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Down in the TARDIS launch bays, stomping undercut the wheezing that rang throughout the room as lozenges of white, gold, black and silver faded out of appearance and into the Time Vortex.
In The Warrior’s TARDIS, the screen attached to the console’s neck bleeped a warning, reading ‘Time Trail being followed’
“Bingo.” The Warrior said, switching over to a comms line. The screen flickered, before showing the Master’s TARDIS. In his TARDIS, The Warrior’s face popped up on a roundel.
“You’re right. They’re following us.” The Warrior said, his worn voice reverberating through the Master’s TARDIS.
“Good thing, too. I wouldn’t want to risk my behind if it wasn’t worth it.” The Master replied slyly. “Doctor?” The Master asked, wanting to ensure that the connection was two-way.
“You will address me by Warrior!” The man who was once the Doctor yelled.
“Alright. Touchy.” The Master defended, the last word a mutter. Then the noises stopped. For a moment, there was silence. Spine-chilling silence. Silence that would make your hair stand on end. Then, a burst of noise came from outside. The sounds of Dalek fire on wood and metal rang from outside, causing the Cloister bells to ring inside their TARDISes.
“I think we’re here!” The Warrior yelled, fiddling with controls.
“Really?! I hadn’t noticed!” The Master yelled facetiously, his fingers dancing across the console’s instruments. Outside, the TARDISes spun down towards the planet, the lozenge-shaped battle TARDISes following them.
“Sir, they’ve brought us into an ambush!” One of the Commanders inside a gold and black TARDIS yelled.
“No, they haven’t.” The General started, realising where they were. “They’ve brought you to the heart of the Dalek war operations.” The General stated, shocked at how thick he had been to not realise this.
“And your companion is where exactly?!” The Master yelled.
“The Supreme Council chambers! I know where they are! You take command of the fleet; run cover fire! Shoot to protect, not to kill!” The Warrior commanded.
“As you wish!” The Master screamed, more used to him being in command. He quickly switched to an open comms line, but not before complaining that this would give him an almighty headache. He projected his face, cat-like eyes and all, into every gold and black commander TARDIS there. “I am The Master, and you will obey me.” His voice came through.
On the metal ground of the Dalek War Operations Centre, blue bursts came from Dalek gunsticks as a large, blue box spun towards them, smashing them out of the way. Inside, sparks flew from the console, singing the plinth. Shortly after, with a final wheeze, the TARDIS stopped. The Warrior pulled out his gun and opened the doors.
“Sir. It appears that we have lost contact with our commanders.” The General informed Rassilon.
“Their TARDISes are still intact. Koschei!” Rassilon roared.
Inside the Dalek Supreme Council laboratory, Mia was attached to a bed, not unlike an operating table. Panels of her grey plating lay detached from her body. A bronze Dalek with silver hemispheres and dome moved over to a station, where it replaced its manipulator arm with a buzz saw.
“Will this hurt?” Mia joked.
“Yes.” The scientist answered slowly. The buzz saw revved into life, sending fear into Mia. The sound of a laser cut through the buzz saw’s buzzing, striking the scientist in the back. Mia couldn’t see the figure through the Dalek and the shadows, but shortly after it had turned around, it was shot, clean in the eye, sending it’s dome flying across the room. The figure made its way over to Mia as her vision blurred. She couldn’t make out much through the blur, but what she could make out was a blur of white, and a small blur of grey.
Across the city, the Warrior was on a warpath, shooting Daleks as he worked his way through the city. He had been knocked off course and was almost pinned down, a squadron of old Daleks; grey, white, silver, and bronze in front of him. His gun was out of charge. He pulled out the pistol he had underneath his scarf and started firing. It was ineffective against Daleks at this range. The Warrior was ready to surrender. Then, out of nowhere, a blast of green shot down from the heavens, and the Warrior looked up to see an odd-looking TARDIS. It was wooden brown with a silver door. It spun away before he could fully register what had happened. He didn’t complain, and kept running.
In the Master’s TARDIS, he lay on the floor, the pain making his head burn. He couldn’t keep this up much longer. He screamed in pain.
The Warrior screamed in anger as he shot his way into the Supreme Council chambers.
“Where is she?!” The Warrior screamed at the Supreme Council.
“We will never tell you.” A deep voice boomed from behind the Warrior.
“I take it you’re the Emperor?” The Warrior asked. “I take it you know who killed the old one?” He spat, not needing to say who. They knew. He fired a bolt towards the Emperor’s glass chamber. “Where. Is. She?” The Warrior spat, holding the Emperor at gunpoint.
“Your companion is in a laboratory near these quarters.” Dalek Sec answered, obscured from view on his platform. Why wasn’t an issue for The Warrior. He fired at the lamp in the centre of the room and bolted in the dark. Once mauve-stained light was returned, the Supreme Council prepared for an emergency system to be activated.
As the Master writhed in pain, some of the commanders began to break free of his hypnosis.
“Must. Hold. My. Grip.” He groaned in pain, re-placing them under his influence.
The Warrior made his way to the laboratory Mia was in and rounded the corner, gun raised and ready to fire. Instead of a Dalek, he was met by Mia, who was unconscious on the table.
“Mia!” He yelled, worried for her. “Come on, wake up.” He cried, slapping her cheek. No response. Maybe if I can get her to the TARDIS, The Warrior thought, slinging her into his arms. He began the long trek back to his TARDIS.
In the Master’s TARDIS, the roundels lit up with ‘automatic emergency recall: activated.’
“No.” The Master grunted, picking himself up from the floor and lifted himself onto the console and tried to over-ride, his body wracked with pain. His fingers trembled as he tried to press the ignore button. He fell onto the floor, his vision blurring. “Too much.” He muttered, before blacking out on the floor. His influence snapped. The lines were flooded with commanders commanding retreat. The Warrior saw this on the ground below, and tried to speed up. Daleks of all sorts stood in their way, but The Warrior dodged them, bringing his patient home. But as he passed the Supreme Council chambers, he noticed something horrifying. The ground was rumbling, and beneath the chambers was an orange glow. It wasn’t just chambers. It was an escape pod. The Warrior started running, careful not to damage Mia any more than she already was. He realised the planet was going down and that his TARDIS was too far away. He laid himself and Mia against a wall, knowing that this was the end. As the roaring of the Council’s engines rose to a new volume, he resigned himself to his fate.
Then, he wasn’t there. He was in a large, grey room. He recognised it almost immediately.
“No. No, no, no.” He said to himself, realising that he was in a Time Lord freighter.
“Hello fugitive.” A Time Lord said, his face up in the Warriors. A medical squadron rushed up and took Mia away.
“No. No.” He muttered, passing out from exhaustion.
When he woke up again, he was in a strange, metallic white room and was locked in position on a hexagonal gold plinth, yellow bars surrounding him on all six sides. His neck was restrained by a silver plate, and his hair stuck up.
“Where am I?” He asked, taking stock of his situation.
“Gallifrey.” A voice came. It was Rassilon.
“With all respect, Lord President. He saved me from the Daleks.” A female voice came. It was Mia.
“And my whole platoon.” A man’s voice came. It was the Time Lord from Skull Moon.
“And me as well.” Allison, thought The Warrior.
“And he helped us figure out the Dalek’s masterplan. And led the rescue of your precious Mia here.” A smooth voice slid into the conversation. It was the Master.
“Very well. The Doctor will be set free. However, Mia will not be allowed in his TARDIS again. We will not have a repeat of these events.” Rassilon laid down his verdict. Mia was quickly swept away as the Warrior walked, head hung, to his TARDIS.
In his console room, the Warrior wept, pushing down a lever. The whole room was flooded with a flashing mauve light. He lay down underneath the console, the screen reading ‘TARDIS self-destruct: activated’ As if on cue, a bedraggled man in a bottle green coat appeared on the floor behind him.
“Hello.” He said.
“Go away.” The Warrior spat.
“Well, isn’t that self-love?” The man joked, extending his hand to the Warrior. “Come on. Take my hand.” The Doctor said, not really commanding.
“What’s the point? It’s all going to end poorly.” The Warrior spat.
“Eventually it will. But it’s okay right now. Focus on that.” The Doctor responded.
“Mia’s gone. So what’s the point?” The Warrior said, depressed.
“Hey. I know how it feels, but it gets better. I promise.” The Doctor said, his hand still extended.
“So what do you say. Doctor?” The coated Doctor asked. The jacketed Doctor extended his hand up and took the coated Doctor’s hand. He got up and pushed the lever back up, turning the room back to it’s white lighting. The monitor bleeped back into life. Rassilon’s face was on it.
“Doctor. We have one last thing we need of you.” He said. The Doctor turned to the console and started adjusting controls.
In the TARDIS launch bay, Mia walked down the aisles of TARDISes, wearing her dark green jumpsuit with bright green sides and golden piping with grey lining. She stepped inside a silver TARDIS with metallic white doors. The doors closed and with a wheezing, which turned into a wheezing, groaning noise, the TARDIS faded out of existence.