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It was an odd feeling, the slight pressure of the Sensorite's telepathic ability cutting off anything outside her head. She caught herself poking at the corner of her mind where the Master was usually connected, the lack of contact disconcerting. Sure, he was normally shielded, but she could at least feel he was there. Now, there was nothing.
He turned back to her as the door creaked open. "You feel it too?"
She nodded, stepping past him out of the TARDIS and onto the ship.
"They're expecting us." He whispered, following close behind. He stretched his arms wide, nearly hitting her in the head.
"Oi, careful."
"Sorry, Doctor." He said mockingly. "I'm not used to being outside. Just trying to take advantage."
She turned on him. "Don't you try and make me feel guilty. You have destroyed millions of people, entire planets. It's not my fault I can't let you out of my sight."
He turned away, hiding the hurt she knew was on her face, but she forced herself to ignore him. It was the truth. It might hurt both of them, but she had thought he had changed more than once in the past, and she wouldn't risk lives by unthinkingly believing in him now. Even if she really did trust him.
After a few moments, he spoke again, his voice carefully level. "Be careful. This level of telepathic suggestion would have anyone besides a Time Lord completely comatose, and even we won't be able to resist it forever."
"But if they're still keeping up the telepathic field, that means the humans have to be still alive. They wouldn't bother to keep it up if no one was here. We're not too late!"
He rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm, but allowed the slightest smile to cross his lips. He was getting better at allowing her to see his true feelings, at letting her in. In the years since she had lost Missy, she had thought this chance was lost for good, but ever since Gallifrey, they had been slowly rebuilding their relationship. She still wasn't willing to let him be completely unsupervised yet, but his telepathic abilities were much stronger than hers, and if they wanted to get the humans out alive, she was going to need all the help she could get.
They crept around the ship for the better part of an hour, unable to find any signs of the humans, and several times narrowly avoiding the Sensorites. Both of them were tiring under the effects of the telepathic suppression. Time Lords were so telepathic that to try to function without that sixth sense was exhausting.
"This isn't working." He growled in frustration. "We're wasting too much time. Watch my back, I'm going to try to find them."
"Master, no. You can't. They'll find us the second you try."
He ignored her, closing his eyes and taking the deep breath he always used to settle himself before initiating that mental contact. The second he did, alarms started blaring, and footsteps could be heard all around them.
"Oh, you've done it now!" She grabbed his arm to pull him away, but it was too late. They were surrounded. Each hallway around them was blocked by the humanoid aliens, each identical in their grey suits with their strange dark eyes and furry faces.
"Why are you here?" One demanded, their quiet voice hard with distrust, the weapon in their hand pointed threateningly.
Her hand still wrapped in his coat sleeve, she made a split-second decision and hoped their relationship could survive the fallout. "This man is not to be trusted. I came to warn you." She pushed him down, and he went easily, too stunned by her sudden betrayal to fight.
The telepathic influence had increased with the alien presence, and she could see the moment they turned their concentration on him. He snarled back at them, face twisting in pain as he fought to keep them out, but they were too strong, and quickly forced their way into his mind. It was hard to watch, knowing from experience just how painful that could be, but she forced herself to stay neutral. It only took a moment before the aliens turned back to her, having clearly found what they were looking for.
"Thank you for your warning.” They said solemnly. “We have a place set aside for outsiders we cannot trust. We will take him there."
She nodded, fisting her hand tightly in his coat for a moment before stepping back to allow them to come up on each side of him, grasping his shoulders firmly. "I'm just glad I made it in time to warn you. He would have betrayed you the second he had a chance. It’s what he always does."
They began to lead him away, but he wrenched himself free and ran back to her. "Doctor, please..." One of his guards hit him from behind, knocking him to his knees at her feet.
"Please..." He begged. "Don't leave. Help me."
She ignored him, turning away back to the TARDIS, pretending not to be able to hear him. She had barely turned around before he caught the hem of her coat, bringing her to a sudden stop.
“I thought…” His breath hitched, low and wounded. "I thought you were the one person I didn’t have to worry about. The only one I could ever truly trust.”
She glanced down, and the obvious pain in his eyes nearly broke both her hearts, but she forced herself to stay strong. “And why would you ever think that?” She demanded, knowing exactly what words to use to cut him the deepest and hating herself for every one. “Me? You’ve spent nearly our entire lives trying to kill me. You imprisoned me, tortured me, you lied to me, betrayed me, threatened me, you belittled me time and time again. Why would you think you could trust me? I’ve never been able to trust you. I thought I could, once, and then you left me behind to die alone.”
He collapsed to the floor, and the Sensorites dragged him away. She hurried back to her TARDIS, shutting the door behind her as quickly as possible. The second she was safe, she collapsed against the wall, tears streaming down her face. The TARDIS beeped gently at her.
"Yes, I'm okay. I just need a minute." Another inquiring beep, and she pushed herself to her feet. "Yes, I know he's not here. We're going to get him back." She hurried over to the console, flipping switches rapidly. "He has my sonic in his pocket. Can you track it?"
The answer came as the dematerialization lever flipped itself, and she clutched onto the console to steady herself. "Thank you." She whispered. The brief ride gave her just enough time to gather her composure, before the TARDIS settled to a stop.
She pushed the door open slowly, looking around to make sure they were alone before she stepped fully outside. The prison was directly across the hall, a thick glass door blocking the entrance. She slipped across the hallway, checking through the door. Three humans were lying on the floor, kept asleep by the telepathic field. The Master remained kneeling in the corner, curled in on himself and stubbornly keeping his back to her.
Without her sonic, it took a moment to hack the lock, but they were left undisturbed. As soon as the door swung open, she stepped into the cell and began dragging the humans one by one into the TARDIS. She turned back, expecting the Master to be right behind her, but he was still back in the cell, exactly where he had been when she arrived.
He was shaking when she put her hand on his shoulder, and something deep inside her protested at the wrongness of him being broken like this. The Master was a proud man, always trying to give the impression he was better than everyone around him. He should not be like this, curled in the corner of a cell he didn't belong in, crushed by her awful words.
"Come on." She ordered, sliding her hand under his arm and pulling. He allowed her to move him without protest, following after her silently. As soon as they were inside the TARDIS, he curled back up against the wall, and she had to let him. There were other, more pressing problems to fix first.
The humans woke up as soon as the TARDIS took off, and were quickly returned to their homes, the Doctor taking care to remove any memory of their mission from their minds, leaving behind the illusion of failure. For all they could remember now, there was nothing worth finding in that sector of space. Hopefully, that would keep things from escalating between the two species for at least a little bit longer.
Once back on the TARDIS, she flipped the lever to send them into the time vortex, letting them drift aimlessly through space while she went to fix what she had broken. The Master was still curled in a ball against the wall. She sat down next to him, pulling him to lean on her shoulder. He went willingly, head resting heavily against her. "I'm so sorry." She whispered into the silence.
He pulled back slightly, looking into her face. "Why? You didn't do anything wrong. Every word you said was the truth. I'm the one who should be apologizing. You were right. You can’t trust me.”
"No." She said hurriedly. "That might have been true before, but none of that is how I really see you. You've saved my life more times than I can count. You're my oldest friend. You put in so much work and effort to change yourself, to make yourself better. I can never understand how hard that must have been. I am so proud of you, so incredibly proud." Tears were gathering in both of their eyes. "I know it's hard for you to believe, but I absolutely trust you. I only said what I did-"
"I know why you said it. I get it. I knew right away what your plan was."
She huffed a laugh, brushing the tears from her eyes, wrapping him more securely in her arms. "I hated every second of it. I knew it was the only way to save everyone, but you have to know I didn't enjoy it. It was horrible."
He laughed at her, body slowly relaxing into her. "Of course you didn't. You hate hurting people. That's what I love about you, my Doctor."
She ran her fingers through his thick hair, and he sighed in relief. "I think I'm just going to sleep, right here. I do hope you didn't have any plans this afternoon, Doctor."
She shook her head, keeping her fingers threading through strands of hair long after he fell asleep. She wasn't foolish enough to believe that things between them were fixed. She had completely broken his trust in her, the one thing she thought could never happen, and it would take time to rebuild. But for now, it was enough to simply sit together and be. There would be time for all that later.