trans_9 | Hybrid is for cars, not Time Ladies. [Closed]

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Hybrid is for cars, not Time Ladies. [Closed]

River's eyes slowly began to open, and oh, this felt familiar. Similar to that time she'd been drugged by Madame Kovarian. A sluggish feeling, a general feeling of drowsiness. Yup, she'd definitely been drugged. Again. Judging from her unfamiliar surroundings and her current state - handcuffed to a chair - she'd been kidnapped too. Ugh, what was it about her that just screamed 'kidnap me and brain wash me?' The last thing she remembered, she had been getting ready to do some exploring of the ventilation shafts and then - Nothing.

"I generally prefer to be the one doing the handcuffing. It's just not as fun this way." That's River for you. Even when in a potentially dangerous situation, she always had a cheeky remark or two up her sleeve. "Do I get to meet my captor?"

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"Personal business," the Doctor repeated. His eyes roamed over the Master's...current condition, plus handcuffs. "Master of the obvious, you! Very personal, I'd say."

He could leave the Master here for however long it took for him to figure out a way to free himself, as if that would teach him a lesson. Ignoring the fact that the Master was trying to burn holes right through his forehead, the Doctor pretended to inspect the armrest of his chair, picking at it with his nail and knowing that he'd have to try to get the story from River at some point, make sure she wasn't....damaged. It had probably been only a matter of time before the Master picked up what an annoyingly interesting woman River was and decided he wanted to know more, taking rather than just asking. He couldn't say he wasn't disappointed and angry at him.

After all this time between them. All those centuries. And here they were, back where they had been lives and faces and countless friends and enemies later!

The Master himself couldn't say he wasn't disappointed. Though not surprised that the Doctor seemed to think this was the perfect moment for a little hearts-to-hearts. Apparently he didn't feel this was humiliation enough.

Which was exactly why the Master wasn't going to admit humiliation at all. He leaned forward with a lazy, twisted smile. "Want all the juicy, sordid details, do you? Everything I got up to with your little wife?"

The corner of the Doctor's mouth twitched.

"Basically, yeah." He tried not to show his surprise at the word "wife". Of course he'd suspected. In fact he might have even accidentally proposed nights and nights ago in front of the TARDIS, although he had to admit he still wasn't quite sure if that counted. The Doctor had to fight to keep his face from looking interested despite himself even knowing full well that knowing the Master, the man hadn't simply asked and gotten a straight answer out of River.

"Why?" The Doctor asked simply. He could run down the list: why did he decide to do this when it looked like things could work out? Why bother when it was only a matter of time before he was found out? And so on and on and on.

Was that the faintest look of surprise on the Doctor's face? It was hard to tell, but the Master thought so. Certainly he'd be surprised at the knowledge of his impending death, and that was a secret the Master planned to keep for later.

For now he favored his dear, old enemy with a look of pure annoyance. "'Why' what?" he squinted. "Why here? Why now?" And then his expression turned sly again. "Why not you?"

It most certainly was the faintest look of surprise on his face. Of course the Master had to be sharp today and notice the look that wasn't supposed to be surprised, the Doctor frowning at him and knowing that frowning in disapproval or shaking fingers at him, even raising his voice, wouldn't do any good at all.

"I suppose all three at once," the Doctor said, not quite liking that look on the Master's face and realizing deep down he may have missed it in an odd sort of way. "Let's start with 'why now'."

"Why not now?" The Master shrugged as best he could, resting back in the chair in a faux display of comfort. It was painfully clear that the Doctor hadn't a clue what had happened here. He was digging fruitlessly, and the Master saw no reason not to mislead him.

"She's quite a looker, your wife." He liked casually dropping that little bomb. Yes, Doctor, the Master was up to something with your beloved. Something that obviously didn't require clothing. He had to be quite curious, didn't he?

"I can't say I pictured you as the type to care," the Doctor said primly, still struggling to adjust to the idea that one, he was apparently going to look forward to getting married in the future and maybe he had accidentally proposed to her.

Oddly enough, River hadn't breathed a word of that night since then. He wasn't sure why. Maybe she knew it was coming.

So did that mean he'd been married the last time he saw her alive, before the Library? It certainly put things into a new perspective! The Doctor squinted at the Master, trying to read him: the man looked for all intents and purposes like he meant to get hand-cuffed half-naked right where he was and maybe the Doctor ought to be jealous of it, too. The Doctor could say safely he wasn't. That one time a life ago was enough. Not exactly good memories. The Doctor tilted his head. So if the Master knew that, what else did he know? There was no possible way he could have picked up her trip to the Library from her head, right?

"Oh? About looks? About wives? Or about a good shag? I'd think Lucy'd be the obvious answer to all three."

The Master canted his head in turn, as if disappointed but not really surprised by the Doctor's failure to keep up.

"You do remember little Lucy, don't you? Remember the wonderful times we all shared?"

Ah, yes. Lucy. The Master's pet slash wife, as the Master himself probably saw her. The Doctor's lip curled. That poor, poor girl. Oh yes, he remembered he more than he cared to, right down to that glassy look on her face back on the Valiant, lost, and she hadn't even resisted being disarmed of the gun. He distinctly remembered a broken woman.

Another one of the Master's little victories, he supposed.

I remember she killed you. Twice. Actually once and a half if you want to get technical was on the top of the Doctor's tongue before he remembered this Master hadn't had that happen yet. He swallowed what he was going to say.

Instead he says, "Unfortunately, yes. I was surprised you would 'stoop'."

He rather liked stooping to human levels himself (mostly), but the Master was another beast entirely. If he didn't know better, he'd say the tone in the Master's voice was almost...fond? For a human?

The lip curl was enough to let the Master know his little reminder had hit home. A victory, indeed. And if he had his way with River, it'd be another girl broken.

He was only really warning the Doctor at all because he wanted him to know what was coming. It was no fun otherwise.

"'Stoop'?" The Master's eyebrows shot to the ceiling. "How on earth could I ever stoop where your precious humans are involved? After all, they are simply the pinnacle of perfection, according to you. My, to hear you talk, one couldn't do better than to whisk away a human companion to see the stars."

The Doctor sniffed. "I'd say it's loads better than trying to take over worlds." And yes, sometimes he might have some...well, to be fair unkind thoughts toward humanity, but generally they surprised him and reminded him all over again why he was so fond of them and so he liked to think their definitions of snooping were vastly differently. Incredibly different!

He can think of all sorts of ways the Master could "stoop" according to his own warped definition of it. After all, the man probably thought of them as overgrown apes. And he remembered seeing how Lucy was reacting around "Saxon". He'd had a year of being stuck on the Valiant to have an agonizing front row seat to his reign over Earth.

Things like that tended to leave a bad taste in your mouth.

"Did you find Lucy precious?" The Doctor blurted, intensely curious. He had to know.

The Master smiled an almost fond, reminiscent sort of smile. "You never did know how to have any real fun," he remarked. The implication, of course, being that Lucy had. At least in the beginning.

Before the Doctor ruined her.

The Doctor didn't seem to believe the Master. There was a difference between whatever warped idea of "fun" the man had and...if Lucy had meant anything to him at all. He hadn't given him a yes or a no if she was precious to him. Maybe it was an impossible thing to admit. But considering how long he'd been with the woman during that Year That Never Was, the Doctor thought there was something there, however twisted it was. Maybe he had cared for her.

Lucy had paid the price, unfortunately.

The Doctor hitched up the knees of his trousers, fussing with them as he got to his feet. He held up a little nail he'd picked up from his way in, letting the Master see it.

"'Fun' isn't twisting some poor woman the way you did. Or nosing your way and snooping at River." He walked over and set down the nail just out of reach of the Master's handcuffed hands. "I'm sure you can find a way out. It might even be fun."

The Master's lazy smile slipped away as the Doctor rose to his feet, his eyes following the progress of the nail and blazing in indignation.

"You're just going to leave me here?" he sputtered. Part of him was sure it was just as much for refusing to answer the Doctor's question, to open up, as much as it was what he'd done or hadn't done to River.

He'd rather rot here anyhow. The Doctor didn't deserve answers.

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Hybrid is for cars, not Time Ladies. [Closed]

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Cool if we wrap this up?

Sure! Also, Doctor, you suck <3<3