Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, a giant building existed. Invisible to anyone who, for any odd reason might pass by, it stood tall. Inside, there wasn't a single living being. It was eerily silent, fairly dusty, and rickety.

In one of its many circular rooms, with its doors locked and no windows, five cylinder glass chambers stood. They touched the ceiling from the floor and were large enough for a single person to stand in, with a bit of extra room to move around, though not much.

Other than that, there wasn't that much else in the room. Merely a few metal chairs at the edge of the room, and wires and tubes hanging from the ceiling connecting to the chambers.

The silence was suffocating…

Until several loud claps of thunder-like noise disturbed the peace throughout the room, followed by twenty-one separate flashes of light that looked like lightening. Five of the flashes lit up inside the five glass chambers, and a moment later, five very confused people stood in the chambers. On the outside, sixteen other strangers stood, disoriented at being deposited inside the strange room.

When their eyes met the five people inside the chambers, there were several shocked gasps and cries of 'Doctor!'

One woman, with a halo of blonde, curly hair and sinful red lips, stepped forward with surprise at the five people with their strange clothes and hands on the glass.

"Doctor...s?" She prompted, looking at them all.

Four of them seemed to recognise the woman and displayed a hint of sadness, but one with big-ish ears, at the very end of the row, didn't seem to know her.

"River," one of the men said.

He had a big chin, floppy hair, faint eyebrows, and was wearing a tweed suit and bowtie.

"Doctor, what's going on?" River asked him, putting her hand opposite where his own was on the glass.

"I'm not sure. Can’t say I like it, though. It should be impossible for most of us to be here right now, so I don’t know how we happen to be here Or, better yet, who brought us here," he trailed off at the end, his old, sad eyes roaming over the many faces watching the display.

"You think someone might have brought us here on purpose?" River inquired. 

"I don't know, yet," Eleven shrugged, "not much to go on."

"Hang on, what's going on?" Another woman asked.

She looked younger than River, with straight blonde hair and full lips.

River turned to the girl when neither of the people in the chambers answered.

"These are all the Doctor. Five different regenerations of them. You're their friends, but it seems someone has taken us all from our timelines to bring us to this exact place at this exact time. It should be impossible seeing as some of you could never be here," she explained as simply as she could.

"How can all of those be the Doc?" A man asked.

He was a lot older than most of the others and had grey hair. He pointed at one of the end chambers where a blonde woman stood wearing a long grey coat and short blue trousers.

She was scrunching her nose at the ceiling of the chamber where a fine grate prevented access ceiling. Upon examination, River noticed all of the chambers had grates above them. It didn’t bode well for any of them.

"I presume she hasn't told you yet. The Doctor is part of a race called the Time Lords. When they're dying, they regenerate. That means they can change their entire physical body to avoid death. These people in the chambers are all the Doctor," River explained.

"Remember when I told you I used to be a white-haired Scotsman?" The blonde woman, the Doctor, said to the man, looking away from the ceiling.

She then pointed towards a grumpy looking man in the chamber next to hers.

"No way," a girl, with black hair styled into space buns, gaped, "you weren't kiddin'."

"Nope."

"Anyway, I think we should all get introduced before figuring out how to get the Doctors free and getting out of here," River suggested with a friendly smile.

The others agreed and began telling everyone who they were and which Doctor they travelled with.

Only one of them didn’t introduce themselves, instead opting to lean against the Scottish Doctor’s chamber. She had crazy brown hair, bright blue eyes, and wore Victorian-like clothes. She looked disgusted at the entire idea of socialising with the others.

The Scottish Doctor - which the others had dubbed Twelve to make things easier - leaned against the chamber where she was.

“You’re not going to introduce yourself?” He asked, speaking for the first time.

“Why should I?” She asked back, her own Scottish accent audible.

“If we’re going to get out of here, you’re going to need to know their names,” Twelve replied.

“Not really. Anyway, I know some of their names. That there’s Comic Relief,” she pointed out a bald man stood next to a dark-skinned girl with fantastic hair and bright eyes. 

“Nardole,” Twelve corrected, rubbing his forehead as if he had a headache.

“And that’s Thing One.”

“Bill.”

“And that’s The One Whose Boyfriend I Turned into a Cyberman.”

“Her name is Clara,” Twelve sighed. “Missy, you can’t just give them nicknames.”

“I can do what I want, Doctor Who,” Missy grinned and gave a mock wink.

Suddenly, all of the Doctors and Missy straightened up, alert, looking around as if they could hear or sense something the others couldn’t. Their eyes trailed to the ceiling and for a second, there was absolute silence, until Thirteen broke it.

”Cam you hear that?” She muttered.

The other Doctors nodded, as did Missy.

The wires connected to the chambers rattled a bit and then there was a hissing noise. Thin, white smoke filtered into the chambers from the bottom, causing the Doctors to choke in defiance to the gas entering their lungs.

Ten and Nine both fell to their knees whilst the others leaned against the glass, barely keeping themselves upright.

“Doctor!” A redheaded woman, Amy Pond, exclaimed in shock.

She ran forward and knelt in front of Eleven, who was using the crook of his arm to shield his mouth and nose from the gas.

“Someone do something!" She ordered the others desperately.

River rushed over to the wires and tubes connected to the bottom of chambers and started pulling on them, hoping to disconnect them. It didn’t work, no matter how hard she tried.

Nardole sidled up to Missy, panic in her eyes.

“Have you got your umbrella?” He asked, his voice high pitched and panicked. 

“Do I look like I’ve got my umbrella?” She snapped with annoyance, her eyes staying glued on the Doctor’s.

Nardole backed away quickly and re-joined Bill, who looked horrified at the display before them all.

Then there was a sudden silence, the room devoid of the sound of hissing. The gas was slowly dissipating through the grates, leaving the others with a clear view of the Doctors, knelt on the floor, their arms covering their noses and mouths.

Neither of them were making any noise now that the gas was gone. They stayed frozen in place, though, eyes half-open and breathing heavily through the fabric of their sleeves. 

Amy turned to River who was wide-eyed at the sight of her spouse.

"What do we do, River? You and him always have a plan, so what do we do?” She demanded, tears in her own eyes.

Rory stepped forward and put a hand on her upper arm in comfort.

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly, voice heavy with emotions that neither Rory nor Amy could understand.

Thirteen slumped forwards, falling to the floor in a heap with her eyes closed. Nine followed suit, joining her in the land of slumber, as did Ten, then Eleven. The only one who remained conscious was Twelve. He fought off the overwhelming sense of exhaustion, knowing nothing good could come out of it.

Clara rushed forward, standing in front of his chamber, her eyes big and sad.

“Don’t fight it, Doctor,” she told him. “I know you want to, I know nothing good can come from this, but you have to let it take you. Your other selves are okay, see? You’ll be fine. You’ve got us.”

Twelve watched her through heavy lidded eyes, then slowly allowed himself to fall to the floor and close his eyes.

When it was clear he was unconscious, Clara leant her forehead on the glass, her eyes slipping closed as a sigh escaped her and a tear slipped passed her closed eyes.

River stepped forward and knelt beside her, placing a comforting hand on her back.

Chapter Text

River paced back and forth, trying to come up with a plan on how to get out of there. With the Doctors unconscious, the duty of escape was left to her. And maybe Missy, but she wasn't exactly the most sane, so she couldn't be trusted. And even then, she'd spent the better part of the two hours they'd been there insulting everyone.

The rest of the Doctors' companions were trying their hardest, but they couldn't find a way to get out either. She'd left Nardole and Bill to watch over the Doctors and inform her if anything happened or if they awoke. She wasn't sure exactly what had been pumped into their chambers, but whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Especially because it had been strong enough to send all five of them unconscious. 

It was as she was pacing back and forth that she noticed something on the floor. It was small, almost completely concealed, but she had spotted it. Creeping closer, she was able to get a better look at it. It looked almost like a valve. Metal and a bit rusty with peeling, dark green paint. She couldn't see where it led to, but it had been quite well hidden in the corner, so it had to be useful, River deduced.

"What's that?" Donna asked, coming up to her, having noticed she'd stopped pacing to look at the valve. 

River quickly gave her a once over. Whoever had brought them here had not only apparently brought Rose back from Pete's world, but they'd also restored Donna's memories without her brain burning up. For some reason, Donna's granddad, Wilf, was there, too. River assumed it was because the Doctor trusted him, and they were friends. They'd been through a lot, from what she'd heard, even if they hadn't travelled together. The Doctor had given his life for Wilf. 

"It's a valve. I'm not sure where it leads or what it does," River told her.

"Best not use it then, eh?" Donna guessed wisely. 

"Yeah," River sighed.

The whole situation was making her head hurt. There were no patterns, nothing connecting together. It was obvious, though, that someone wanted the Doctors, however, the reason why was lost on her. And why everyone else present had been dragged into it was a mystery in and of itself.

Someone called her name and she and Donna stood up from the valve. Turning around, she noticed Nardole calling her over.

Stepping away from Donna and over to her old friend, she looked at the Doctor he was stood next to. Bill was crouched next to Twelve.

"What is it, Nardole?" She questioned.

"I think Ten is waking up," Nardole told her, gesturing to the floppy-haired man with sandshoes.

River looked at him and noticed his breathing was picking up and he seemed to be moving. He grunted then slowly blinked open his eyes, looking around. When he noticed he was still in the chamber, he grunted again and made an effort of getting up. River wanted to help him as he looked like he was in pain, but with the chambers keeping them apart, she couldn't do anything but watch.

When he was up, he leaned his back heavily on the chamber for support, but somehow made it look casual.

"Still in here, then?" He asked with an eye-roll.

"I'm afraid so. But we're working on it," River reassured him.

Ten nodded his head, but it seemed like he wanted to say something more.

"How long have we been out?" He then asked, gesturing to the other Doctor's.

"Couple hours, I think. It's hard to tell when there are no windows," River said.

"Woah!" A voice shouted from her right. River looked over quickly to see Thirteen stumbling up into a standing position.

Thirteen's current travelling companions rushed over to her, asking if she was okay ('of course I am, I'm the King of Okay- Queen'), and what had happened ('not sure, but it wasn't very nice'), etc. River resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her childlike personality this go around.

Slowly, one by one, the remaining Doctor's groaned and began to wake up. Following Thirteen was Nine, who Rose and Jack ran over to, then Eleven who had Amy and Rory by his side, and finally Twelve who had Bill, Nardole, and Clara. Each Doctor looked confused by what had happened and what the gas was, but they made a point of not wanting to talk about it until they'd had time to go over it in their heads.

Reluctantly the companions left the Doctors be and tried to ignore the hushed conversations the Doctors were having amongst themselves.

River called Missy and Nardole over to the valve in hopes that the two might be able to help her figure out what it was. Missy immediately suggested turning it but was written off by both Nardole and River. They didn't know what it did and they couldn't risk hurting the Doctors or anyone else for that matter. 

"So what do you suggest we do, half-breed?" Missy hissed angrily, the insult coming out like it was second nature.

Nardole squeaked in fear, looking between the two.

"What did you just call me?" River demanded, an expression of stone-cold anger on her face.

"You heard me. You're an insult to all Time Lords out there. Your parents aren't even Gallifreyan," Missy said, a disgusted grimace on her face.

"I think you should stop now, Miss," Nardole suggested, carefully watching River in the meantime.

"Yet the Doctor married me anyway," River said with a mocking smile. Missy's smug expression changed from disgust to one of anger and slight jealousy.

"Only because you tore all of reality apart," Missy stated without hesitation.

"So he didn't tell you about the other weddings, then?" River casually asked, pretending to examine her nails. "Or the twenty-four years on Darillium we spent being domestic?"

"Ladies..." Nardole tried when Missy took a step forward. River glanced away from her nails to look Missy in the eye.

"He really must have pitied you. He knew you were going to die the entire time you were gallivanting around the universe, so he tried to make it up to you by marrying you and playing happy familes," Missy hissed.

"Even if that were true, he had you locked in a vault for seventy years and not once did he show you the slightest bit of interest. Not in the way you wanted anyway," River grinned, "he could never live up to your sick fantasies."

The room was oddly silent and both Missy and River glanced away from each other for a moment to take in all the pairs of eyes staring at them in confusion and shock. Nardole looked like he might wet himself any second. And who wouldn't, when the woman who killed the Doctor and the self-proclaimed Queen of Evil were arguing.

Casting a quick look at Missy who was grinning like a Cheshire Cat, River walked away and leaned against the wall near the Doctors' chambers. Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen looked at her, but she refused to meet their eyes, instead focusing on the floor.

Getting into petty arguments like that wasn't like her, and she wondered what had come over her. Maybe the whole 'being trapped' situation was getting to her. After all, she had spent most of her life trapped. If she wasn't trapped inside a spacesuit, or under Kovarian's care, then she was trapped in Stormcage for twelve-thousand consecutive life sentences.

From the corner of her eye, River saw Missy move to sit on a chair in the corner of the room. She looked smug. Like she had won a war.

"What was that?" Eleven asked her, turning around in his chamber so he could see her.

"I don't know," River admitted, "she called me a 'half-breed', I guess I just lost my temper."

"You shouldn't listen to a thing she says. You know what she's like," Eleven reassured her with a frown.

"I do, but it's not like me to retaliate," River huffed, running a hand through her curly hair.

"What was that?" Nine spoke up, looking at the ceiling.

River and Eleven stopped their conversation and turned to him at the end of the row of chambers, as did everyone else.

"What was what?" Jack asked, stepping up to his chamber, followed by Rose.

"That noise. Did none of you hear it? Seriously?" He asked, noting all of their confused expressions. Some shook their head, others looked at each other in confusion. "How could you have not heard that?"

By now, his other selves were also looking at him with worry and befuddlement. They obviously hadn't heard it either, not even with their superior hearing.

"I may not have heard whatever you did, but what is that?" Ten murmured curiously, crouching down and looking at a blank spot on the floor.

There was nothing there. 

"There's nothing there, Doctor," Martha stated gently, crouching down in front of him. Ten looked away, but only because she had crouched down in front of whatever it was.

"Yes, there is, you're crouched in front of it," Ten said with determination.

River walked around the chambers, watching all of the Doctors carefully, taking in each of their expressions, where they were looking, any odd movements, etc. By the time she had reached Nine and gone back to Thirteen, she had pretty much figured it out.

The way Thirteen was looking over her hands and feeling her face as if there was something there that she could see or feel, the way Twelve was looking around the room, following something with his eye, the way Eleven was looking up at the ceiling of his chamber with wide-eyed fear.

"They're hallucinating," River stated, stopping in front of Twelve's chamber. "Whatever that gas was, it's making them hallucinate."

Just then, a terrified sob ripped through the air and all eyes landed on Thirteen who was crouched down at the bottom of her chamber, head on her knees and arms wrapped around them. Even the other Doctors didn't seem to know what to do.

"No, no, no, no, no," Thirteen covered her head with her arms, shuffling even further back, though there was hardly anywhere to go. "Get away from me. Leave me alone. Please! No!"

Thirteen threw herself to her feet and pushed herself flat against the glass, backing away from an unseen predator. River didn't want to know what it was that she was seeing. Didn't want to see what it was that scared the Doctor.

"What's happenin' to her?" Graham demanded, rushing up to the chamber.

"She's hallucinating. They all are," River explained, forcing a sense of calm into her body.

The Doctors' companions were undoubtedly scared at the sight of their dauntless friend losing control so easily in front of them. They needed someone they could rely on, someone who could get them all out of there safely.

"Hallucinating?" Wilf spoke up, aged eyes wide with concern for the person he saw as his own son.

"So, that gas is some kind of hallucinogenic," Jack deduced as he stepped closer to the Ninth Doctor's chamber.

"It seems that way," River pursed her lips with worry.

"I guess breaking them out of there is off the list then," Jack continued, "not until we're sure the gas isn't still being administered, anyway."

"Unfortunately. But we still need to figure a way out of here before they get any worse," River said with determination.

"An' how do we do that?" Rose demanded, crouching in front of Nine.

River didn't know what he was hallucinating- he wasn't giving any clues in his behaviour- but she knew it must be horrific given his deer-in-headlights look. He was trembling like a leaf, curled up on the bottom of his chamber, looking around at things neither she or the others could see.

"We need to get them out," Wilf frowned, watching Ten.

The man had only personally known Ten, none of their other faces. If there was one thing he knew, though, whatever the Doctor had done in the past- it had been and gone. The Doctor was the best man (or woman( he had ever known. Even when given a gun and the chance to end all of his problems, he simply chose to use the gun in a non-harmful way- even when the cause of his problems was at the end of the barrel.

"And we will, but first we need to find a way out of here, though we don't exactly have a wide variety of tools at our disposal," Jack pointed out.

River and Missy had forgotten their argument and were determinedly pacing back and forth in front of them all. Jack was right. They hardly had anything at their disposal, only a few chairs, the thick tubes connected to the chambers, and a bunch of other useless junk.

She and Missy were both going through the problem at hand, though, and thinking of a variety of solutions as they went. Occasionally their eyes would flitter over to the valve on the floor in the corner, but they quickly went back to pacing.

"Shh!" Missy hissed in annoyance to Jack, holding up a finger and continuing to pace.

Jack rolled his eyes but did as she said.

She stopped in front of one of the chambers, the one holding Twelve, and tapped it.

She turned to River seriously, "do we know what this is made out of? I know whoever has done this isn't stupid enough to simply make it out of glass." 

"I'm not sure. I hadn't thought about it until now. Do you think we can just... smash it?" River asked, coming to a stop next to Missy.

"I doubt it, but it's worth a try. If it doesn't break straight away, we don't continue it. We can't risk them going into more of a frenzy than they are now," Missy decided with a nod.

"What do we use?" River asked, looking around. "We could use one of the chairs?"

"It's the best we've got," Missy agreed.

Hearing the conversation, Ryan, who was already stood near a chair, immediately grabbed it and passed it to Missy in his eagerness to help the Doctors. She gave a brief smile that didn't look completely genuine, and Ryan nodded slightly in response.

"Which one?" Missy asked River, eyeing each of the Doctors. 

It was obvious they were all in their own personal hell, but the decision on which Doctors' chamber to abuse with the chair was hard. Their reaction to the loud noise and the proximity of it would definitely be bad, but who would react the least?

River looked at all of the Doctor's and finally decided on Twelve. Whilst he looked about as bad as his other regenerations, she believed he might not react so wildly as the others.

"I think Twelve," River said quietly, already doubting their entire half-formed plan. Missy hadn't even gone through with it yet, but she could just imagine the Doctors' reactions. 

Before she could tell Missy not to do it, the madwoman had already grinned and swung the chair back. She brought it forward with surprising strength for her slender, feminine form. A loud bang reverberated throughout the room, echoing for a small second before fading to give way to the frightened yelps and shouts from each of the Doctors- especially Twelve.

The Twelfth Doctor threw himself back against one side of the cylinder chamber, scrambling away from where Missy had hit it. His wild eyes looked straight at Missy, but it was like he couldn't see her at all.

The fact that Missy then continued aggressively beating the chamber didn't make things any better. She grunted with each swing at the glass-like chamber, but it didn't budge. The only thing it succeeded in doing was scaring the Doctors. Their faces were as pale as a sheet, and she was sure Nine was on the verge of passing out if she continued.

"Missy! Miss! Missy, stop!" Nardole ordered, everyone else too shocked to do anything. Even River was unsure of what she should do.

In a spur of bravery, Nardole rushed forward and grabbed her arms, barely missing getting hit in the head with the metal chair. With her mostly restrained, Jack rushed forward to help.

Together, the pair started pulling her back away from the chambers. She didn't resist much, only the odd insult and pull here and there. The chair clattered to the ground when Yaz took it from her hands and put it back in its place.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" River snapped at the madwoman. "Do you want to scare them into their next regeneration?"

"They've never had much finesse. It might be an improvement on their previous regenerations," Missy grinned, pulling away from Jack and Nardole. "Anyway, I was getting somewhere. Look, I've dented it."

She stalked forward and pointed a painted nail at Twelve's chamber where, true to her word, there was a small dent. It wasn't much, but it was something. Of course, they couldn't continue using the chair to smash the chamber anyway- not unless they wanted to frighten the Doctors to death.

"I know what you're thinking. And you're right," Missy said with a sigh, eyeing the dent, "luckily for us, though, I've figured out what it's made of." 

"What is it?" River asked curiously.

"I'm not sure exactly what it's called, but it is glass. Only, it's palladium-based," Missy said, "metallic glass." 

"Can it be broken?"

"Of course. Everything can be broken."

"So, how do we do it?"

"It'd take too long to break it with brute force and we don't have that much time. It's stronger than steel. We need to figure out how to get the Doctors out without going through the glass," Miss stated, starting up her pacing again. A finger flew to her lips, deep in thought.

It didn't take long before she stopped in her tracks and turned to the closest chamber to her (Ten's) and looked at the ceiling of it. There was a small vent above it where the hallucinogenic gas had been filtered through.

"These vents," Missy said, drawing everyone's attention, "they must lead somewhere. Maybe we can find a way to get the Doctors out through them. Of course, we'll have to find a way inside first, meaning we need to escape."

"Back to the escape plan then," Nardole said with a sigh.

"This was always an escape plan to begin with, egg man," Missy snapped, still annoyed at the man-handling, "whether it's us escaping or the Doctors."

"Sorry," Nardole muttered.

"The door- it's locked, yes?" Missy said, moving her attention to the grey, metal door that Clara had tried opening earlier.

"Yeah," Clara confirmed, "do you think you can get it open?"

"Of course," Missy said confidently.

If there was anything she was good at, it was escaping. Even if it meant opening a door with nothing but the limited items in the room she was currently in.

Missy scanned the room with her eyes, taking in all of the items at her disposal. It looked like a plan was already beginning to form in her mind and River couldn't help but be secretly relieved that Missy had been brought along for the ride, too. The mind of a Time Lord was something one would need if they wanted to escape, well, anywhere. 

With a smile slowly starting to form, Missy grabbed a bunch of items, dragged them to a corner and sat down with demands that she not be disturbed for the next two to three hours.

Chapter Text

He was back on Darillium. He thought he'd already been there, but apparently not. Maybe it had all been a dream. Then again, maybe not.

A voice was calling him. It sounded like they were underwater, all muffled and weird feeling, but he could just make out what they were saying... "sweetie."

Then there was the sound of a laser weapon firing off, followed swiftly by the familiar ringing that came with regeneration. Then more lasers. And screams. 

He had to be careful of the shadows. They were alive. In a way. Even slightly touching them would kill you. But how could he avoid the shadows if they were surrounding him?

What was that noise? Someone yelling his name? Doctor, Doctor, Doctor! They were male, but like before, it all sounded... muffled. No matter how loud they shouted, it always sounded quiet.

He could hear breathing. Loud. Deafening. Then a horrible drumming noise that he knew wasn't his own. The sound came from a friend long lost. But they weren't lost. Were they?

She had no idea what was going on. One minute she'd been listening to a distant hissing noise coming from the vent in her chamber, surrounded by her past selves, then she'd passed out, and when she'd woken up again, she'd found it hard to concentrate on what her friends were saying.

A noise. Coming from her left. She could hear her friends, too, but the noise... the noise was so much louder. And closer. And screeching. What was that noise? 

There was a scuttling. In her chamber. Something was in her chamber with her. On the floor- no, the walls. The ceiling? It didn't matter because it was closing in on her and she needed to get away. Exactly five minutes to escape. Probably. She could do it.

Something was touching her. The previous threat long forgotten. She snatched her hand away, eyes looking wildly around. What had touched her? Something with cold fingers. Cold, cold, cold.

It was repetitive. That same, constant threat being screeched from all around him. It had haunted his dreams for millennia, and now it was a reality. Or was it? Yes, yes, it was real. It felt real so it must be. Really real. One-hundred percent real. He thinks.

The screeching, it was getting closer. He could hear it. Gaining upon him. Surrounding him. There was no escape. Not this time. He was well and truly trapped. In a way, it was fitting that those monsters were how the famous Last of The Time Lords would die. 

By their... hand? With that infamous victory yell of "exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" Yes. That's how he would die. One day. But not today. Not if he can help it.

Chapter Text

"You really believe she'll be able to get them out of there?" A male voice inquired incredulously as he and a few others peered at a large screen. 

"Of course I do. She's us, we're her," one of the other men replied. He folded one arm across his chest and rested his elbow on it as he put a finger to his chin. 

"You're right. But there's something off about us," another spoke, leaning on the table the screen was above. He watched as, on the screen, the object of their desires fiddled with wires and metal. 

"And what would that be?" The first male demanded. 

"She hasn't tried to kill anyone yet. Is she really us?"

"Well, there was that argument with that other woman..." 

"Perhaps she's playing the long game?" Suggested one of the men. "It certainly wouldn't be the first time we've done it." 

"You're right."

"I know I am. We always are," the man replied, a light smirk gracing his features. 

He turned away from the machine to glance behind them all where, in a row, five police boxes stood, wheezing painfully. One of the police boxes had larger windows than the others and looked a lot... bluer. 

"You really think this will hold up?" Questioned the man, turning to one of the other men with a round face. 

"I know it will. I've done it before," he said but didn't elaborate further. The previous man looked a little doubtful, but decided to put full trust in the other man and nodded slowly, casting a final glance at the police boxes.

Missy was still working on getting them out of there whilst the others slept. They were only human, after all, and spent half of their lifetime sleeping. Missy, being a Time Lady, barely needed sleep. She still had at least another month before she had to do so. 

Unfortunately for the Doctors, they were also Time Lords which meant they also rarely slept and were still being subjected to whatever horrors they could see. A large part of Missy just wanted to get out of the stupid room she was in and back to her own timeline, but another, much smaller part of her wanted to make sure the Doctor's were okay and comfort them. If they'd allow it.

Every now and then, one of the Doctors would mutter or whisper something so softly that Missy could barely hear it, but one thing was clear- they were terrified. Missy may have been friends with the Doctor for millennia, but she had never seen or heard them so scared before in all her faces. 

Despite the hearts breaking pleads for it to stop from the five Doctors, however, Missy kept her head down and focused on what she was doing. There would be a lot of disapproval from the Doctors' pets, but there wasn't much she could do. It was either build a weapon capable of breaking them out of there in order to save the Doctors, or remain confined to the same room for only Rassilon knows how long. She knew which option she would choose. 

It was as she was connecting some of the last wires, she heard of the Doctors (Thirteen) say something. The muttered word was a lot clearer than anything else she or the others had said in the past hour or so, so Missy lifted her head up and turned to look at the blonde curled up on the floor. Her eyes were half-lidded and her mouth was slightly agape, but Missy knew she was looking at her. 

For a moment, Missy considered continuing with her work and leaving the female Doctor to whatever gas-induced hallucination she was having, but she froze and her hearts fluttered when the Doctor lifted a hand with what looked like extreme effort and placed it on the glass chamber. 

A strong urge told her to stay where she was, to continue building the weapon, but she hesitantly pushed it down and stood up. Pulling her skirts up and stepping over the mess she'd made, Missy made her way over to the Thirteenth Doctor's prison and knelt down in front of it. 

"Missy?" The female Doctor breathed with exhaustion. "Are you real?"

"Yes, Doctor. It's really me, Missy," Missy answered with a small smile. She placed her hand on the chamber opposite the Doctor's own hand. 

"What's going on? Is this your doing?" The Doctor demanded, trying and failing to sound strong.

Hurt welled up in Missy at the accusation that everything happening was her fault, and it took everything in her not to snap at the Doctor and bring the chair back for another round of baseball with the chamber. 

"No. It's not my fault, Doctor," Missy said instead. "How much do you remember?" She asked after a while of laboured breathing from Thirteen.

"Not much," she admitted slowly, frowning at Missy. "Where's your hat? The one with the fruit?" The Doctor suddenly asked, cutting Missy off. "I'm hungry," she then said, "have you got any custard creams? I want some." 

"No, I haven't got any custard creams, Doctor," Missy rolled her eyes, barely resisting the urge to huff. 

"Shame. I really want some," the Doctor moaned, looking distantly at the vent above her. "There's no stars, Missy. We were going to see the stars, weren't we? Theta and Koschei, in a TARDIS, seeing the stars," she grinned. Missy nodded even though the Doctor couldn't see her. "It would have taken forever to see all the stars in the universe, but I didn't care. As long as I was with you, that didn't matter to me."

Missy was unsure of what to say, so she silently watched the Doctor reach for the ceiling of her chamber, as if reaching for stars that weren't there, even in her hallucination. 

Out of nowhere, the Doctor started crying and suddenly found the energy to cover her face with her arm. Unused to this display of emotions, even from the Doctor, Missy spluttered uselessly, looking around and hoping one of the others would wake up and comfort the Doctor. There was no luck. All she got was a snore from Graham.

"I'm scared, Kos," the Doctor admitted quietly, "I really don't know what to do. The Daleks are coming and we're trapped. We're going to die. We won't even regenerate."

"Theta," Missy started carefully, the name sounding so foreign yet familiar on her tongue, "how old are you?"

"What a silly question at a time like this, Koschei," the Doctor responded, sounding more and more panicked.

"Just tell me," Missy demanded with the beginnings of tears in her eyes. She didn't know why she was crying, but she was. 

"I'm one hundred and nine. And I'm going to die," the Doctor cried, hiccuping. 

For a moment Missy almost forgot to breathe, but she came back to reality with a big, gasping breath and a hand flying to her chest. She could almost see what the Doctor was experiencing in her own mind, the memory of their shared traumatic experience hazy and almost out of reach unless she tried.

The fear of something like that, of staring down the eyestalk of one of her races' biggest enemy at the mere age of one hundred and nine was something that never truly went away, even as the memory began to fade. No matter how old she grew, or how many terrifying things she experienced as she went on her own adventures across the universe, and certainly no matter how many people of her own she killed, her kill count almost rivalling the Daleks' themselves, the horror of being backed into a corner with her best friend and staring death right in the face was hidden deep inside her, rooted in the darkest corners of her mind. 

And clearly the same could be said for the Doctor. 

"I'm sorry, Thete. I really am. I'm so sorry," she apologised and quickly wiped away her tears with trembling hands. 

"Why are you sorry? Koschei? Koschei?! Please, Kos! Koschei!" Thirteen cried in hysterics.

Missy ignored her and focused on controlling her own breathing. Then she quickly stood up, still breathing heavily, and stomped over to her almost finished device, barely ignoring Thirteen's desperate cries. She snatched the device up, placed it on her lap, and set about connecting the last wires and outer casing. It was fiddly with her shaking hands, but she managed to connect it and used a small bit of broken off metal to tighten the screws she'd stolen from the chairs.

Pointing the finished device at one of the unoccupied chairs, she stalled her breath and pressed the trigger. It was with great relief, a bolt of red laser erupted from the end of the weapon and disintegrated the chair. A sly grin spread across her face when she watched a couple of the humans jerk in surprise and fall off the chairs.

"What the hell?!" Jack exclaimed, staring at her in surprise. "Is that a disintegrator?" 

"Of course," she nodded, pleased with herself, "and our way out."

As the companions watched, she aimed the disintegrator at the exit and fired it, watching with satisfaction as a bolt shot out and hit the door right in the centre. 

But, for a moment, nothing happened. The disintegration ray had definitely fired at the door, but it stood still, undeterred by anything. Missy was ready to start kicking the door down in anger, and she surely would have, if she hadn't felt the small vibrations. 

The vibrating would have been unnoticeable to the humans in the room, but as she wasn't human and could feel and sense things they couldn't, she clearly felt it. It was minute, barely noticeable to even her, but it was definitely there. She eyed the door, the few humans that were awake watching with her in anticipation.

All of a sudden, with a reaction too delayed, the door exploded into dust, leaving a gaping hole where it had once stood proudly. Missy had never been so happy to see an open doorway in her entire life. The humans waking up the rest of their friends in relief barely phased her as she stepped cautiously towards the doorway, feeling that everything had been almost too easy. 

As the Doctor's friends began to wake up, she stepped up to the large doorway leading to a bland hallway and tentatively passed a hand through it. Nothing happened and she gained the confidence to step through it fully, the disintegrator still tightly gripped in her hand. 

She could sense the humans stood behind her anxiously as she tapped her foot experimentally on the ground, then waved her arms a bit to be sure there was nothing stopping her from exiting the room.

"It's safe," she called to the Doctors' friends.

A few sighs of relief left them and she could, for the first time, say she related to them.

"We need to find out where the vents are connected to. Then we can shut off the hallucinogenic gad and get the Doctors out through there," she continued and turned to see some of the companions lingering in the hallway with her.

She was unused to being in charge of anyone without hypnotising them, but she supposed she liked it. Maybe that was why the Doctor always took people with them.

"Right then," she said, suddenly feeling particularly awkward with everyone looking at her and waiting for her orders. In the background, she could see Nardole looking at her with a shit-eating grin. She'd have to remember to disassemble him later on. "There's a door down there. Let's go." 

With that said, she led the way down the hallway to the only door in sight. She amused herself, as she opened the door, with the thought that the way everyone was following her reminded her of lost Earth puppies. Waiting for orders or to be fed at exactly six-am every morning. 

Through the door was another corridor. This one was a lot bigger and had several more doors, all identical-looking except for the signs on them. A few of them only had numbers on them that didn't mean much to anyone. Others had words such as 'Paradox' and 'Hallucinogens', and 'Control room'. 

It took only a few seconds for Missy to understand what the purpose of them was. The 'Paradox' room was clearly there for the purpose of sustaining the paradox of them all being there at the same time, whilst the 'Hallucinogens' room must be the room dishing out the hallucinogenic gas to the Doctors. The 'Control room' was pretty self-explanatory that even the humans behind her could understand it, Missy mused. 

Striding up to the 'Hallucinogens' room, Missy opened the door and brandished her disintegrator. She stepped inside, aiming her weapon around just in case. When there was no sign of anyone, she lowered it. In the centre of the dimly lit room was a large tank containing a gas, not unlike the one the Doctors had been subjected to a few hours ago. On top of the tank, five separate tubes protruded from it, ran across the room, up the walls, and into metal gratings. The gas was flowing through them. 

"Nardole, do you think you could find a way to turn this off? Stop the gas getting to the Doctors?" Missy asked, turning to the bald man eyeing the tank. 

"Why me?" He squeaked, looking up. 

"Because I asked you to. And I believe you're the only one here that's capable," Missy said, none-too-subtly looking at the others with distaste. 

Nardole huffed loudly.

"I guess I could," he agreed and started examining the container, the wires, and the tubes. 

"Once he's finished, I need one person to go through the vents and bring back their assigned Doctor. Think you can handle that?" Missy grinned. There were some nods whilst the others looked at the vents on the walls and reluctantly agreed. "Good," Missy said and turned back to the door. 

"Wait," someone said, stepping in front of her. Missy rolled her eyes.

"What?" She demanded of the short-haired brunette in front of her. 

"What are you gonna do while we're doing all of this?" Clara asked suspiciously.

"Does it matter?" Missy retorted with a raised eyebrow.

She'd never liked Clara. She was only made sort of tolerable when her boyfriend had been turned into a Cyberman. Well, even then... 

"Yes. Where are you going?" Clara questioned, arms folded. 

Missy sighed dramatically and pointed at the door behind Clara on the opposite side of the corridor. "I'm going to the control room. Is that okay with you, your Highness?" Missy snarked with a glare at Clara. 

"Oh. Right, yeah. Sorry. But why are you going to the control room? What's there?"

"I don't know yet. That's why I'm going." 

"Oh. Okay. Do you, uh, do you want some help?" Clara awkwardly asked.

"No," Missy denied, a feeling of disgust at the concept of accepting help from her brewing. 

"Okay, well, go ahead then," Clara said and stepped out of the doorway to let Missy passed.

With a raised eyebrow, Missy stepped out into the corridor and quickly crossed it until she was stood in front of the door that read 'Control room'. 

With a look back at the room she'd come from where she could see the Doctors companions discussing who would go and collect their Doctors, Missy reached for the handle and opened the door to the control room. 

The room was dark, only lit up by the glow of a large TV on the wall. On the screen was what looked to be live footage of the room she and the others had just come from. She could see the Doctors were still where she had left them, writhing in emotional agony at their hallucinations. The only other light being emitted was from five blue police boxes with lights on top and white windows.

Missy's hearts leapt up into her throat at the sight of the police boxes, and then they just about broke at the noises the TARDISes were making. They were in pain. Either in sympathy for their Doctors or for whatever had been done to them.

Suddenly, the room was fully illuminated the lights on the ceiling burst with bright light. Missy squinted her eyes for a second and when she'd adjusted to the sudden light, she turned around to the door she'd come through, only to find it closed and being blocked by someone. Several people, actually. 

If her day had been weird to begin with, what she was seeing now certainly topped the cake. 

"Hello, Missy. We're the Master, and we're very worried about our future."

Chapter Text

It was as Nardole was working on stopping the gas from being administered to the Doctors, that he noticed a distinct lack of insults being thrown his way. He looked up and scanned the room with his eyes, a frown heavy on his face and a feeling of unusual dread welling in the pit of his... well, not stomach. Whatever the Doctor had used to replace it.

He was right to be worried, he realised as he stood up straight and took a step away from the tank. Someone was missing. One of the worst people that could have disappeared at a time like that.

"Where's Missy?" He demanded of everyone, scanning the room once more and hoping his eyes were deceiving him.

"Uh, she went to the control room," Clara answered him. "Do you want me to go and get her?" 

"Why did you let her leave? She can't be trusted," Nardole said in his most 'I babysit Time Lord's for a living' voice. 

"She only left a few minutes ago," Clara retorted, "she's in there," she continued, pointing at a closed-door across the hallway.

"You lot stay here, I'm going to get her," Nardole stated and squeezed passed some of the Doctor's companions to leave the room. 

With determined expression set on his face, Nardole crossed the hallway and walked up to the control room. He raised a fist and rapped heavily on the door with a "miss? Are you in there?"

It warranted no response so he sighed and clasped the handle, pushing it down to open the door. He had barely pushed it open an inch when it was forcefully pulled open, making his hand slip off the handle. He startled and took an immediate step away from the door in alarm.

The sight in the doorway could only conjure up a horrifying stammer from Nardole as he shuffled back even further. 

"M-Missy, what is this?" Nardole stuttered, pointing between her and the Master's behind her. 

"This?" She asked nonchalantly, waving a hand as if they were merely chatting over tea. "This, egg man, is a revolution."

She grinned viciously as the men flanking her, her past selves he noticed with growing dread, mimicked the terrifying smile.

"Revolution?" Nardole repeated in fear. 

"Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration," she admitted. Suddenly, Missy's hand-made disintegrator was pointed at his face, right between the eyes. Nardole couldn't help staring at it, making him go cross-eyed. 

One of the Masters, with a greying goatee that Nardole recognised at the first Master, stepped around Missy until he was stood beside Nardole who didn't take his eye off the weapon still aimed at him.

"I am the Master, and you will obey me... Now, take me to the Doctors," he ordered.

Nardole, as much as his mind told him not to, readily nodded his head and gestured shakily down the hallway in the direction of the Doctors.

"Gather the humans," the Master demanded of a couple other Masters. "And you," he said to Missy who eyed him warily, "with us. We still don't trust you yet."

Missy nodded silently and eyed the hallway, ordering Nardole to get moving. Nardole started down the hallway, listening to the protests begin from the hallucinogenic room. He only prayed that either Missy was on their side still, or he could find a way to free the Doctors without anyone getting harmed in the process.

When Nardole and the select few Masters who hadn't gone to collect the Doctors' friends made it to the room, Nardole was made to sit on one of the chairs with Missy still aiming the disintegrator at him. 

The goatee Master repetitively paced the length of the room, a gloved hand thoughtfully stroking his beard. Who knows what evil plan the Masters had thought up for the Doctors. Whatever it was, it wasn't going be pleasant, Nardole knew that much.

Speaking of the Doctors, they were still very much in their own personalised Hells. Two of them, Nine and Eleven, had thankfully either fallen asleep or unconscious. Nardole only hoped that their dreams would be merciful. 

One of the Masters, the one with black hair while also sporting a goatee (honestly, what is it with the Master and goatees?), stepped forward and crouched in front of Thirteen's chamber, then rapped loudly on it. She hissed in a terrified breath and looked around wildly, her long coat getting caught around her torso as she moved. 

"Is the future going to be all girl?" He asked, briefly looking at Missy who raised an eyebrow and subtly reminded him she still held a weapon.

Goatee Master Two held his hands up in surrender and went back to tapping on the female Doctor's chamber if only to torment her more. It brought a grim smile to his face and an ache in Nardole's... not-heart? 

"I don't know why we didn't do this before," round-faced Master spoke up from his position by Ten's chamber. "You know, the whole 'hallucination' thing. Maybe we didn't need to kill the Doctor, just... contain them." 

"The irony," Nardole muttered to himself, earning a glare from Missy as her hand tightened around the disintegrator. 

"What was that, egg man?" Asked the Round Faced Master. 

"Nothing, nothing," Nardole reassured him hastily. 

"We've never done this before because we want the Doctor dead. Not contained," Goatee Master One said, a hint of disdain at the idea of containing the Doctor. 

"I suppose you're right," agreed Round Faced Master, "and God, what an annoying thing they are. Who knows what they'd be like locked up."

"Get your hands off me!" Exclaimed a slowly approaching voice.

A couple of the Masters rolled their eyes at the noise coming from outside the room.

As expected with the noise, the door opened further, enough for the Doctors' companions and the final two Masters to enter the room and join them. Most of the companions wore a look of annoyance or fear, whilst Jack and one of the Masters (the one who wasn't burnt) sported red marks on their cheeks and ragged appearances. It seemed a small fight had broken out between them.

"Can someone get that thing away from me?" Amy snapped, yanking her arm out of the burnt Master's grip with a glare in his direction.

"Uh, excuse me! That 'thing' is me, and you will show me some respect," Missy retorted, though even she couldn't look at the burnt Master. 

"Enough of the dawdling!" Announced the Goatee Master One. "Let's get to it. I say we kill the thirteenth first and figure out what to do with the rest as we go along."

"Sounds good to me, dear," Missy agreed, finally pulling her disintegrator from Nardole's face, much to his relief. 

Though, immediately, the companions began protesting. There was noise from them all as they shouted insults and begged for the Masters to reconsider. Two of them stood out above the others, though, no matter how much they all yelled.

"Wait! You can't do this!" Yaz shouted, stepping forward. 

"Yeah, I thought you were his best friend!" Clara joined in and pointed an accusing finger at Missy.

"We are," Missy was quick to defend with a 'what's your point?' look.

"Then how can you do this?" Wilf spoke up. The man had been worriedly contemplating the entire situation for most of the time they'd been there. "I remember you," he continued, directing a look at Round Faced Master, "the Doctor had a chance to kill you after everything you'd done to him. Even had a gun pointed at your face-" at this, Missy looked down briefly but quickly looked back up with defiance, "-but he didn't. He let you live. How can you do this to them?" Wilf finished sadly. 

Round Faced Master looked cold and calculating. He ran an eye up and down Wilf, taking him in and considering his answer.

Eventually, a cocky smile made its way onto his face and he spoke, "because it's fun." 

"Now," he clapped and turned to his fellow Masters, "let the fun begin!"

"You can't do this!" The Doctors' companions protested once more, talking over each other.

For Masters' own safety, the Doctors' companions had each been handcuffed behind their back and lined up against the wall with Missy and burnt Master to guard them.

Goatee Master One had sent Goatee Master Two to turn off the hallucinogenic gas, and once that had been done, burnt Master, using a remote control, took down the first chamber. The blue-tinted glass chamber disappeared into thin air, leaving the Thirteenth Doctor crumbled on the floor with a lot more room to move about. 

With the chamber now gone and the gas no longer being administered, the Thirteenth Doctor warily blinked open her eyes and looked around. She took in big lungfuls of oxygen via a mask connected to a tank that Round Faced Master had roughly pressed to her face. 

Eventually, when she had gathered her bearings, she pushed away from the Master and scrambled up into a standing position. With complete and utter confusion and fear written on her face, she took in the forms of the Masters. Having some of her own regenerations in the room with her was enough, but having some it the Masters? It was a disaster waiting to happen.

"Masters?" The Thirteenth Doctor ventured, masking her fear and replacing it with indifference.

"Doctor," Goatee Master One greeted, standing even more menacingly (if that was even possible).

The Doctor turned her attention to her friends stood against the wall and guarded by Missy and another Master. Her eyes caught Missy's and disappointment was briefly visible on her face, but she schooled her features and turned back to Goatee Master One.

"What is this? What're you doing?" She demanded seriously. Her eyes were still red-rimmed from the amount of crying she'd been doing in the chamber, but that didn't make her look any less determined. 

"My dear, female Doctor," Goatee Master One replied with a slight smile that gave away his amusement, "isn't it obvious?"

"Not really, no," Thirteen spat out before he could finish his explanation.

"Why, we're here to finally kill you," Goatee Master Two input and stepped up to stand beside his previous incarnation.

"You've been trying for centuries. What makes you think you'll succeed this time?"

"Well, we've got your... pets," Goatee Master Two pointed out. At this, Missy grabbed the collar of Graham's coat and brought him forward with her disintegrator aimed at his head. "And if you want them safe, you'd do well to do as we say."

"Don't worry 'bout me, Doc," Graham spoke, his eyes sad and understanding. The Doctor almost couldn't bear to look at him.

"Okay," the Doctor said, looking directly at the Master, "I'll do as you say. Anything. Just don't hurt them. Please," she whispered, watching as each of the Masters' faces lit up with identical smiles.

"Well, that almost makes me want to hurt them anyway," Goatee Master One said, contemplating it. Thirteen's face fell, hope for her friends dwindling.

"Can we?" Missy asked, like a child in a sweet shop.

"Maybe later, dear," Goatee Master One replied with a mere glance in her direction. Missy eyed Graham with something akin to hunger. "Now, it's just a matter of how the Doctor will die. Do we know how many regenerations she has left?"

"No. I think this is her fourteenth, though. Maybe fifteenth? Who knows," Missy trailed off with a shrug. 

"Fifteenth?" Goatee Master One repeated in astonishment. Missy shrugged. "Guess we can't throw her off a roof then. We'd be up and down the stairs all night."

"We could shoot her. But then again... that's a bit vanilla."

"I'm getting a strange sense of Déja Vu," the Doctor muttered.

"You're not the only one," Round Faced Master agreed, rubbing his temple.

"Any requests?" Goatee Master Two asked the Doctor, pacing the floor.

"You could let me go?" Thirteen suggested hopefully. The Master chortled with amusement. 

In the meantime, whilst the Doctor and Masters were discussing, River quietly moved her wrists and angled them towards Captain Jack. He used the bobby pin she'd passed him before they were cuffed to manoeuvre the lock. It took a minute or so before he was able to unlock it without using his sight. With one wrist free, River took back the bobby pin and expertly freed her other wrist. Then, she got to work on Jack's handcuffs without drawing too much attention.

Missy stalked forward, dragging Graham with her. The Doctor kept a watchful eye on her and the disintegrator. Missy came to a halt in front of Ten's chamber. He was slouched down on the floor, beads of sweat gathering on his brows, and recovering from the hallucinations.

"What do we do about the other Doctors? We can't kill them obviously," she said thoughtfully, lightly kicking the chamber with her foot earning a glare from Ten.

"We separate them and break them. Then we send them back to their timelines with the knowledge that they're to keep coming back here until they die," Round Face answered. Missy grinned at the answer. 

"It's genius," she praised, "we're genius." 

"Did you ever doubt?" Round Faced Master questioned, shoving Graham away and taking Missy in his arms to start a waltz around the room, much to the annoyance of the other Masters.

"Of course not, dearest," Missy answered.

"If you two are quite finished," snapped Goatee Master Two, drawing the attention of Missy and Round Face along with simultaneous sighs from them. They stepped apart and Missy resumed holding Graham at gunpoint. "Now," he continued, "take the other Doctors to their rooms. There's work to be done."

Graham watched hopelessly as two of the Masters (the burnt one and the blond, young-ish looking one with a goatee) led the Doc's previous companions out of the room whilst he, Yaz, and Ryan were left in there. He supposed it was because they travelled with the female Doctor and that's who the Masters were currently focused on. He wasn't sure why they hated the Doc so much nor what they were going to do to her, but he knew it couldn't be good. If only he could have a massive brainstorm like the Doc usually did, he and the other two could save the Doctors. 

However, the other Doctors had been cuffed with what looked like some futuristic handcuffs that would zap them should they move too much. And with blindfolds over their eyes and duct tape over their mouths, they'd been led from the room to God-knows-where. 

His Doctor, Thirteen as the others called her, stood defiantly in the space where her chamber had once stood. She hadn't made any move to leave the small space. The Master, the one who seemed to be in charge and had a greying goatee, paced thoughtfully in front of them all. The other Masters all kept a very watchful eye on the Doc, as it was obvious they knew what she was capable of and how good she was at escaping. The female version of the Masters (as it had been explained briefly by the Doc), who went by the name Missy, once again stood in front of them with her disintegrator aimed at their faces. 

The round-faced, more youthful, handsome version of the Master looked anxious. As if he couldn't contain his excitement at getting to finally kill the Doctor, and wanted to do it now. It seemed he wasn't very patient. 

"When are we going to get on with it?" He finally snapped at his other-selves. "The longer we wait, the more time she has to form some sort of ridiculous plan that will most likely work." 

"Patience," the Goatee Master ordered, but he still stepped up to the Doctor anyway. He looked between both her and Missy with a raised eyebrow. "Do all Time Lords regenerate into the opposite sex at some point? I think I'd remember them mentioning that back home." 

"We can only hope," the Doctor grinned, shoving her hands into her pockets. 

The Master stepped away from her and towards Missy who finally looked away from Graham, Ryan, and Yaz in favour of herself.

"How did we regenerate into this? What happened?" He asked, curling a finger under her chin and lifting her face to get a better look.

"You know I can't tell you that. And even if I could, I don't really remember it. It's all a bit fuzzy," Missy admitted with an unsettling grin as though the fact she couldn't remember how she had died was the best thing in the world. 

"You mean, we turn into a woman and you don't even remember it?" The Master asked, removing his hand.

"Of course," Missy nodded as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

"Interesting," the Master hummed. 

"Enough of the chit chat," Round Face spoke up impatiently. "When are we going to kill her?" 

"I cannot wait to be you," the Master drawled sarcastically. "As it is," he continued and returned to standing in front of the Doctor, "change of plans. I thought we could have a little fun first. A bit of old fashioned torture, you know? Rough her up a bit." 

"You can't do that!" Yaz protested with tears in her eyes. The Doctor subtly shook her head at her, but Yaz ignored her in favour of glaring at the Master. 

"And why not, insolent little human?" Round Face demanded, striding forward. 

"Because. She's the best person in the world and she doesn't deserve this! I may not have known her that long, but I can safely say you don't want to do this," Yaz said confidently. 

The Masters each looked amused, sharing silent looks, but most likely communicating in some language that comes with being in the same room as several different versions of yourself.

"And why not?" Round Face repeated threateningly and took a step closer so they were face to face. 

"Get away from her," The Doctor ordered seriously, her voice low and dangerous. Round Face held his hands up and stepped away, turning away to look at her and show he meant no harm. To Yaz, anyway. "You can hurt me, mock me, kill me, but don't you ever lay a hand on my friends. Do you understand?" 

"Of course, Doctor," Round Face nodded with a sick grin, lowering his hands. 

All the while, the Goatee Master had been examining the Doctor. Lifting up her blonde hair in his hands and watching it fall back down when he let it go, scrutinising her clothes, silently looking into her eyes.

"What are you doing?" Round Face asked with bemusement. 

"I just can't believe the Doctor is a woman. All those years of having human females by his side, and now he is a female. And so are we..." the Master admitted. 

"Oh, get over it," Missy groaned with an eye-roll. "Yes, we are women now. Genders are such flexible things. That doesn't change the fact that we're here to kill the Doctor, so are we doing it or not?" 

"Our accent. It's sexy," Round Face muttered. Missy winked at him. 

"You're right, Lady Version," the Goatee Master nodded. "So, let's get to it," he turned back to the Doctor who had her jaw set and was watching them intently, barely blinking in her anger at the situation.

Slowly, almost patronisingly, the Master slipped off his black, leather gloves. He flexed his fingers and passed the gloves back to Missy who laid them carefully on one of the chairs. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of golden rings. He put them on his fingers and turned his hand a bit, watching as the light reflected off of them.

"What are you doing?" Graham asked with fear.

The Master turned to him, seeming to have forgotten that anyone else was in the room with him.

"This," he said by way of explanation.

He faced the Doctor again who looked as confused as Graham felt. Quickly, forcefully, the Master brought his hand up into a striking position. The Doctor flinched and looked away, expecting the Master to hit her. When the slap never came, she opened her eyes and looked at him.

The Masters and Missy chuckled lowly at the Doctor's reaction. 

"She's afraid of us," Goatee Master stated proudly.

"I would be, too," Missy said, "we're intimidating. It's a tiny bit sexy."

"'Sexy'?" Round Face questioned.

"Yes." 

"Why is everything sexy to you?"

"Enough," the Master interrupted their banter.

Without warning, he brought his hand back up and then forward, striking the Doctor with his ring hand. Ryan, Graham, and Yaz exclaimed in shock and worry for their friend.

"Oh, my days!" Ryan shouted in shock.

The Doctor grunted at the impact and stumbled to the floor with only her hands to brace her fall. When she'd caught herself, she sat up on her knees and brought a hand to her face where she tentatively touched a finger to her bleeding lip. She brought it away and looked at the red liquid on her finger.

"That's quite the stress reliever," the Master said thoughtfully, looking at his hand and checking his rings.

"Doc," Graham muttered tearfully.

Sometimes it was hard to remember that the woman in front of him wasn't just a child running around the universe, eating custard creams. She had her own demons, as did many people, only hers were stood in front of her and contemplating the best way to kill her. 

"That was very not nice," the Doctor huffed and got to her feet again, wiping the blood away with her sleeve only for it to trickle through again.

"It felt quite nice to me," the Master said truthfully. 

"And it was very sexy," Missy inputted.

"Seriously?" Round Face said with exasperation.

"If you two cannot be serious, you shall be forced to leave the room," the Master snapped at... himself.

It would have comedic had the situation been a bit different, Graham mused. The Master's future selves pouted, but shut up nonetheless. 

"Can't keep yourself under control?" The Doctor teased with a grin.

"I didn't ask for your input, Doctor," the Master retorted.

"People never do, but I tend to give it anyway," the Doctor shrugged casually.

Unfortunately, this earned her another slap, sending her sprawling to the floor again.

"It's worse the second time 'round," she hissed and got to her feet. 

Lined up against the wall, still hand-cuffed, her friends winced. Graham shook his head sadly, willing her to stop messing about and just admit that she was scared. It'd harder to admire someone's courage and dauntlessness when they're getting beaten down and refuse to give up. It simply hurts those watching.

"I like your determination, Doctor. I wonder how long it will take to break it," the Master mused. 

"Thought you were gonna kill me?" 

"Oh, I am. But I didn't say I was killing your past selves," the Master reminded her. 

"Ah, yeah. Almost forgot about them," the Doctor muttered. "Wonder what they're doing now. I can't remember anything."

"Meeting yourself does tend to have that effect," the Master nodded, but a flash of worry passed his features. It was gone in an instant. "Now, let's get back to it."

The Master slapped her again, but this time she kept her footing and only stumbled a bit. She clenched her jaw and glared at the floor.

"This is getting a bit boring now, don't you think, Doctor? I was thinking we could try something different. Any requests? I'll be sure to deliver. We're quite the expert on torture, you know? We've been on the receiving end quite a bit, but more often than not we were the ones doing the torturing," the Master mused, gesturing to Round Face and Missy.

"Do you remember your father's estate, Master?" The Doctor suddenly asked which threw the Master's off guard. She was panting from exertion and her cheek was bright red.

The Masters frowned simultaneously at the question. 

"Of course, I do. What's that got to do with anything?" Round Face demanded and stepped forward. 

"And you, Missy? You're the furthest along. Do you remember?" The Doctor asked.

"Always," Missy nodded. 

The next time the Doctor spoke, it was in a language that neither Graham, Ryan, or Yaz could understand. The Masters seemed to understand it perfectly, though, as they kept their gaze on the Doctor, latching onto her every word.

The language was beautiful. Not like any of the rough languages on Earth. They'd never really heard an alien language, as the TARDIS translation circuit always made sure they could understand other species and that the aliens could understand them. But the language the Doctor was speaking, the clearly alien language that seemed to come to her like second nature, was beautiful. Music to their ears. Literally. It sounded like a thousand wind chimes blowing about in gusts of soft winds. 

It made Graham wonder if she had ever spoken to them in that language before, but they hadn't known because the TARDIS had translated it for them. If she had, he'd be disappointed. It was such a soothing thing to listen to, even if the Doctor looked resigned whilst speaking it.

 When she finished talking, the Masters stood in place, not saying a word. Graham couldn't tell what they were thinking, their faces were perfect, neutral masks. Missy had lowered her weapon a while ago, giving the trio some time to gather their thoughts.

The Goatee Master finally responded, speaking in the same language the Doctor had used, but unlike her, he looked angry. When he spat out some kind of musical word in his angry tone, both Missy and Round Face winced at whatever harsh things he'd said. He seemed furious and deemed to show this to the Doctor by hitting her again. This time, when she went down she didn't bother getting up again. The Master continued his rant, towering above her. 

He stopped for a short second before speaking one long word that made the two Masters and the Doctor look at him in disbelief. The Doctor, seeming unready for what he had said, recovered quickly and came back with another word, much longer than Goatee's', that made the three Masters glare at her. There was silence after that, but the tension in the room was thick. The Doctor and the Masters glared at each other for such a long time, that Graham thought they might be speaking telepathically. The Doc had mentioned she was telepathic at one point but hadn't elaborated. 

Suddenly, the door to the room burst open and in rushed the other Master with a goatee. He quickly sensed the tension and eyed them all.

"What do you want?" Round Face demanded.

"The Doctor... he's escaped," the other Goatee Master told them.

"The Doctor? Which one?" Missy questioned. 

"The one with the big chin wearing tweed," Goatee answered.

"He's incompetent," Missy sniffed, "we can contain him again. Do you know where he went?" 

"The control room, I think," goatee said. 

"You moron! Why didn't you go after him? Or have you forgotten what's in there?" Missy exclaimed furiously and slapped him without a second's hesitation.

Goatee held his cheek in shock, having not expected her to slap him.

"Of course I know! But he seemed quite angry," Goatee defended himself.

"Angry?" Round Face repeated incredulously. "Angry?! Of course, he's angry! We've taken him and his pets hostage, you idiot!" 

"He's got a point," the Doctor agreed casually, putting her hands back in her pockets and rocking on her heels.

"Right," Round Face sighed and put his fingers to the bridge of his nose, "Lady Version, bring the disintegrator and that girl there-" he ordered, pointing at Yaz "-we're going to entrap the Oncoming Storm..." 

Chapter Text

Missy hissed furiously to herself as she and her past self marched down the hallway towards the control room. Her previous regeneration wisely kept his mouth shut in the presence of his elder, even if she was a woman. He'd already received a slap, he didn't want to anger her further. Especially since she was holding a disintegrator. He wouldn't put it past her to disintegrate him on the spot should he annoy her. 

The Doctor's companion was by his side, still cuffed and trembling against his hold on her upper arm. She looked terrified, the knowledge of which was the only thing keeping the Master sane. At least he still had power over the insignificant human, he thought as he shot a glare to the back of Missy's head.

"I'd pack that in, if I were you," Missy said to him, though she didn't turn to look at him.

"Sorry," the Master immediately apologised. Sometimes he cursed his own intelligence. 

They finally came upon the control room and Missy stopped in front of it. The Master, with the human still in his grip, looked at her and gestured to the door.

"You said the Doctor was angry," she said, "you open the door." 

"You're the eldest. You do it," he deflected, "besides, you've got a weapon and I have the human." 

With a final glare in his direction, Missy opened the door and stepped inside the room, the Master and Yasmin following behind her. The door slowly swung shut the second they entered and they all stopped in their tracks. 

In the centre of the room, a solemn look on his face, stood the Doctor. Not even the horrible outfit he was wearing could dim his terrible aura. He stood there, looking at the floor just in front of the five wheezing TARDISes.

He finally looked up at them a second later, his floppy brown hair in his eyes. Unconsciously, the Master's grip tightened on Yasmin's arm, making her quietly grunt.

"What have you done to my TARDIS?" The Doctor growled at Missy and the Master. 

"Paradox machine," Missy explained briefly, "how else do you think the paradox of us all being her has sustained for so long?" 

She didn't want to beat around the bush, not when the Doctor was looking at them like that. The Doctor wringed his hands, pacing back and forth in front of them.

He remained silent for what felt like the longest time. Missy began to feel uncertain, unsure of what he would do the longer he stared at them with pursed lips and a clenched jaw. 

"Let her go and give me the disintegrator," Eleven finally ordered as he came to a stop in front of one of the TARDISes. 

"I don't think you understand, Doctor," the Master scoffed, pulling Yasmin closer to him. 

"No," the Doctor growled and strode forward in anger, "I don't think you understand, Master. Let her go and give me the disintegrator or I won't be held accountable for my actions." 

The Master clenched his jaw in anger, staring defiantly into the eyes of the Oncoming Storm. Missy glanced at him then at the Doctor. She handed the disintegrator to the Doctor without a word, earning a disbelieving look from the Master.

"Give he human female to him," she ordered the Master coldly. 

"What?" The Master snapped. 

"I said give her to him," Missy repeated. 

Knowing he was outvoted and things wouldn't go his way should he refuse, the Master reluctantly let go of Yasmin to which she rushed over to the Doctor and stood just behind him. With one final look to the Masters, the Doctor shuffled Yaz in front of him and led her to one of the TARDISes, letting her go in first.

As the TARDIS slowly dematerialised, Missy allowed herself a tiny hopeful smile though wiped it from her face when her past self turned to glare at her.

The Master shoved the Doctor a bit as they made their way up the concrete stairs, the two human companions trailing dejectedly behind him. He'd allowed them to go behind as he knew as long as he had the Doctor, they wouldn't leave. As for the Doctor, she'd been cuffed like her previous selves and had a rag in her mouth to prevent her from talking. The Master swore if he had to listen to anymore of her stupid rambling, he'd be throwing himself off the rooftop.

Finally, after several more steps, the group came to the top of the building. The Master joined the Doctor on the top stop and pushed the metal door open with a creek. He allowed the Doctor and her human friends to step out onto the rooftop first before following and shutting the door behind him.

"Such a lovely view," the Master nodded and looked around at the vast expanse of nothing. They were stood on top of a tall, grey building in the middle of nowhere. It was just wastelands as far as the eye could see. "Of course, only the best for you, Doctor." 

The Doctor returned with a mocking smile as best as she could with the rag in her mouth.

With his hands suddenly on her shoulders, the Master guided the Doctor to the edge of the rooftop, and tilted her head to look down at the ground below. Thin layers of white smoke glided above the dirty ground, occasionally being disturbed by gusts of wind that brough the smell of ash and destruction to their noses. 

"Take a good, long look at your grave, Doctor," the Master said and stepped away from her. "Maybe, if I'm feeling generous, I'll bring your TARDIS down there when you're dead and buried. It seems only fitting that your beloved TARDIS should be your tombstone." 

The Doctor shook her head with a glare in his direction, her disapproval clear and her eyes hard. The Master merely smirked at her. 

"Now, if you'll kindly take a step up onto the ledge. And you'll do well to cooperate, or your human friends die, too," he said when the Doctor seemed like she might refuse.

With a sigh through her nose, the Doctor stepped up onto the ledge and looked down at the desolate ruins below her. 

"Have you ever fallen to your death, Doctor?" The Master casually asked. Something flashed in the Doctor's eyes that the Master couldn't quite place, and he found himself humming. "I suppose you have given that look." 

The Master took a step closer from the Doctor with a thoughtful look.

"I was going to keep the handcuffs on you, but I know you won't try anything with your companions here," he finally said.

He took a small remote out of his inner coat pocket and aimed it at the Doctor's handcuffs. With a quiet click, they came undone and clattered to the ground.

"You may remove the rag," he said when the Doctor was rubbing her wrists.

Thankfully, the Doctor reached up and took the rag out of her mouth, then passed it to the Master who put it on his pocket with a mildly disgusted look.

"Any final words?" The Master questioned casually.

The Doctor looked back down at the ground below her. She was eerily silent for a few long seconds before a grin lit up her face and she turned back to the Master.

"Geronimo," she said. Without warning, she turned around and allowed herself to fall backwards off of the roof.

"Doc!" Graham shouted with horror.

"Oh, my days!" Ryan followed suit as he and Graham rushed to the ledge and peered over it.

They watched helplessly as the Doctor fell and fell and fell. It was like it had all happened too fast yet too slow as they watched her descent. Until, eventually, before she could hit the ground, a familiar warping sound travelled through the wind and reached their ears.

"Impossible," the Master hissed from beside Graham, as he too watched the events unfold.

The Doctor was halfway to the ground beneath her when the TARDIS started to fade into view beneath her. When it was fully materialised, it was sideways. The doors flew open just in time for the Doctor to fall through them followed by a delayed splashing sound. Graham and Ryan whooped and cheered with relief as the TARDIS doors closed and dematerialised. The Master stood fuming beside them, his eyes still fixated on the spot the TARDIS had disappeared from.

He pushed away from the ledge to angrily pace back and forth across the rooftop, muttering obscenities as he went.

"Man, that was proper awesome," Ryan told Graham with a grin, having either forgotten about the Master or just not caring. 

"Dangerous though, what if the TARDIS hadn't shown up?" Graham said with concern, already kicking into 'Granddad Mode' as Ryan and the others called it.

"Oh, cheer up, gramps. It did, that's all that matters and now the Doctor is safe," Ryan reassured him. Graham nodded. 

"'Safe'?" The Master inputted, "you think she is safe?" 

"Well, yeah. 'Case you didn't notice, the TARDIS appeared around her and she's gone," Ryan pointed out. "Mate, you've lost. Just give up," he continued bravely, "now that you've lost her, you don't stand a chance."

"I can see why River likes jumping off buildings now," Thirteen grinned as she towel dried her hair on her way back from the swimming pool. 

"I hope we don't do a lot of that in the future," Eleven frowned worriedly, but kept his eyes on the console.

"Spoilers," Thirteen said with a cheeky grin. 

"Doctor, you're okay!" Yaz exclaimed, running out of one of the corridors.

"Yaz!" Thirteen yelled in response, accepting the hug she got from her friend. "I take it big chin here saved you." 

"Yeah," Yaz agreed gratefully as she pulled away, giving Eleven a smile. He returned it briefly. "Your face looks really bad, no offense." 

True to her word, the Doctor's face did look bad. Her cheek had bruised in the time it had taken for her to be led to the rooftop and she now sported a large purple bruise and a swollen cheek. 

"I know," Thirteen nodded, "none taken. But, don't worry, I'm fine. Wait!" She suddenly exclaimed, rushing over to Eleven who was piloting.

"What?" He squeaked, startled at the sudden noise.

"My friends. They're still on the rooftop with the Master. We need to go get them," she said, joining in on the piloting.

"But- oh, fine," Eleven huffed, his previous argument long forgotten. "It'll be hard as there's already four other TARDISes in the building, but we can do it. Eh, what do you reckon, Old Girl?"

The TARDIS thrummed readily under his fingertips, and with a lever pull from her thieves, she headed for the rooftop they'd just come from.

"I am the Master and you will obey me," the Master said coldly, stepping forward a bit.

Graham nodded mutely, gaining a confused look from Ryan in return. 

"Gramps?" He tried, nudging him with his elbow as his hands were still cuffed. Graham started blankly at the Master, his mouth hanging open a bit.

A wheezing noise interrupted whatever nonsense the Master had started to say, and he and Ryan looked around, trying to find wherever the TARDIS was materialising this time. 

To the Master's fury and Ryan's great relief, the TARDIS started to materialise around him and Graham, leaving the Master stood alone outside the blue box. His face fell into one of pure rage and he kicked the box as the humans disappeared from view and the blue box solidified. 

"Doctor!" He roared, pounding in the door with his fist. "Step outside your TARDIS at once!" 

A high pitched sound responded to his orders, like that of a mic being switched on, then stopped.

"Doctor?" Thirteen's voice came from some unseen speaker on the TARDIS, sounding befuddled.

"Doctor Who?" A male voice took over, belonging to Eleven. 

Leaving the Master dumbfounded, the TARDIS dematerialised from the rooftoop wihout any further words exchanged between any of them. With his rage reaching its peak, the Master set his face into a cold expression and stormed from the rooftop in search of his other selves.