor beams now were locked onto the Meddler's own TARDIS. Once close enough, the speck of dust resumed its original devastating size almost instantly. The pincers of the hideous creature like thing the Master had chosen as the form of his ship now slammed into the sides of the Meddler's TARDIS, almost completely shattering the Atron bubble around said TARDIS in the process.

Resuming the small line of communications between the two TARDIS's again, the Master gave a small message.

"I believe we've had enough fun playing hide and go seek, wouldn't you agree? Power down now. You will be boarded very shortly."

He then keyed into the PA system of his own TARDIS, intending to contact his other selves on board his vessel. "YOU TWO! Get up here now! The Meddler's TARDIS is ours. Now we must take out its passengers."

(OOC: If this seems a little Godmoddy to you First, please feel free to correct me so in your next post)

[Rob "the Meddler" Goodfellow]

"I think," he said, catching Emilie neatly around the waist as she slid past, "that our child will have had a memorable shakedown."

Another gust, and his fingers slipped. Both of them plummeted towards a wall that had suddenly become the floor. Emilie wrapped her arms around him, twisting as they fell so that she absorbed the brunt of the impact. The Doctor gasped a little at the soft crack of bone as they struck.

"Of course she will have," Emilie said, not seeming to notice or care. "As if there was a chance of this trip only being peaceful."

Gently, watching for signs of serious injury, he sat Emilie up and ran his fingers over back and arms to check for serious breaks. "Tell me if there is any significant pain, or if you feel bone shift," he said, sounding worried.

Finally, satisfied that there was no great probability of a lung being punctured, he settled for simply holding her for a moment longer. "Don't do that," he murmured. "I'm more resilient than I look. Just... just concentrate on avoiding injury yourself, all right?"

The ship lurched again, turning the floor back into the floor, and the Doctor found himself lying on his back still holding Emilie. "Uh... hi," he said, suddenly acutely aware of her closeness. He'd noticed it before, but she smelled amazing.

Without conscious thought, his hands slid down her back...

"I believe we've had enough fun playing hide and go seek, wouldn't you agree?" announced the Master from the console. "Power down now. You will be boarded very shortly."

Growling, the Doctor untangled himself and lurched back over to the controls as a second jolt shook the ship. This time, a physical impact.

He checked the controls. The commentary he provided was unintelligable, but his tone of voice and body language implied swearing. "He's grapled us. The fething yeanbhrjlisahouizhre schlagson grappled us!"

He ran his fingers through his hair, thinking frantically. He'd already worked out two escape plans, but both risked the utter destruction of Emilie's TARDIS. Three others would work if they weren't physically connected, and a final one would have required him to have already constructed an Eye for the ship. Finally, he sighed, and stabbed the communications button.

"We're powering down. You win. This round, at least."

((OOC: Don't worry about the godmody feel. I suspect everyone will get one or two bits off like that, over the course of the thread...))

[Deleted]

Sunny puled away form her captor, finally brushing off dust form her before the other spoke up. TARDIS? What was a TARDIS? She honestly had no clue what the other meant, but that didn't really matter. She'd find a way out anyway. For now she would observe her cellmates and next door neighbors as she walked down the hallway.

"What's that? Is that a Dalek?" Clearly she'd heard of Daleks before, though she had never seen one up close before. She peered into the cell, that is before she was directed into her little holding place. For now? She would just study everything. Of course his expression frowned when he called her a child.

"I'm not a child. I'm only 400 years old! And what's a TARDIS anyway?" She entered the cell and then turned around, facing him.