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The Master’s TARDIS signalled weakly – just a flicker of a control light, barely noticeable to anyone else but him, and certainly to the intruder. A smirk appeared on his lips. So the Doctor had decided to pay him a visit? Or maybe he was accompanied by his clever assistant. Little did they know that a warm welcome awaited them; the Master knew exactly how to lure nosy ones, and treat them in the best way possible. The best way indeed.
As quietly as he could, he traversed the corridor leading to the console room. He was calm, moving around his time machine almost instinctively, without conscious thinking. Upon reaching the room, he peeked from behind the door to see a petite silhouette roaming around, looking for something. He knew this person way better than he’d like – it was the Doctor’s fault for always dragging her around with him. Y/N L/N. Cute little human who often proved to be as annoying as she was clever.
Contrary to the Doctor, who found humans fascinating and worth saving, the Master really couldn’t care less.
He didn’t actually hate humans. Hating them would be as ridiculous as hating, let’s say, an insect crawling in your garden – too irrelevant to pay attention to, even if, while nasty or obnoxious, it might sometimes prove useful to your crops. But it might as well destroy them if you’re not careful. Life’s quite an unexpected journey, after all.
He stepped forward.
“Welcome, Miss L/N. Welcome! You shall be the closest witness to destruction of the Doctor’s precious Earth.”
She turned around, eyes both spiteful and terrified, lips parted slightly as if to speak. No sound left her mouth, though; she was frozen like a rabbit caught in the headlights. He smiled. Humans – useless, cute creatures who could only ever tremble before his might. He would somewhat miss them once the Earth was destroyed.
“Now,” he stepped up to her, and she took a step back. A chuckle escaped his throat. “Don’t make it difficult for both of us, Miss L/N. As long as you cooperate, you won’t be harmed.”
Silence. She was motionless like a statue.
“It’s not going to hurt. All I need you to do is”—he looked into her eyes, dark and clear like bottomless lakes—“obey me.”
This is when something changed. At first, he hadn’t noticed – just the tiniest twinkle of her irises, and he snapped back as if having touched a hot surface. Her lips curled upwards to show bare teeth. Foolish woman, had she seriously thought she’d be able to hypnotise him?
“Not so confident now, are we, Master.” Her voice was devoid of an actual sound, it melted into the silence and disappeared, leaving no trace in the Master’s ears.
“I see. So the Doctor has taught you a thing or two.”
“It wasn’t the Doctor.”
All hints of fear were gone. She was now standing upright, staring him straight in the eye, smiling, even. It was so absurd that the Master had forgotten anger and felt amazed instead.
And the amazement was more than enough to enrage him.
Closing the distance, he grabbed her harshly by the wrist and started dragging to the console. Then he pushed her head to the screen so that she was forced to look. “Don’t avert your gaze, Miss L/N. You might miss the last seconds of your beloved planet’s existence.”
She raised her hand to rest it on the Master’s. Her fingers were ice-cold.
“Can’t I look at you instead?”
He eased the grip on her hair, letting go. Slowly, she faced him, expression unreadable, then stepped up and pulled him down to her level. Something akin to a smirk danced on her lips as they hovered above his own.
“If the Earth is to be destroyed…” She was close, so close, he could feel her breath on his neck, their faces mere millimetres apart. “I’d rather not see it…”
He couldn’t look away. He didn’t want to look away. This wasn’t hypnosis but then, in this very moment, the Master felt almost like he was in someone’s powerful grip—
Familiar whooshing resounded loud in the console room.
The Master snapped back to reality. Y/N was smiling, smiling like she had been, and her other hand was resting on one of the levers.
“No!” He rushed to the controls, attempting to stop the takeoff, but to no avail. The screen went blank; Earth was left light-years behind, out of his destructive reach. “What have you done, you fool!”
She remained quiet, quietly smiling, smiling mysteriously. It enraged him to the point of wanting to hit her, just to get rid of that composed façade. If he hadn’t managed to destroy Earth this time, he could at least kill her, just out of spite, just to hurt the Doctor. But nothing happened.
He allowed himself to stop for a second, to clear his mind. Oh yes. Hurting the Doctor wasn’t such a bad idea after all, though he didn’t need to kill the girl. As long as she was here, in his grasp, the Master would always have the upper hand.
Who would’ve thought that humans happened to be so useful?
“Fine, Miss L/N,” he spoke finally, pressing a button on the console. “You’ve won this time. Just make sure you properly enjoy the rest of our little rendez-vous.”
She kept smiling.