Paradoxical Paradox Chapter 4
“What do you mean your forces?” the Doctor asked.
“I told you, I was just about to find you before you tried to stop me on my own ship,” the Master said.
“The Valiant wasn’t yours in the first place,” the Doctor corrected.
“Plus, I have this whole area under surveillance,” the Master said. “They must have brought out the heavy artillery when they saw who was up there.”
“The others, they’ll be gone once we get out of here,” the Doctor said as he realized it. “They won't be looking for us, won’t be expecting us, and none of the others will tell them about us.”
“Exactly,” the Master said. He glanced over at the Doctor and tossed him a device, which the Doctor caught automatically. “Don’t worry; this is all going according to plan.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” the Doctor said. He looked up. “Wait, what plan?”
“I always have a plan, Doctor,” the Master said. “But this time, you’ll be working with me instead of against me and you won’t screw it up.”
“Technically, I am working against you,” the Doctor pointed out.
The Master waved a hand in dismissal. “That doesn’t matter; I’m working against myself for myself, too.”
“Are you almost done?” the Doctor asked.
“Aha,” the Master said, pulling something out of one of the drawers. He stuffed it into his pocket before the Doctor could see what it was and he slammed the drawer shut. “Okay, now we can go.”
The Doctor made them hurry back to the elevator and waited impatiently as they headed up to the surface. They were able to get a hold of the situation once the stone had settled down beside the other pieces of pavement thanks to the chameleon effect that the spot had.
The second Doctor and all of the companions had been taken away and the area still crawled with army people. A short way off a large crater still smoked, obviously the source of the shaking that they had noticed inside the Hub.
“So, how do you suggest that we get up onto the ship?” the Doctor asked. “We don't have the vortex manipulator that we used to get up onto the ship the last time around and I can’t use the Tardis.”
“We do this,” the Master said as he stepped off of the stone square. He latched onto the Doctor’s arm at the same time and dragged him off as well. “You, soldier!”
“What?” the Doctor exclaimed, scrambling to get out of the Master’s hold.
“Don't just stand there,” the Master called out. “You missed one. Now get us back up to my ship.”
“Sir, yes, sir,” the soldier called out, saluting before motioning. “This way, sir.”
“Right,” the Master said. He tossed the Doctor is a random soldier’s direction and the soldier grabbed a hold of the Doctor and followed along.
“Well, this doesn’t look good,” the Doctor said to himself, watching the Master ahead of him. He twisted some more to try and get out of the soldier’s hold, but the soldier simply gave him a look and the Doctor stopped.
They headed over to a small plane, where the Doctor was strapped in with restraints and the Master strapped himself in without the restraints. A pilot got in and started the plane, flying them straight up to the Valiant. They landed in the bays without any problem and the pilot got the Doctor out for the Master.
“Do you want me to help you get him to the cells?” the pilot asked.
“No, I can take it from here,” the Master said. “He knows that he is beaten.”
The Master grabbed a hold of the Doctor’s elbow and started dragging him along. They quickly left the flight bay and headed deeper into the ship.
“Ah, a little help here?” the Doctor asked, tugging at the handcuffs. “I never like these things; I always get handcuffed at the wrong point in time.”
“Oh, yes,” the Master said, coming to a halt and looking at the Doctor. “Are you sure we can’t just leave it like this?”
“No,” the Doctor said. “You need me for whatever you’re planning and I can’t be like this.”
“Not really,” the Master said. “I only needed you to get up here, although I suppose that you’ll be a good distraction.”
“I’ll be an even better one if I have my hands free,” the Doctor said.
The Master reached into the Doctor’s pocket, snickering over the bow tie, and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. He held it up to the light. “Oh, you got a new one.”
“Yeah, I crashed,” the Doctor said.
“Oh, this is rich,” the Master snorted before finally activating the screwdriver. It only took a second before the Doctor could pull the handcuffs off. He reached out and snagged the sonic screwdriver from the Master.
“So, what’s your plan?” the Doctor asked. He tucked the sonic screwdriver back into his pocket.
“We go to the bridge, interrupt things and cause a bit of chaos,” the Master said. He motioned. “After you.”
“What kind of chaos?” the Doctor asked as he started walking in the direction of the bridge.
“The fun kind,” the Master said.
The Doctor frowned, but let it rest and continued to walk. He led the way to the bridge, but stopped outside of the door to get an idea of what was going on. Everyone looked to be fine and the Master from the pocket dimension was in the middle of a monologue.
The Doctor started as he recognized what was coming next and he burst into the room. “Sorry I’m late, I got held up.”
“Where have you been?” Amy demanded.
“Who are you?” the Master from the pocket dimension asked. He paused and stared at the Doctor. “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Yeah, well, I found myself in the area and thought I might drop in,” the Doctor said as he strolled into the room. “Oh, Donna, I got something for you,” he said as he spotted her. He took out the device that the Master had given him, fiddled with it with his sonic screwdriver and then tossed it over to her.
“What is it?” Donna asked, inspecting it. “Is this some kind of alien fashion statement?”
“Nah, it’s something that should help with your head, keep it from getting too bad,” the Doctor said.
“If you say so,” Donna said. “It looks like a bracelet to me.” She snapped it onto her wrist, anyway. It beeped, but nothing else happened.
“Okay, you were saying?” the Doctor asked, turning to face the Master from the pocket dimension.
“You can’t be here,” the Master from the pocket dimension said, pointing at the Doctor.
“Oi, what about me?” John Smith asked.
“What about you?” the Master from the pocket dimension asked.
“We were talking before he came,” John Smith said.
“Trust me, you don’t want to experience what he was going to do next,” the Doctor said.
“It’s no matter, I can do the same to both of you,” the Master from the pocket dimension called out.
“But still, this is my timeline,” John Smith said. “I should experience it, not you.”
“It’s hard being the second Doctor, isn’t it,” the Doctor said. “I went through that recently. Well, it wasn’t exactly the same, but it felt the same, but he really wasn’t the Doctor, he just thought he was. You should have seen his sonic screwdriver and his Tardis, oh, his Tardis was beautiful.”
“Whatever happened to spoilers?” John Smith said.
The Doctor shrugged. “I doubt that you’ll remember all of those details anyway.”
“Not with the way you rambled them out,” Amy said. “Honestly, is it so hard to slow down for us normal folk?”
“Oh, but Amy, none of you are normal,” the Doctor said. He paused. “Wait, that didn’t come out right.”
“I’ll say it didn’t,” Donna said.
“All of you are special,” the Doctor said. “That’s what I meant to say.”
“As amusing as this all is, shouldn’t you be focusing your attention onto me?” the Master from the pocket dimension asked. “I am the one who just took over the world, after all.”
“Go on, you can have this one,” the Doctor told his past self.
“It won’t work, Master,” the Doctor of the past said, standing up straight and looking the Master of the pocket dimension in the eye.
“I’m proof of that,” the Doctor said with a wave.
“Oh, yeah? Tell me how my plan failed,” the Master from the pocket dimension asked.
“You underestimated me and everyone else in the world,” the Doctor said.
“Well, I’ll be sure not to do that again,” the Master from the pocket dimension said. “Now that I have all of you here, there’s no way that I can be stopped. The world is mine and you, Doctors, have lost.”
“Wow, I do like to talk, don’t I?” the Master said as he stepped into the room.
“How?” the Master from the pocket dimension said as he took in the grungy appearance of his future self.
“I’d tell you spoilers, but really, it doesn’t matter,” the Master said.
“Why doesn’t it matter?” the Master of the pocket dimension asked. “You’re here now, between the two of us we can take over the universe.”
“How, cute,” the Master said. He paused and tilted his head. “Does that make me a narcissist?”
“Possibly,” Amy replied.
The Master shrugged. “No matter; it simply means I have good tastes.”
“What are you planning?” the Master of the pocket dimension asked, narrowing his eyes at the Master.
“And I know myself as well, how delightful,” the Master said. He clapped his hands, sounding faintly like metal clinking together. “Of course I’m planning something.”
“What are you planning?” the Master of the pocket dimension asked.
“To rule the world, of course,” the Master said. “Isn’t that always our goal? To foul up the world that is so precious to the Doctor. And look, there are two of them to break now.”
“But there’s two of us as well,” the Master of the pocket dimension said. “We could do so much better with the two of us. Better than this stupid planet.”
The Master smirked. “I brought back the Time Lords, you know.”
“What?” John Smith exclaimed, his head snapping over to stare at the Master. “You didn’t. Do you have any idea what a bad idea that was?”
“Been there, done that,” the Master said. “So that plan didn’t turn out the way I wanted it, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that I got sucked inside the time lock as well, because I got out of there. In fact, everything is going according to plan.”
“You mean you planned this whole thing?” the Master of the pocket dimension asked.
“No, but I’m taking advantage of it,” the Master said. “From finding the entrance of this pocket dimension to regaining my body.”
“What do you mean by that?” the Master from the pocket dimension asked.
“I had worked everything out to return to life, but my dear wife managed to screw that up once more,” the Master said. “Ever since then I’ve been so hungry, but I think I might have found the perfect food.”
“I’m not going to like this, am I?” the Doctor said.
“Probably not.” The Master grinned and held up his hands, revealing why they clicked when he had clapped before. There were wires and metal that stretched across his hands like gloves.
“The device that you took out of Torchwood,” the Doctor said.
“Energy converters,” the Master explained.
“Those were put away for a reason,” Jack called out.
“Exactly,” the Master said. “They suck the life energy out of people, which is exactly what I want.”
“But it’s even more than that,” Jack said. “You literally absorb the person. They’re dangerous.”
The Master shrugged. “At the very worst, I will regain the connection to the time lock. At the best, I will regain my body.” He smiled at them. “Either way, I win.”
Chapter 5