Looking round she couldn't help but feel a place designed primarily for the expressed purpose of pumping iron wasn't the Master's style at all, yet here they were.
"Now my dear, we shall have the truth."
"I don't see how, if it's to be a truth by force. Nothing here even vaguely resembles a mind probe, or even a Dalek mind analysis machine."
The Master grinned, nodding towards a simple looking yet very sophisticated electronic setup. It was a Gallifreyan mind bending machine.
"Well, well, well, a mensa measurer." The little Doctor smiled in recognition. "Last time I did mind to mind combat was with Morbius on Karn. Incidentally, I won."
"You are forgetting Doctor, our little altercation on Earth ..."
"With Kameleon as the point of focus?" she interrupted. "No, no I don't think so, not really. But I won that particular round too."
"A debatable issue, Doctor. But we have never really done mind battle like this before."
A smile played lightly at the corners of the little Doctor's lips. "A formal challenge, Master?"
The Master grinned, nodding sinisterly. "Yes, my dear. And a challenge I have anticipated for some time. I believe my modifications of the old academy game will prove most interesting to you."
Modifications? she thought. Modifications, similar to the ones the Master had once incorporated into the APC net when the Doctor had been forced to do battle there with the Master's leg man, Chancellor Goth?
The Master saw the concern on her face. "Oh, it's workable, Doctor. Even for you. I made the necessary adjustments for the female mind when the Rani and I were traveling together. Of course, she didn't stay long enough to try it out, but I'm confident it will work."
Back in his detention cell the Doctor was busy at his task.
Beads of perspiration fell silently from the corner of his eyebrow, as he continued to try to think his way out of his bonds. Suddenly the Doctor heard two, nearly simultaneous, clicks.
Carefully removing his wrists, he was free! A wide grin spread across his face.
"Won't work unless you have totally white hair, huh?" the Doctor snorted to the companion who was no longer present. "Twaddle."
The Doctor wiped his forehead on the back of his shirtsleeve. "That's better. Now at least I can see where I'm headed. Not that I really want to, or anything."
The Doctor left the chamber, rubbing his wrists and shoulders as if in mimic of his companion, most intent on sabotaging the Master's plan, (what ever that master plan was), in any way he could. If possible, his plan also included the rescue of the little Doctor, and capture of the Master.
Stumbling onto the Master's gaming room the Doctor was horrified to see the first wave of the CyberMen invasion.
Moving from console to console he quickly reestablished the quantum force field round Gallifrey.
"There! That will squelch further invasion, Doctor." Then he realized the full extent of his actions. "Oh Doctor, by reestablishing the quantum link you've just trapped a sizable number of CyberMen on Gallifrey." His face soured. "And as the Chancellery Guard are the only defense on Gallifrey..."
Looking round, the Doctor spied a rifle laying on top a console. He grinned.
Aiming it at first one console then another, the Doctor fired repeatedly.
The consoles destroyed, the Doctor looked round, quite pleased with his personal carnage.
"Well, the Master certainly won't be using these consoles again. At least not in the very near future." Pondering briefly, he smiled. "And as this is a glitter gun." He grinned widely. "I would say I have at my disposal a rather effective weapon to use against the CyberMen on Gallifrey."
Turning to leave, the Doctor remembered something else. Or to be more specific, someone else.
He grimaced, "Oh pooh." He began to grumble. "Sorry to abandon you old girl, but a question of priorities."
The Doctor looked up at the one remaining, working monitor and saw a group of CyberMen breaking into the Citadel.
Clutching the stolen rifle he turned and ran.
Squaring off, the little Doctor and the Master prepared to do battle.
Putting on their headsets, in total silence, they braced themselves, gripping firmly the gleaming scaffolding surrounding them.
An observer, had there been one, would have seen a swirl of images briefly appear then disappear on the central screen. Then the familiar face, the face of the Master. It in turn was replaced by an image of the Doctor.
As the Master continued to push the Doctor further back into her past, another face materialized, the whimsey features of Doctor #6.
The Master's concentration was momentarily broken by the proof he sought. Standing upright he removed his headset, grinning at her.
The little Doctor released her grip and stood, sliding off her headset. "Surrendering already, Master?" she challenged.
"No, nothing of the kind, my dear. so, after all of this, it turns out you really are the Doctor."
"That is what we kept trying to tell you, Master," the little Doctor grumbled, sighing exaggeratedly.
The Master began to laugh uproariously. "How utterly delicious.
So, even Rassilon has a sense of humor."
"I fail to see the joke, Master," the little Doctor replied grimly.
"No my dear, I don't imagine you do. Nevertheless destroying you under these circumstances will prove most delightful, if not totally satisfying."
Unknown to the little Doctor, the Master's association with the Rani had been nothing short of intensely frustrating for him. In the Master's twist of mind he was about to punish not only the Doctor, but the Rani also, for all of the Rani's insults, both real and imagined.
The Doctor exited the Master's TARDIS, still on the run.
Rushing through the door of his own TARDIS, the Doctor slid into the Main Console Room.
Setting down the rifle, he quickly set the coordinates for Gallifrey.
"Doctor, where is the little Doctor?" Munchkin asked, her brow deeply furrowed.
"No time to explain, Munchie. Hold on, rough road ahead," he said grasping tightly to the console.
"Readly for a battle royal?"
She smiled toothily. "Always, Doctor? Who? Where?" she queried, with the unasked 'why' always the least important of the three, and she mimiced the Doctor.
The Time Column sprung to life.
The little Doctor and the Master, glared at each other for a long moment, before resuming their fighting stances.
"To the death Doctor!" the Master hissed.
"As you wish, Master," she nodded. "On guard!"
Another swirl of images appeared on the central screen. Familiar faces briefly appearing then dissolving as first one and then the other combatant took the upper hand.
Beads of perspiration quickly covered her forehead, and the little Doctor's face twisted with her mental effort.
Rallying, the Master once again forced the face of the little Doctor onto the viewer. Then for a second time, the familiar features of the personable Joseph
"You are going, Doctor, going!," roared the Master with glee.
And another face appeared on the screen. A fair haired, youthful man with a celery stalk attached to his coat
"How far Doctor? Will a thousand years be sufficient?" the Master screamed.
The face changed again to a middle aged man with an infectious grin, and brown curly tresses,
The Master chuckled. He was winning! He was winning!
A fifth face superimposed itself. That of a white haired, aristocratic man
Then another. This time, the features of a darkhaired little man with a winning, wistful smile
"Back Doctor, back to your beginnings!" the Master screamed.
And back the Doctor was forced, to the persona of a proud looking, older man
Exultantly the Master shouted. "To your birth Doctor! And to your death!"
There was a confused impression of even more faces on the screen then, faces of the Master's personae, as the Doctor, becoming more familiar with the mental environment, momentarily gained ground.
Groaning, she clung to the scaffolding for support.
Rallying, she began to push the Master back, back through his many lives; twelve, eleven, ten, nine ...
Realizing he had underestimated the female it was time for the Master to turn to his special addenda.
The central screen went murky and distorted.
"Now, Doctor, now see what is in store for you!" bellowed the Master, quite intense.
Suddenly the picture on the viewer became one of: the little Doctor drowning in an endless sea.
"No ... no," the little Doctor struggled. "I know what this is. An illusion, a phantom of the mind, a dream scape," she told herself, fighting the waves as they crashed over her, in the ever churning sea.
To combat the Master's creation, the little Doctor metamorphosed the drowning water to water serene, and of a river boat gliding down the Mississippi River with Mark Twain and Scarecrow
The little Doctor smiled weakly. "Interesting little off the board ... role playing game ... Master," she gasped. "Gives mind bending a whole new dimension."
The Master hissed in anger, lashing out at her by conjuring up a second dream scape, one of even a greater dread, a giant serpent.
The little Doctor countered with images of her own, of Doijen and of Cricket
"Steady your mind, attach to nothing, let go of your fear," implored Doijen.
"Find the still point, Doctor. Draw to the still point. The point is a point of safety," encouraged Cricket.
Obeying, the little Doctor surrendered within, and this particular poison of the Master's was effectively neutralized.
The Master growled, his determination intensifying, as he mind created a giant spider descending down upon her:
But gaining control as Fancy Pants
Realizing he had once again lost the advantage, the Master changed the scene to one of fire. Intense, all consuming fire, totally engulfing the little Doctor.
Bent against the scaffolding the little Doctor began to chuckle in retaliation, as she quickly dream dreamscaped that fire to an incendiary of much smaller proportion:
The central monitor revealed Number One's
It was the Master who was inflamed now. Doctor or no, how dare this mere slip of a girl be so tenacious.
The illusion that next attacked her consciousness was of Joseph
"Adhidaivika is pain beyond what the physical can know. Adhyatmika, is pain known only to the soul. Andaysuarya arhats-arya therefore same time achyuta-akta Doctor, so act accordingly. But this who you battle with is madhu, holding the key to his own destruction."
Smiling at the words of the ancient Time Lord hermit, she nodded and for the first time in the battle, actively took control of the dream scape by surrounding the Master with scenes of peace, love, beauty, and tranquility; families at work, and play, and loving each other. Pleasures the Master would never partake, due to the darkness of his nature.
The Master's initial reaction to the scenes were as if they were
sapping the very life essences from him ...
But eventually he was able, at last, by a massive release of his own personal energy reserves, to tear the images to pieces.
Stifling a chuckle, the Master opened his eyes, glaring at the little Doctor.
"And this is the worst you can do, my dear?"
As the CyberMen blasted their way ever closer to the High Council chamber; President Flavia, and the other Councilors, cowered in a corner.
Realizing their deaths were eminent, Flavia looked round her.
Squaring her shoulders, Flavia slowly walked out to face her destiny head on. If she was to live no longer, her final moments would be as a Time Lord, and not as a sheep.
The Councilors, shamed by their Excellency, followed her lead. They too would die with heads up, in defiance.
With little resistance from the out matched Chancellery Guard men, the CyberMen burst into the High Council chamber, dooming the Inter-Council.
As they raised their weapons to destroy the high ranking Time Lords, the CyberMen began to drop like flies.
Turning to face the silent, unseen enemy, the survivors of the first wave were instantly cut down.
Just as quickly as it began, the turmoil was at an end, and deafening silence filled the murky, smoky hall.
The Doctor's face broke out into its wide toothy grin, as he crossed the threshold of the Council chamber, stepping over the
motionless forms of the CyberMen. Right behind him, Munchkin with her last arrow in her hand, and K9 his nose lazer still glowing with its heat.
"Lady President," he said, choking on the smoke.
Recovering slightly, he bowed expansively. "The cavalry has arrived. And as always, just in the nick of time."
Flavia looked at the Doctor puzzled, not comprehending; but grateful, very grateful for his presence.
In the Master's gymnasium, two weary opponents braced themselves for one final desperate confrontation.
The Master began to dream scape a scene that horrified the little Doctor:
Deep within a cavern, the Master held an unknown weapon on the two Doctors.
Gleefully he fired it directly at Teeth & Curls.
Hurled against the wall he crumpled to the floor .
The little Doctor ran to him, amid peals of the Master's hideous laughter.
The Doctor, in horrendous agony, burned almost beyond
recognition, was slowly dying in the little Doctor's arms. Her pain, nearly as great as his, for she knew she was powerless to save him.
The Master grinned through his strained efforts. He was sure he'd found the little Doctor's weakest link, and finally beat her.
Ever cautious, he opened an eye to gloat.
A moment of distraction was all the little Doctor needed. No more Mister Nice Guy!
Clinching her teeth in anger, she lashed out:
Suddenly the central scene changed to one of utter blackness: with the Master and the little Doctor locked together, their hands
clinched round each other's throats.
Two, fierce combatants, falling ... falling ... ever endlessly into a void.
As the dream scape scene slowly enfolded into Singularity, on the screen between them, in the real world the Master and the little Doctor collapsed as one.