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He burned Gallifrey for what they did to her. What will she do to them for what they did to him?
The question had been running through her mind for days now, since the second she found out what happened. He was still too weak to leave alone for long, but she had spent nearly every free second dreaming up revenge. It wasn't her way. She was the one who stopped the people looking for revenge. The one who reminded them there was a better path.
Except this time: there wasn't. For what they did to him, the atrocities they had perpetrated, there was only one punishment. Only one response could be appropriate for what they had done.
She rewrapped the bandages around his chest that covered a deep cut that would have stopped his heart if he had been human. It nearly had, only his second heart saving him. The numerous shallow cuts that covered nearly every inch of his skin were beginning to heal, so she left them uncovered in favor of checking the splints around his shattered limbs. Her resolve only solidified at the sight of the brutal wounds, even though the physical damage wasn’t the worst part.
Finally recognizing her presence, he whimpered and tried to pull away, still too unaware of his surroundings to realize it was her, mind stuck in the dark, and she brushed her fingers against his temple to soothe him. He relaxed instantly at the familiar brush of her mind, but she could still feel the terror deep in his thoughts. She had to pull away quickly before he felt the anger and hatred welling up in response, knowing it would only scare him further.
Leaving him to rest, she slipped out of his room, quickly directing the TARDIS back to the planet where she had found him. Her ship protested, knowing what she planned to do, but she quickly overrode its protests and landed them on the outskirts of the town just as night fell.
Leaving the ship behind, she slipped through the darkening streets on silent feet. Her eyes caught sight of a young boy running down a nearby alleyway, and she chased after him, catching his arm before he noticed her. He jumped in surprise at her touch, but couldn't free himself from her grip. "The council. Where do they live?" She demanded.
"You're hurting me." He cried, trying to pull away. His eyes were huge with terror.
She ignored his struggles, gripping tighter. "Where are they?" She demanded again, and the boy whimpered.
"Two streets over. In the big houses. You can't miss them."
She let him pull free, watching him run into the darkness. She wasn't worried he would tell anyone about her presence. He was far too frightened. She crept through the streets until she reached the council district, four identical houses rising above the rest of the town. If anyone else had been there with her, she would have made a joke about the arrogance and greed of the ruling class, but given the situation, it only served to increase her anger.
It didn't take her long to sneak inside the first house, the guards at the front either too careless or too lazy to notice the shadow climbing the walls behind them. The house was dark and quiet, making it easy to slip through the darkness into the master bedroom. Her first target was alone in the bed, sound asleep, unaware of just what had come for him in the dark. A harsh press of her fingers against his temples had him screwing up his face in pain, as she forced memories into his head, agony he had never experienced, but had enjoyed inflicting.
He whimpered, heart racing as his fingers clutched his chest at the phantom memory of a wound he had once caused seared through the skin. The knife he had once held now cut through flesh and bone, the pain too much for the human body to survive. It was over quickly, which was more than she could say for what they had done to the Master.
She didn't linger long once it was done. There were still three more houses to get to, and she wanted to get back before the Master woke up. It wouldn't do for him to be alone again.
The second house was just as easy to get into as the first, the only challenge the woman sleeping alongside her target. The Doctor reached out one hand to each of them, deepening the woman's sleep while simultaneously digging deep into the mind of the man in front of her. The phantom impact of the crowbar on his limbs had him crying out in agony, cradling unbroken limbs close to his chest, so stuck in her hold he didn't even realize it was all in his head.
It took longer this time, multiple impacts that would have shattered bone into pieces with each strike, terror and pain racing through the body until his heart gave out. She left him lying there next to his wife.
The third house was still partially lit, servants still rushing about cleaning from a party that had ended only a couple hours before, but a few quick dodges into empty closets, and it was easy enough to get to the master bedroom. The bed was empty, but a short search around the room revealed a pair of feet hanging over the edge of a couch, one shoe still on. The owner was clearly too drunk to even finish undressing.
The alcohol made it even easier than normal for her to force her way into his mind, and she grabbed hold, forcing the fear of isolation deep, the terror of opening your eyes to find only blackness, of speaking and hearing no sound. She sped time around him, making days pass in seconds, weeks flying by while she held him in her grasp.
She could feel the snap as his mind broke, shattered by the isolation and sensory deprivation. She almost killed him, but decided to leave him to suffer for the rest of his life, however long that might be before he finally succumbed to the terror.
The light was just beginning to show over the horizon when she reached the last house. Her victim was already awake when she reached his room, but that was fine with her. She wanted him to see her coming. He tried to fight her, but she knocked him to his knees, breaking his arm as he tried to pull her down with him. She gripped his head firmly between her hands, and all the fight went out of him in an instant.
He shook between her hands as she manipulated what he was seeing. The image in front of him changed to her a few feet away from him, approaching him with a knife as he was strapped down. She took her time, moving slowly, finally placing the blade to his skin only after he began begging for mercy. Each slow cut took a bit of his dignity away, until he was weeping, tears falling down his face, mixing with his blood before dropping to the ground.
She smiled, watching him shake and beg for mercy. "I'll give you exactly what you gave him when he begged you." She promised aloud, mind recoiling at the memory she had seen in the Master's mind, this man in front of him for hours on end, laughing each time he begged him to stop. The Master should never be made to beg, never be humbled like that. He was a Time Lord, far above this pitiful human.
He would never have to submit to these insects again.
She would make sure of it.
She burned the man's mind to ash, stepping back as he collapsed at her feet. Leaving him there in a pool of his own blood, she hurried out, slipping through the dawn back to the TARDIS.
The Master was still asleep when she arrived, but she hadn't been back long when he stirred. Immediately, she leaned over the bed, reaching out with her mind for his. He let her in instantly. She could feel the panic flooding through his mind, and reached out to soothe it. “Shhhh. Just rest. You’re safe.”
"No, Doctor, you don't understand. We need to go."
"Hush. Hush. I took care of it. They're gone. They can't hurt you again." She let him see her memories of the last few hours. "They should never have touched you. Those humans, they're so much lower, so much less, that to presume to control you, to think that they could have any power of you is nothing short of blasphemy. They should have worshiped you, and instead-"
He tried to reach out for her, forgetting his broken limbs, and ended up recoiling in pain. She drew the pain from him immediately, grasping his damaged fingers gently. Tears dripped from her eyes onto their joined hands. “Instead, they-“ She trailed off again, unable to finish her sentence.
“They took advantage of me being alone to try to make themselves feel big. But that won’t happen again, will it, Doctor? They won’t have that chance again.”
“Never.” She swore. “You’re never leaving my side again.”
“Oh, Doctor.” He smiled up at her, his real smile, one she hadn’t seen in hundreds of years. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”