The Master's Game   von TardisGhost
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                          Kapitel 2: A familiar face
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It was only then when she actually recognized his face, and suddenly her racing
heart calmed down, even though she knew about how dangerous that man was.
"Oh," made Roka. "You look different."
With the blond hair and the thin goatee he had grown, it was a surprising
difference to the man she had seen first, be it only for a short time.
The Master took a step back, observing her curiously and after a moment his
eyebrows raised, accompanied by an amused smile. "Ah, I remember. You were there
when I build the paradox machine." He chuckled at the memory. "Suddenly just
standing there and watching me. Like a ghost."
She remembered too. That day when he had ran inside the TARDIS to regenerate
into a handsome young man, rambling some nonsense and then running off. Since
she had no idea how to control the TARDIS she had had no choice but to stay
inconspicuous and hide, only to get bored of it quickly and taking a look.
Another Time Lord wasn't a thing she could have just ignored.
At first he hadn't noticed her of course, but after a while he had started to
chuckle to himself, before turning around and strolling to the seat she had
placed herself in. There he had observed her closely, without saying a word, as
if unsure whether or not she had been real.
"A shame you ran away..." The Master interrupted the memory. "Thought you were
quite interesting, sitting there as if it was nothing." He leaned close again,
putting a hand under her chin to make her look up. "Not the slightest hint of
fear in your eyes... again."
That day she had just smiled up to him, telling him that he would forget about
her anyway, before leaving the room and a very perplex Master behind.
"Where did you hide, little ghost? It was a whole year after all and I've never
seen you again."
Roka shrugged. "Can't remember." He must have activated the machine shortly
after and everything from then on was lost to her.
She slightly winced when he put two fingers to her throat.
"Peculiar..." He made it sound like she was some sort of experiment. "Eyes can
hide fear, but not your pulse. And yours is calm as a pond..." He chuckled to
himself and grinned at Roka. "That's gonna be fun. I think I like you already."
"Please don't," she stated sarcastically and got back another amused grin.
"Shall we tell the good news to the Doctor? I bet he'll be delighted." The
Master grabbed her arm and pushed her forwards. "Move. And remember... don't try
anything funny."
The whole way back he held her arm grabbed, so she couldn't run. And probably
also not to risk forgetting her. It was a short walk and not enough time to make
any useful plans. She would have to wait and observe, being careful and smart to
find a gap somewhere in his net.
The cell was mostly empty. Just an ordinary table and a chair stood in it. As
soon as the door opened the Doctor sprang up, rushing towards the Master with a
grim face.
"Lucky you, Doctor. Look what I just found." With that he pushed Roka into the
room. The Doctor recognized her a few seconds later. It was always the same look
people had when they realized her presence. A look of surprise and remembrance.
"Oh no... no, no... don't tell me you followed me," he uttered in disbelieve and
concern.
Roka looked away. "I thought I wouldn't get noticed."
Suddenly she felt the Master crossing his arms on top of her head, again
ignoring her personal space. He seemed to have fun with that, and Roka felt
uneasy at being so close to another person., let alone this particular one. She
could feel his two hearts beating against her back, calm and slow, and Roka
couldn't avoid thinking about what a weird sensation that was.
"Don't dare to harm her!" The Doctor stood and rushed towards them. "You have
me, don't..."
"Her?" The Masters voice sounded surprised. "I thought you were a little boy.
Why are you running around like that?"
Roka looked up as good as she could and smirked at his surprised expression. "To
let people like you think I'm harmless."
He glared down at her for a moment, then laughed. "Do you hear that, Doctor? Not
an ounce of fear in that voice. And that although I could just poke a hole
through her chest. Right now... right in front of you. Just to upset you."
From the Doctor's stories she knew that the Master wasn't just spilling out
empty words. If she wasn't careful, he would make his threat reality. But she
also remembered the glint in his eyes when she had suggested the deal.
"Would be quite the short game if you did," she remarked. "And boring."
The arms moved from hear head to her shoulder, spinning her around and pressing
her against the next wall. All air got pressed out of her lungs in an instant
and Roka sucked in a surprised breath, before glaring dumbfounded at the Master.
"Yeah, that would be a shame. Wouldn't want to miss playing with you. But I
can hurt you... Very slowly and very... very carefully..." He paused, the mean
grin fading and he raised an eyebrow. "Still not scared? Interesting."
"My pain threshold is higher than usual." Her gaze got mean. Why had she said
that? Her own mind was screaming at her, but for some reason she couldn't resist
to provoke him. "Try me."
The glint in his eyes was back, mixed with amusement this time. He let go of her
and turned around to the Doctor, who looked as if he was about to throw himself
at the Master at every moment. Probably only not doing it to not put Roka into
any more danger than she was in anyway.
"Listen to that. She's begging for it!" A mean laugh followed his words.
"Doctor, I didn't know you were able to pick up interesting pets." And he
proceeded to explain their little game to him with a happy smile as he saw the
Doctors eyes widen in fear.
"No! Don't do that! Roka, don't..."
"Oh, let the girl have some fun. It was her idea after all."
The Master chuckled and sent a mean grin in her direction, that she somehow
couldn't resist to return promptly.
_________________________
Roka sat below one of the big windows, watching the rain outside, sitting in a
way that put her slightly behind some crates and made her hardly visible to the
Master. In the end she just had to wait and he would forget about her, like
people always did. All that was needed was a bit of patience.
Time enough to think about a proper strategy. Well... there actually wasn't much
to plan. First she had to find out where the Master stored the keys to the
Doctor's cell, and the rest would be easy.
Carefully she looked at her enemy, sitting at his desk, looking like he was just
doing some kind of casual office work, probably plotting something. Then she
looked back outside and sighed.
Being in danger was only thrilling for so long.
Now she had gotten bored and looking over the crates she wished she could snatch
some of the parts around her to build something. One of her favorite things to
pass time. All those years in the TARDIS had given her enough time to refine her
skills and help the Doctor with all kinds of repairs. It hadn't been a lie. The
Doctor himself called her his janitor from time to time.
Again she sighed. She shouldn't make herself noticeable again, but...
"Hey..." she said carefully, waiting for the Master to look up. "Care if I use
some of that stuff?" She nodded towards the components.
He tilted his head to the side, observing her for a moment, before answering,
"What for? There's no weapon hidden in that junk."
"I'm... just bored." She shrugged and saw him raising an eyebrow.
For a few moments the Master just stared at her, cold and mildly curious.
"Repairing the TRADIS, eh? I don't believe you. But there, go ahead, impress
me." He chuckled to himself and attended to his work again.
Roka sprang up, eager to take a look at all the stuff around her. There were
some really interesting gadgets and broken parts. Some were completely alien to
her, others seemed at least vaguely familiar. She had seen some of the things on
various planets, others in the TARDIS. Lot of the stuff was broken or taken
apart, but an idea sprang to her mind when she saw a still functioning quantum
stabilizer.
_________________________
"Done!" Widely and satisfied grinning she observed the result. The chip had
gotten really small and the magnetism wouldn't destroy it's functionality like
the first time she had made something like that. A rustling of cloth made her
look up and she saw the Master stepping towards her, a cup of steaming coffee in
his hands. She stared at it with craving eyes.
"You... cut out some plastic." He looked down to her, taking a sip. "And there I
hoped you would be interesting."
"The plastic is just the hull." Roka heaved herself from the floor and, before
the Master could stop her, let the chip drop into his cup.
"Oi! What are you thinking, you're doing there?"
"Don't mourn, wait a few seconds." She held up a hand to silence him. "I
combined a quantum stabilizer with some basic carofrum wires... had to take
apart one of the Fh'smarg devices, but..." The Master stared at her with cold
eyes and she hurried to explain, "It keeps every liquid it comes into contact
with at a stable 60° Celsius. Perfect drinking temperature. And since it powers
itself via heat..."
The Master burst out into a laugh, then grinned sarcastically at her.
"Seriously? You spent hours for something useless like that?" He raised the cup.
"Uhm, stop! Don't drink that!"
Lowering the cup again he stared at her with amusement. "Let me guess... it's
not safe? What a surprise. There, kill yourself." With that he pushed the cup
into her hands and walked away.
"Oh, the chip is," mumbled Roka. "But I don't think you want to risk swallowing
that thing. Unless of course, you want your blood boiling."
Slowly the Master turned around and started to laugh. "My, you're stupid."
"I'm not!" she protested, but the Master just laughed louder.
"Oh, but of course." He stepped back and lowered his head down to her. "You
warned me... and there you had the chance to kill me in the most ridiculous way
ever. With coffee..."
Roka lowered her eyes and bit down on her lip. "Why would I want to do that?"
she mumbled and put a flat magnet at the cup's bottom. "There, now the chip will
stick to the ground." Satisfied smirking she looked back at the Master.
Somehow, now that the initial situation had settled, this aura of threat had
seemingly vanished from him. Not that he appeared less dangerous now, but at
least Roka didn't feel like frozen around him anymore. The she realized she had
been staring at him during this whole thought process and hastily turned away,
not even thinking of returning the coffee. Instead she took a big sip.
"Oi, don't just keep it, cheeky human!"
"At least I can be sure it's not poisoned. You can thank me later."
"For what?"
"For never having to endure cold coffee again." Roka leaned against the wall and
glanced over the rim of the cup, giving him an amused grin.
For a moment he just coldly stared at her and she feared to have gone too far.
It was so hard to tell what he was up to. One second it seemed as if he could
smash everything and everyone in his way on a whim, the next he was so calm and
composed that it was even more threatening. The Master appeared to be floating
between being a childish madman and a battle hardened general. Someone, who had
seen and done the unbelievable, but couldn't control himself all the time.
In some ways he was very similar to the Doctor. But Roka grasped immediately
that this was only on the surface.
The moment faded and the amused glint came back into his eyes.
"Not very impressive... technically. But creative, I admit." The Master turned
around and grabbed a strange gadget from the pile, only to rudely push it into
her free hand. "Here, look at that."
"What is it?"
"Tell me."
A test, thought Roka. She turned the thing around in her hand, carefully
observing the parts. At first glance it looked complicated, but the wiring and
that...
"That's... a very fancy remote detonator. Doesn't make much sense this way
though. If you want it to go off by rusting away... you should change that part
here with another kind of metal. This one takes ages to oxidize."
She hadn't even ended the sentence when he ripped the thing out of her hand and
shoved another device inside it. "How about this?"
"Uhm..." She had no idea what it could be. It looked like a thick metal
bracelet. But as she took a closer look Roka could see fine veins going through
it. Glowing very faintly when held into the light at the right angle. What could
be its purpose? It looked and felt vaguely familiar... She closed her eyes,
trying to let her brain solve it. Somewhere in this net of information should be
an answer.
When she opened them again, she glared right into the Master's face, who had his
fun ignoring her personal space once more. Surprised she leaned back a bit,
blinking perplex and feeling her heart rate speed up unexplainably.
"Err... it... that's..." she stuttered and stepped back. "I think it's a
portable translation device. If so... probably very limited in its capacity, so
you can only choose one or maybe two languages. Although... With your Time Lord
technology you could probably fit in a storage chip that is way bigger than the
device itself."
"Alright... you're not so stupid after all." Tilting his head he observed her
curiously. "Maybe I'll use your brain for one or two... things."
"Ha! Told ya!" She grinned proudly.
He looked amused at Roka. "I guess you already know what I want to do to your
planet. Aren't you a bit too eager to help me with that?"
"As long as you let the Doctor stay alive. Earth has never done any good to me,
humanity neither." She shrugged and sat down next to the window again, taking
another sip from the coffee.
It was true. There wasn't much that bound her to earth. And not a single person
knew about her existence. Only the Doctor had given her a home to stay, and for
that she would be eternally grateful.
The amusement in the Master's eyes got even bigger, and he squatted down in
front of her. "Seems like we're going to have lots of fun together."
Roka rolled her eyes to show him what she held of that statement, but froze when
he reached out a hand to her.
But all he did was stealing his coffee back out of her hands and returning to
his desk afterwards.
 

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