(no subject)

[ladyofleithian]

Title: No One Here Gets Out Alive.

Summary: The Ninth Doctor and company on the VALIANT, during the Year That Never Was.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Prompt: Manipulation and control.

Author's Notes: Mostly playing around with the idea of the Ninth Doctor in the Harold Saxon era. Which I think could be possible, if, say, he hadn't regenerated after the Time War. Or if the whole Satellite Five business had come a bit later -- just to name a few possibilities. First DOCTOR WHO fanfic I've done. *Prays she doesn't butcher anything*

Title from "Julien" by Placebo.

If there's ever been a worst case scenario, the Doctor thinks that he's found it. Imprisoned on the VALIANT, at the mercy of deranged Prime Minister Harold Saxon, or the Master, along with Martha and the other Joneses, and Jack, with only Rose out there to boost the signal.

All right, looking at it that way, perhaps it's not that bad. He still remembers what he whispered to Rose, the day that the Master took control of Earth, the day the Toclaphane invaded.

Boost the signal, Rose. No matter what the Master does, he can't stop the signal. Do that for me, Rose. Boost the signal. Use the countdown against him. Keep doing those things I can't know about. 

And Rose, bless her -- she had understood. She was out there, boosting the signal -- if the rumors streaming in were true.

The Master didn't understand why the Doctor had such faith in Rose Tyler. The Master doesn't know why the Joneses still hold out hope. The Master doesn't know why the Doctor still resists him long after the Master has all but taken everything from him. The Master knows nothing of anything. 

He doesn't realize that the Doctor resists if only for Rose and the others -- Rose gave him hope when hope seemed to be gone. Back in his eighth incarnation, when he had wandered the Earth, confused, grieving, alone, a far cry from the naive, unworldly creature he used to be.

That doesn't mean he's fully well, of course. But he's going to be damned if he lets the Master win.

***

The food's terrible. And to add insult to injury, the best bed the Master could have rented out for him seems to be a dog kennel, of all things. Granted, there are worse places to sleep (in his eighth incarnation, he should know), but if the Master was trying to top "dying in a dungeon in Cardiff", the Doctor thinks he's found it.

Congratulations, Master; you've managed to make dying in a dungeon in Cardiff look pleasant. You must be so proud.

Of course the Master is, of course he is. He's developed a tendency to visit the Doctor in his dog kennel -- even now, the Doctor can't help but wonder why the Master would need a dog kennel. He's got multiple theories, none of which he particularly likes -- if only to gloat about the progress of his grand reign -- leveling Japan. Placing acid pits in Europe. Then going about to "playing" with the Doctor. Using the Lazarus technology to age him one hundred or so years older -- or just going for the same old torture methods. Knives. Whips. Some sort of torture device that the Doctor has barely even heard of.

Of course, the Master doesn't kill him. That would be too easy. He just wants to make the Doctor suffer -- suffer for all these years. The Doctor, however, isn't going to give him the satisfaction.

He isn't the man that he used to be. Not since the Time War, at least. Not since Rose.

So even as the Master continues to torture him, lashing him with the whip, turning up the electricity just a bit more -- the Doctor refuses to make a sound.

He's survived Van Statten and his chamber of horrors down in Utah. He's faced the Dalek Emperor, and the Beast, and so many others.

The Master has never fazed him.

And he never will. 

***

Rose will be back. Rose will be back...

But even that mantra doesn't seem to sustain him for long. The Doctor welcomes sleep -- he hasn't welcomed sleep in a while since the Time War. When he sleeps, he dreams -- dreams of Davros' ship falling into the jaws of the NIGHTMARE CHILD as the Doctor vainly tried to save him. He sees the Degradations of Skaro, and Gallifrey falling to the Daleks, and him, with one figurative press of a button, wiping out both Daleks and Time Lords alike.

Ten million ships on fire. The Daleks all destroyed -- or so he thought.

The Master had to rub his face in it, of course. You must have felt like God...

He knows it's not true. He'd never enjoyed it.

So why did it have to hurt this much?

The Doctor, however, has a feeling he already knows the answer. 

***

Next morning. The Doctor is called to the bridge of the VALIANT. Grumbling at just how bloody sore he is from the past few days, he staggers to the bridge. There's the Master as usual, as well as his wife, Lucy Saxon.

She doesn't look too good. She looks pale, almost tired, and on the verge of tears. And nervous as well. As if the slightest affront could provoke the Master's wrath. Even looking at her, the Doctor's heart aches for her, aches to help her. Poor creature. Poor lonely creature...

She mouths something, quickly, when the Doctor is led up to see the Master. Don't be afraid.

He isn't. Not for himself, at least. Just for his companions. 

The Doctor had already failed the first time in terms of infiltrating the VALIANT. Watching the Toclaphane attack Earth. And earlier, watching them cut President Winters to ribbons. Now what could he possibly -- ?

"Doctor," the Master says, in that infuriatingly smarmy tone of a practiced politician. "How wonderful of you to join us."

The Doctor doesn't answer. //Don't give him the satisfaction,// he tries to tell himself. //Rose will be there soon.// And that's enough to give him some degree of steel.

The Master talks on. "We caught this one trying to escape the prison block. Guards?"

They bring Jack forward. Even now, the Doctor winces. Dear Rassilon, Jack looks like hell. Bruises, scars, and Gallifrey knows what else -- even now, he manages to give the Doctor a bleary grin. "Hey, Doc. Long time, no see. Doing all right?"

"Well," the Doctor says, trying in vain to make some sort of a joke, "rotting in a dungeon in Cardiff sounds awfully pleasant right now..."

"Enough." The Master cuts off their conversation abruptly. "Now, Captain Jack -- it seems that we're going to have to teach you a very important lesson. In other words, we're going to teach not only you, but your companions what happens when you dare to defy me."

He gives the Doctor a very pointed look. 

"Leave him be," the Doctor says, "He's done nothing wrong."

"Nothing wrong? Oh, Doctor -- are you honestly that naive? Captain Jack and his team have caused quite a lot of trouble for me -- especially now because of you. You, after all...you seem to have a talent for making some people want to play hero, don't you?"

The Doctor makes his move.

He doesn't know whether he's trying to save Jack or snap the Master's neck (how could he say that, how could he -- ?) but either way, the guards manage to shoot him with some sort of stun device, using a powerful enough charge to subdue him. He falls to the deck -- it's only feeling Martha supporting him that he smiles, if slightly.

"Are you all right?"

"I -- '' The Doctor winces, if slightly. "I'm all right."

At the front, Jack is being prepared for...some sort of ritual. Some sort of breaking wheel. Even now, as Jack's tied to the breaking wheel, he tries to crack a smile. "Don't worry, Doc. I'll be all right."

Even now, though, as the Master pulls out the club he's going to use just for this purpose, the Doctor doesn't believe him.

Comments

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

At last, fanfic where I'm not lost! (with apologies to everyone else on my f-list who writes)

Mind if I geek out a bit? No? Good. lol. This setup begs the question... if 8 didn't regenerate into 9 after the Dalek War, how would all of that first Eccleston season have played out differently? After seeing (or rather, hearing) 8 in action on so many Big Finish audios, I can almost promise he'd have figured out Bad Wolf long before it became an issue. Then again, he'd probably figure out that the Simm version of the Master wasn't really the Master either. He's good at the big stuff. It's the little stuff that trips him up. Now you've got me wishing for that, because McGann's audios are the ones that made me a Doctor Who fan in the first place.

Big Finish did an audio called "Master" (7th Doctor) that gives an origin story for both the Master and the Doctor that'll completely change the way anyone thinks about those two characters ever again.

You've got characterization of this cast down well. Works even better if you listen to Murray Gold's score while you read it. Are you going to continue the story or just leave it as a cliffhanger?

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D I was so nervous writing this -- I was just obsessing over every detail. Things like, "Would the Master say this? Does this make any sense?" Etc. etc. So it's definitely a relief to hear I got them down. :) And no worries -- I'll continue it. :)

And very interesting regarding Eight! :D *Makes note to check out that audio drama you mentioned* I also have a feeling he'd be more forgiving regarding the Daleks -- he's a very forgiving soul, Eight, from what I can gather. It may be one reason why Nine was more cynical, and Ten a bit more cheerful -- by the time he'd regenerated into Nine, his idealism had been all but shattered. In fact, there's actually a song from LES MIS that I think really fits for Nine post-destroying the Daleks and Time Lords: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jOSvYaR7CHw. (YMMV)

And happy to oblige. :) *Makes note to expand on that idea*

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

Eight's a kind soul and very upbeat and curious most of the time, but he also rolls up his sleeves when the moment arises and plows in where angels fear to tread, hence his decision in the Time War. I wouldn't underestimate him. He's written and portrayed in the audios as a perfect synthesis of the previous 7, and all that implies, so he's got the happy attitude of 2, 4, and 5, the scientific curiosity of 1, 3, and 6, and the finality of 7. He will go out of his way to end threats. The cynicism in Nine is most assuredly a result of that Time War decision and the genocide he thought he caused. I always saw Ten's cheerfulness as a facade. It's like he was trying to recapture who he was as Eight, but that Time War thing kept getting in the way.

I keep having to remind myself when you say "Would the Master say this?" that it's Simm. *shakes head* Sometimes you just have to go with it. I'm learning to do that. lol. If you enjoy a character enough, you'll know when the lines are right - you'll feel it when their personality is injected.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Very well-said regarding Ten. It's like he's trying to go back to the way things were before -- and he still has a bit of Eight in him. Trying to save Davros and the Master, for example -- which only makes me want to slap the Master even more for just refusing to regenerate to spite Ten. I mean, I know it's a bit harsh, but... *sighs* Then again, angering/upsetting the Doctor is pretty much the Master's wheelhouse, so I shouldn't be shocked -- this is, after all, the same man who assisted the Sea Devils in their "kill all the humans" plan because of the Doctor's fondness for humans, if I've got it right. Which does make one wonder...why, to say the least.

And considering Nine in canon has "not over the Time War" written all over him (and Ten and Eleven for that matter)...I can imagine the Master would *love* just fucking with him. Hell, I can picture both Nine and Jack being his "favorites", really.

Yeah, I can imagine that would be frustrating.

Very well-said! :D And even with the characters I loathe, I try to get inside their heads and find out why they do what they do. I just find stuff like demonization really, really boring. And here...well, it helps that both Simm and Eccleston's performances are cases of Can't Un-Visualize -- I mostly tried not to go overboard, really. I didn't want the Master to be a complete clown, and I didn't want Nine to be unsympathetic by mistake. Ever had those problems? #Curious.

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

For me, it goes back to that audio I mentioned. Once you listen to that, you understand why the Master is the Doctor's "special friend." If the Master ever knew what was revealed in that, well, I shudder to guess what would happen. :P

Getting inside a character's head seems to be a natural skill for me, which has its compensation for other things that I have to work extra on... like writing what it is I see about those characters. It's really easy to push any character past the point where they become parodies of themselves. Sometimes, though, there's just no redeeming a character. Ian McDiarmid tries to find that redemptive quality in all of his characters, and the only one he could find in Palpatine was that he's a patron of the arts. How messed up is that? Sometimes demonization is exactly the way to go. It's rare, but it does happen.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Is that the audio story where the Master becomes "Death's Champion", out of curiosity, or is that a different story? #Possibly dumb question. Sorry.

Well, regarding Palpatine, one could argue that he did show concern in regards to Anakin/Vader after the latter was left to burn to death on Mustafar, but even that's questionable. So yeah...sometimes a character has no redeeming qualities. But in regards to getting inside a character's head...eldritch says I do it pretty well. I guess I...kinda do. At the same time, I keep worrying about "romanticizing" a character too much, especially the villains. I keep having this need to see some sort of motivation from them -- to go into comic book metaphors for a bit, I definitely love a Joker-esque villain as much as anyone (if it's done well, which the Joker usually is), but for me, it's definitely more interesting to see villains the likes of Mr. Freeze or Ra's Al Ghul -- villains that have reasons to be who they are, whether by tragic circumstance or no, or villains who genuinely believe what they're doing is right. Like I said before, the Well-Intentioned Extremists are a hell of a lot scarier. It also heightens the jeopardy a bit more too, in my opinion -- not to mention screwing with the hero's (or heroine's, or what-have-you) head, which makes for pretty good storytelling.

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

Oh, you know of it? I was trying to be spoiler free because it really puts a dark spin on the Doctor's origin too.

*nods* I see what you're saying. I do the same thing with the "well-intentioned extremists." That's part of why I latched on to the likes of Vader so early on, and why I really like the Shadow (though technically he IS supposed to be the good guy). The best villains always think they're the hero of the story. That's what makes Lex Luthor so much fun when he's properly written, and why I typically don't like Daleks or Cybermen.

When the Joker's in written properly, you can see those motivations in him too, though they're rarely well-intentioned. They may not always make sense to somebody who doesn't "get" his brand of comedy, but they're there. That's why I tend not to like knock-offs of the character. As an archetype, he stands alone.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

I mostly heard about it, really. *Makes note to get it, as it sounds pretty awesome* I kind of like, in a way, the Master being...sort of a dark Chosen One, if I'm not mistaken. Don't really know how it connects to his obsession with the Doctor, but I suppose I'll find out when I give it a listen. :)

Exactly! :D Granted, I do quite like the Daleks and the Cybermen, but that's mostly because they're pretty formidable opponents. I know "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End" two-parter really did a good job in making the Daleks a threat, for example. And Julian Bleach's Davros just scared the living bejesus out of me. But yeah -- I say that the villains who believe that they're the heroes are definitely the most frightening.

And this regarding the Joker. So very much.

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

Trust me when I say that even knowing that much, you'll be unprepared for just how wrong that story is. It'll taint your Doctor Who experience forever after, no question.

Daleks and Cybermen are basically Nazis and Zombies. They're one-trick-ponies, and it should be very difficult to get that wrong. What amazes me is that Daleks are actually scarier when there's only one or two of them. The more there are, the easier they are to defeat.

Davros is just fun. He's one of those well-intentioned genius overachievers that makes for great villainy. They've got this great BF audio where the 6th Doctor has to work WITH Davros. Talk about messed up...

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

As in the "Holy-shit-I'll-have-nightmares-for-weeks" wrong or the "going-to-make-me-very-angry" wrong?

Yeah, I know what you mean. After all, Sec did say in Doomsday that they could defeat the Cybermen with only *one* Dalek. I can just assume that it's because at least with Daleks in groups, you can pull the old-fashioned stunt of blowing them all up or something. With one Dalek...eh, good luck, to say the least.

*Chuckles* When the sixth Doctor has to work with *Davros*, of all people, you know that the situation's pretty bad.

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

In this case, the Big Finish writers are incredibly adept, so what could have been a WTF were they thinking moment, it's one of those moments that (if BF were actually canon) rips the lid off everything you think you ever knew about the Doctor. If "I am your father" had 26 seasons of story behind it instead of one and a half movies, that sort of thing.

That's what Six said. lol. No, really.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Ah. Gotcha. :)

(Speaking of audiobooks, I got to the GENESIS OF THE DALEKS audiobook -- I know. XD -- and it's pretty good so far. :)

XD. I can imagine Six was thinking, "Okay, even for me this is pretty surreal." XD

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

No no no... That's one you need to SEE first! But yeah, it's easily one of those "great" stories.

Six was all "Well, this is bad for me, but it's worse for you because now I can keep an eye on you."

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely get the TV version. Don't worry. :)

Yeah, I can imagine. :) I especially love that one clip I saw, that "Do I have the right" speech. Or, in other words, "Do the ends really justify the means?"

(For lack of a better sum-up. Also, wonderful job, Tom. Seriously. :)

XD. Out of curiosity, what happened that they had to team up?

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

Now translate that speech forward to whatever was running through the mind of Paul McGann during the Time War. How far does it have to go before the line blurs?

Let's just say Davros needed a Time Lord and it was one of those "better the devil you know" situations. lol

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

I think you nailed it, really. I can definitely imagine him, before he made the decision to wipe out Gallifrey if only to spare the universe Rassilon's madness, he was wondering, "Do I have the right to just wipe out a world like that? Is there another way?" Honestly, considering the Eighth Doctor, I can imagine him trying to appeal to Rassilon to stop his whole Davros Early 2.0 plan (seriously, is it just me or are there *major* parallels to Rassilon's plan during the Time War and Davros' plan in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End?), and when that failed, he had no choice but to -- metaphorically -- pull the trigger. I'm thinking in a way, his early regeneration into Nine is a bit symbolic: sort of the loss of innocence. Hell, even Ten says that Nine was born during war, basically, so...

Davros needed a Time Lord for what, exactly? To clean his house? :P (Kidding, kidding. XD)

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

Like Six once said, "All of you murdering conqueror types are all alike!" Or something to that effect.

Here's some disturbing insight into the Time War courtesy of the 8th Doctor audios, before they relaunched the show.

1. Romana is president of Gallifrey, after spending 20 years as a Dalek prisoner of war.

2. She uses a Type-70 Battle TARDIS.

So again, I ask, how bad did things have to be before they pull Rasillon out of mothballs, much less have the Doctor say "both sides are screwed now."

Try this one on for size...

http://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/davros-214

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Great damn speech, I must say. :)

I can imagine pretty fucking bad is how bad they had to get.

Looks pretty cool, I must say! :D

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

It is an awesome speech!

Like I said before, Big Finish made me a fan of the story. There are VERY few stories of theirs that are in the mediocre range, and none of them suck. Their work allowed the BBC to ponder the idea that maybe Doctor Who could work on TV again.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

And after what happens in "The End of Time", let's say it's kind of prophetic.

*Grinz* That I can imagine (regarding the whole...kinda persuading the BBC, that is).

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

Just think - Big Finish rolled out of a fan audio production, a little string of 17 audios called "Audio Visuals." Those are mind-blowingly good too. And it's why I hold fanfic-ers up to a higher standard. lol

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

XD.

I can imagine. :)

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

See, now if MegaUpload were still around, or you lived anywhere near by, I'd introduce you to some of my favorite stories of all time and let you run amuck from there... But...

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Yeah. *Sighs* I really wish Megaupload hadn't been shut down like that. :/

[forcewatcher.livejournal.com]

Yeah... welcome to the world the Daleks built...

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

The Daleks were behind SOPA? That explains a lot. XD (Kidding, kidding. XD)

In all seriousness though...yeah.