World's always ending. And I have missed that coat.

[cpt_51century]

"There's one thing I always wanted to ask Jack. Back in the old days. I wanted to know about that Doctor of his. The man who appears out of nowhere and saves the world; except sometimes he doesn't. All those times in history where there was no sign of him.. I wanted to know why not. But I don't need to ask anymore. I know the answer now: Sometimes

Comments

[iehcsok]

It had been a rough ... well, he wanted to say months but he had no real record of time. He had started making it up, adding random dates and times just to make things seem more interesting. He'd decided that after being sucked into the Time Lock on human Christmas that logically if he was going by linear time, it should be ... March? April? Easter perhaps? He wasn't sure. All he knew was that he was happy to find a way out, even if he ended up on Earth

[cpt_51century]

And right on time.

The Immortal had given up his coat from the last time he ran into the Master and opted instead of something dark with a high collar that made him look particularly cool, he thought. That had happened about four thousand years ago, give or take a decade. Jack hadn't really kept time. If he was eternal, if he existed outside of time now, why did he have to be bed fellows with it?

Dark black boots took one step back so that the Master didn't face plant, literally, into his shoes and Jack shoved his hands into his wool pockets to glance down at the creature.

"Huh. Now that's surprising," Jack said with a smirk and dropped a duffle bag filled with clothing an inch from the Master's head. "You still look like...that. Well. Get dressed."

[iehcsok]

The Master blinked up and winced, unprepared for the onslaught of freak. Oh yuck, it was like someone spat in his face! Looking at the bag then Jack, he raised an eyebrow. He was clearly missing something. And whenever he figured he was missing something, he usually blamed the person who tended to put these sort of things together.

Logically it was the Doctors fault.

Looking down at the rather horrible clothing he was wearing, he had to admit that despite his tone, Jack had a point... Or was he referring to the unfortunate regeneration problem he was having? Either way, point taken.

Grabbing the bag, he pulled it close and sneered at Captain Freak, not sure if it was safe to even open it up. Could be some sort of device made to kill him... yes he was paranoid but one would be when they lived a life like his. "What brings you here? Some sort of 'I'll screw anything' pride parade? Freaks convention? Doctors orders?"

[cpt_51century]

Jack sighed and turned, walking away. "Something like that," he said, knowing that a Time Lord's innate curiosity would have his new friend following behind him. Ah, wonderful saying, that. The enemy of my enemy... It couldn't be more true in this case.

The Master hated him, he hated the Master but they needed to strike this partnership before the Doctor was allowed to ruin their lives any more than he already had been doing for the past...oh...eternity.

Jack didn't stop until he reached the end of the junkyard. Fitting place for the Master to have landed, frankly, and he found it all quite amusing as he turned again to find those horrible brown eyes squinting up at him.

"You really need to get changed or you're going to stick out."

[iehcsok]

Jack had no idea what it felt like to be touched by him, especially when you were a Time Lord. It was like every rule of the universe was brought down on his head and like maggots wriggled under the skin, crawling and itching. It was unpleasant, especially to someone as sensitive to time as the Master, someone who never did like the disturbance of time unless it worked directly to his benefit

[cpt_51century]

Jack help up both of his hands and stared forlornly at the Master. "All right." He just had to let this play out then. At least once. But that's what he told himself last time when he came back just after the Valeyard left and tried to pick the Master's pieces back up.

Maybe that was it. He kept coming back too early. He needed to let the Master attempt to straighten himself up on his own.

He dialed in on his manipulator and a purple and gold vortex appeared just behind him. "I'll be back in a week. With another key," he told the Master. "I'll meet you in New York City by the boat rental dock in Central Park."

This was a new piece to the puzzle, one that Jack had never played before. It was thrilling, actually, because he really didn't know if the Master would come.

He stepped back into the vortex and vanished.

[iehcsok]

"Just leave like you said you would," the Master snapped, annoyed at how Jack was being about this. So sure, so certain, it was like he thought he knew the future but that made no sense, vortex manipulator or not, if he had been here that many times then logically he would of run into another Jack or something? And the Doctor was the Doctor, he always would be.

He refused to believe Valeyard would walk through that door.

... Or he told himself that as he barricaded himself in his bedroom and waited eagerly with the laser screwdriver, determined to avoid the fate that Jack had told him. Though he knew that if he actually had the Doctor say he was sorry, grovel and submit to his desires, he wouldn't be able to resist.

That had been his dream since he was a kid!

[notsoperfect10]

Twenty-nine minutes was the proper time, though Jack had said he was a little bit off. The knock on the door was soft. When the answer didn't come, the sound of the sonic working on the lock gave the Master all he needed to know about what waited on the other side of the door

[iehcsok]

The Master nodded, he wasn't about to start plotting and planning with Jack, he had little interest in doing so. Shrugging off his jacket, he tossed it on the sofa as he headed towards the bathroom. His white shirt was somewhat ruined, the bandages weren't well done and blood and come through, ruining the poor tailored shirt. Just another little annoyance the Doctor had inflicted.

An attack on his poor unfortunate wardrobe.

Kicking the door shut behind him, he must of run the water for over 30 minutes but showers took longer these days, he liked the feel of the warm water, it was safe here, he could think and pretended that things were just not as they seemed.

Plus it was nice and clean, always a good thing. Never mind the potential bill he might be running.

[cpt_51century]

The Master would find gauze and bandages and tape on the sink when he got out of his shower. Everything he would need for a burn wound, actually. Even some ointment. Jack wasn't going to help, but with the proper angle in the mirror, the Master could wrap himself up and do a pretty decent job of the whole thing.

Jack would be waiting out on the balcony, tinkering with a device that looked like a plain old wrist watch. He seemed quite pleased by the results, even when it sparked at him.

Seeing the Master's shadow, he looked up, grinning.

"Here. Actually, you might need to tweak it. It's sort of like a sea sickness band. You know. To deal with the sick feeling around me."

[iehcsok]

The Master silently took the band and inspected the slight sparks when he pressed the on button, keeping it a safe distance. Rolling his eyes, he slid down the wall and sat on the floor so he could focus properly, it wasn't a problem with the gears, it was the internal circuit. And if he could get it tweaked without opening it then the problem would be solved. The band wasn't an awful idea, just a bit odd.

"You know the sickness isn't strictly because you're a gigantic freak of nature that shouldn't exist?" the Master informed him with a small smirk on his face. "I just really detest you, everything about you, every little detail."

He always did, it was just one of those things, he couldn't like one of the Doctors companions, even one that hated him too and wanted to help him bring the man down. He knew Jack didn't care for him either, that made this whole thing much easier, he hardly needed to try and befriend the man.

"You're just one of those people I wish was dead."

[cpt_51century]

Guess that makes two of us. "For the record, I hate you too. I'm pretty sure you're the reason he's become what he is now, too. So good job on that." Jack frowned and left the Master to it. He wasn't going to offer him help or advice. He needed to go and medicate the hours away.

He was too lonely to be stuck with a man like the Master, but he had absolutely no choice in the matter. His destiny was written, had been written, and he couldn't change what happened to him because that entire moment in time was locked.

After all of this... After the Master defeated the Doctor, he was going to let the Time Lord get his wish. He broke a time lock before. He could break it again and stop Jack from ever meeting the Doctor...

And then he'd get a mortal life back.

[iehcsok]

"Like I said, we're from the future. We don't have long to talk, timelines and all that, you just have to listen to me. Valeyard is coming back and when he does, bad things are going to happen. You need to put a lock on the TARDIS to prevent him travelling, I don't care how but do it," that was an awkward request but it was worth a shot, it wasn't the true plan but it was a pretty good one if it worked.

Putting his hands in his pockets, he met the Doctors eyes the best he could. His body language was cocky and arrogant as ever but there was a sort of pain behind it, it was all in his eyes, he wasn't comfortable.

"Stop freaking out and make sure you take note, got it? Of everything we say. It's important that you have to put up every security you can against Valeyard. Stop him."

Turning his head, he offered Jack a small frown. Well, was he going to add anything?

[notsoperfect10]

"Vale--" Jack wasn't going to get a chance to say anything. The Doctor had just been delivered entirely too much 'heavy' news and right now? Right now he was still reeling from the whole 'drums are real' issue. Drums were real. Master was alive and madder than ever. But also travelling with Jack Harkness...oh, and the Valeyard was coming?

Give a Time Lord a break, Master!

He climbed up the skiff and Jack immediate tugged the man he hated back, upsetting the wound on his back. The Doctor picked up on it right away.

"You're hurt!"

[iehcsok]

The MAater winced and turned around, whacking Jack on his surprisingly solid arm. Ouch, that actually hurt to hit him! Snarling, he toyed with getting into a fight but he was sort of in the middle of warning and stuff so now was not the time. "Watch it, you revolting freak or I'll tear your skin off."

Turning his head back to the Doctor, he received a rather similar look of anger and frustration.

"Well I won't be if you do what I said. Valeyard proof your mind, your TARDIS and your screwdriver," the Master demanded because he didn't need be near either of these two right now and the sooner this was sorted, the better things would be for him.

The Doctor made his skin crawl just as much as Jack these days.

[cpt_51century]

It wasn't the Doctor's fault that he happened to look like the Valeyard did. It really wasn't. He frowned at the Master as he finished climbing the hill and tried to lay his hands on the other man's shoulders before he yanked himself back.

Oh. Kay. So that didn't help. "Tell me what happened!"

"Spoilers," Jack sing-songed like River Song, humming softly and sweetly all while looking incredibly menacing. How had he managed to pull that off anyhow?

Nevermind. No, really. Never mind. The Doctor didn't have time for that. "Start from the beginning."

[iehcsok]

"Shut up and I don't," the Master snapped as he shoved Jack back and started to push the man out of the door. The older Master cleared his throat and tried to catch the Masters attention. Turning his head, he frowned slightly.

"Why are you travelling with a God? Or is he an accidental freak?"

"Both," Was all the Master said as he left them to their little fight. Turning to Jack, he offered the man a sneer because this did not go as he had hoped. But then a plan he formed while high on drugs was never quite going to work out.

"Come on, let's just go!"

[cpt_51century]

"See you in a couple hundred years, Doc!" Jack called out, all sing song, and let the Master drag him out into the hallway. "Dig the goatee," he said cheerfully as he set up his wristcuff to take them back to a better place and time.

Not his apartment in New York, no, but about a year after, in London.

He snagged the Master's collar and they tumbled back into the vortex together before being spit back out onto shag carpetting in a jumble of limbs. Jack grumbled at his sprained wrist and then at the pair of tan chucks just in front of his nose.

"Hey guys, how were the Sea Devils?"

[iehcsok]

The Master took a while to find his feet, too afraid to move least things go awry, he was still recovering and a tiny bit exhausted as it was, he just sort of lay beside Jack... which was more bearable than it once had been, now he could stomach being that close without getting horribly sick.

Covering his head with his arms, he groaned. This day just got worse and worse frankly.

"They were rubbish as ever, what do you think? They never were fascinating."

[cpt_51century]

The Valeyard just grinned, hands in his pockets, and rocked back on his heels. "Don't know why you insist on traveling by something so painfully inferior," he complained to the Master as he sneered down at Jack. "And you. Don't know why you're sticking your nose in my business. Again."

Oh. Sigh. Poor Valeyard. He had to track the Master down the hard way and that was never fun!

"And I do recall telling you to stay put. But you just never listen."

The Valeyard nodded his head towards the weirdly pulsing blue box behind the sofa. "So you had your fun. Let's go."